7 street workout exercises to help you feel better

What are the benefits of outdoor activities

Heat, midges and electric scooters scurrying back and forth can raise doubts: is training on the street really worth it? Research shows that yes: physical activity outside the walls of the house or the hall has some advantages. For example, running and walking outdoors able reduce the level of depressive moods and can be a good remedy for anxiety.

In addition, outdoor sports will help replenish your daily dose of vitamin D. This solar connection is not only good for health bones: it can also positively affect blood pressure and cholesterol levels, general immunity, lung health and muscles. So, by arranging a sports outing on the street, you provide your body with comprehensive support: you will feel a surge of strength, positive and inner peace.

Exercises for street training without special training

Warm up

Do not skip this stage – in any workout it will be useful to “wake up” the muscles and prepare them for the upcoming load. Tilt and turn your head and torso, rotate your wrists, shoulders, elbows, and knees to help avoid unpleasant crunches during core exercises.

It is important to consider at what pace you plan to train further. If you decide to do intensive cardio, don’t just stop at joint gymnastics – add a few jumps to the starting stage, for example with a rope, or running: in place, shuttle or easy at a comfortable pace.

Iya Zorina

Weightlifting CCM, Lifehacker fitness expert

A typical warm-up takes about 5-10 minutes, includes joint exercises, a small dynamic stretch, and short cardio. Warm-up exercises should be performed smoothly, since cold muscles are easier to injure with sudden movements.

Pay more attention to the muscles and joints that will work in training. For example, if you are going to pull yourself up, stretch your shoulders well, do an active hang on the bar. If you’re going to do pistol or bench jumps, do 10-15 air squats, actively stretch your hips and shins.

1. Squats

Beauty bloggers and physical education teachers advertise this type of exercise for a reason: proper squats will help pump your hips and buttocks. And also – to train the mobility of the hip and ankle joints. At the same time, mistakes in performing squats can, on the contrary, harm the body – for example, injure the knee joint.

Iya Zorina

Weightlifting CCM, Lifehacker fitness expert

It is often said that in squats, the knees should not go beyond the toes, but this is not entirely true. Some people, due to the length of their legs or other structural features, simply cannot do this. And that’s okay. It is much more important that at any point in the squat, the heels are firmly pressed to the floor. In addition, you need to keep your back straight. In air squats, slouching will not lead to injury, but if a person decides to take weights, an already habitual incorrect technique can result in an overload of the muscles around the spine.

And watch your knees when you stand up. Many people do the knee-in squat and have no problems. But the joint in this case is in an unstable position, and additional load can lead to injury. It’s better to immediately learn how to perform technically correctly – turn your knees outward, let them look towards your socks.

2. Push-ups

Iya Zorina

Weightlifting CCM, Lifehacker fitness expert

The most common mistake is the elbows placed on the sides. Pushing up in this form, you can overload the joints and earn pain in the shoulders and elbows. Place your hands so that during push-ups your shoulders are at an angle of 45 ° from the body, and your elbows look not to the sides, but back.

In addition, make sure that the body is rigid and stable, and the lower back does not sag. Tighten your abs and buttocks to protect your back from pain.

If you are just starting out, there are two ways to simplify push-ups. The first is to lower your knees to the floor. The second – without getting up to the bar, lean your hands on the wall: here your legs should stand a little further from the wall.

And if regular push-ups, on the contrary, seem too simple to you, try to increase the load by placing your feet on a low horizontal bar. Or experiment with variations of the exercise. For example, do Spiderman push-ups: dropping to the floor, alternately pull your knees to your elbows.

3. Plank

A universal exercise that is familiar to those who gain weight, lose weight, practice yoga and simply maintain their tone with daily exercises. It can be performed on outstretched arms or in a forearm stand – in any case, the support, hands or elbows, should be strictly under the shoulders. The plank is loved for its ease of execution, but this simple endurance test has its own nuances.

Iya Zorina

Weightlifting CCM, Lifehacker fitness expert

It is very important to keep the body rigid, and the abdominal muscles tense. If the press relaxes and a deflection appears in the lower back, the exercise loses its meaning and even becomes harmful – squeezing the vertebrae in the lumbar region can lead to pain.

You can start getting into the bar from 10-20 seconds, gradually increasing the time in the rack. If it is difficult to hold out even that much, add support to your knees.

4. Raising the legs to the horizontal bar

Must-have street complex for those who want to pump the press and hips. For beginners, it’s best to start with a simple version of the exercise: just bend your knees and raise your hips parallel to the ground. When this exercise ceases to be difficult, move on to raising your knees to your chest, and then to raising your legs to the horizontal bar.
The most advanced can complicate the process by slowing down: when you touch the horizontal bar with your toes, lower your legs to a vertical position for as long as possible. At all difficulty levels, carefully monitor the position of the body and do not raise your shoulders.

Iya Zorina

Weightlifting CCM, Lifehacker fitness expert

There are two options for lifting the legs to the horizontal bar: with a buildup, as in crossfit, and without – strict. The choice depends on the goals: the former will allow you to do more repetitions in less time and load your shoulders well, the latter will better pump the hip flexor muscles. If you decide to try the swing exercise, smear your hands with magnesia so as not to fly off the horizontal bar.

5. Lunges

Lunges tighten the hips and buttocks no worse than squats. And yet such exercises train the sense of balance well and, if performed correctly, do not overload the knee joints.

Iya Zorina

Weightlifting CCM, Lifehacker fitness expert

Watch the knee in front of the standing leg – it should “look” towards the toe or even slightly turn outward. This will ensure a stable position of the joint and protect it from overload.

Descend smoothly and stop before the knee of the back of the standing leg touches the ground – this will save you from impact and unnecessary stress. Keep your back straight and slightly tilt the body forward – this position will remove some of the load from the lower back and help to better pump the hips and buttocks.

6. Pull-ups

A nightmare for many schoolchildren, but you should not be afraid of this exercise: you can just start with a small head start.

Iya Zorina

Weightlifting CCM, Lifehacker fitness expert

For beginners, inclined pull-ups on a low bar are suitable, in which the legs remain on the ground. The movement is reminiscent of classic push-ups, only inverted – you reach for the horizontal bar, and your back is directed to the floor. Another option to reduce the load is to use a long rubber band. Fasten it to the horizontal bar by creating a loop: before the exercise, put one or two legs into it. The expander will remove some of the weight and make the task easier. While pulling up, keep your core stiff and tense, don’t twitch or stretch your neck up trying to reach the level of the bar.

If the classic pull-ups are already working out well, for a change, you can replace them with an exercise with a different grip – fix one hand straight, the other – reverse. Or increase the load by pulling up to touch the crossbar with your chest.

7. Burpee

An exercise for those who love dynamics and are not used to feeling sorry for themselves. From the outside, burpees seem like a fun and simple set of movements. But in fact, this is a powerful test for the body! It is done like this:

1. From a standing position, feet shoulder-width apart, bend over and place your hands on the floor.
2. From the jump, take the plank position. The back should be flat – tighten the abdominal muscles.
3. Do push-ups. This is an optional step that can be omitted if you want to reduce the intensity.
4. Return to plank position.
5. Jump your feet up to your hands.
6. Return to a standing position and jump overhead with a pop.

Iya Zorina

Weightlifting CCM, Lifehacker fitness expert

When you put your legs up to your hands, try not to bend them too much at the knees and stand on your whole foot, and not on your toes. This will help take the strain off the calf muscles, which often become clogged during this movement.

If you are just starting out training, exclude push-ups from burpees. And make the rise from the lying position in a wave – first tear off the body, then bend at the hip joints, putting your legs to your hands. This will reduce the load on your arms, allow you to move faster and get a good cardio load.

Stretching

Stretching exercises will increase muscle elasticity and joint mobility. In addition, it will help to smoothly switch from active to calm mode – the pulse will slow down, breathing will even out. Stretching is especially helpful if you need to do some focused work after your workout, or if you’re about to go to bed soon.

Iya Zorina

Weightlifting CCM, Lifehacker fitness expert

Stretching does not help prevent injury or relieve muscle soreness the next day. Therefore, if you do not need reassurance, you can skip this moment and go home. If you like stretching or you are going to work on joint mobility, follow the safety rules: stretch smoothly, do not hold your breath, try to relax in selected positions and do not tolerate pain.

Watch the sensations – if the pain occurs not in the stretched muscles, but in the joints, immediately exit the pose. Also control your back. For example, if stretching the back of the thigh pulls the lower back, you should slightly bend your knees.