Spring Into Fitness
Apr 14, 2021 12:00AM ● By Katrina Hall
Mark CovingtonOwner of Progressive Athletics
Now that spring is finally here, it is time for many of us to venture into the beauty of the outdoors and get our bodies moving! “Creating an outdoor workout is simple. Don't overthink it. If you are a beginner, start slowly and gradually increase intensity as you feel comfortable,” says Mark Covington, owner and founder of Progressive Athletics. Covington began Progressive Athletics in 2015 as an at-home personal training business. After two years of success, he transitioned into a full studio located at 8835 Columbia 100 Parkway.
The gym industry has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the staff at Progressive Athletics have remained flexible in their approach to customers by utilizing their small-class model. “We provide small-group personal training, so maintaining social distance was never an issue. The only changes we needed to make were additional cleaning protocols and temperature checks to make sure everyone stayed safe.”
Covington says it’s important to find a sense of normalcy in your daily routine. The most important aspect of adding to or starting a workout program is a sense of well-being and self-care. “This pandemic has hit a lot of people incredibly hard physically, mentally, and financially. People need to be able to get back to some sense of normalcy,” says Covington. When asked what he’s looking forward to the most, post-pandemic, he replied, ”Once it's safe again, I am truly looking forward to high-fiving and celebrating with our members as they crush their workouts!”
Below, Covington gives us two ways to take our exercise routine outdoors. Have fun creating an enjoyable outdoor sweat session that keeps you engaged, and allows you to enjoy the beautiful weather.
Interval Training: An interval workout is when you alternate between bouts of high-intensity exercises and rest periods. For example, you could do an interval workout (2 Rounds of 30 seconds of work with 30 seconds of rest) that looks something like this:
High Knees x 30 Seconds
Rest x 30 Seconds
Squats x 30 Seconds
Rest x 30 Seconds
Mountain Climbers x 30 Seconds
Rest x 30 Seconds
Plank x 30 Seconds
Rest x 30 Seconds
Push-Up x 30 Seconds
Rest x 30 Seconds
*This workout repeated twice takes about 10 minutes and requires no extra equipment. Just as important, the moves can be done outside!
Add Cardio: Changing up an existing outdoor routine is all about finding new ways to keep things interesting. For example, if you love running outside you could set up intervals using the aforementioned timer to go for a 2-mile run for your daily workout in as little as 20 minutes. Set up a timer to go off every 4 minutes and when it does, cycle through the exercises below. It would look something like this:
Run x 4 Minutes
Squats x 1 Minute
Run x 4 Minute
Plank x 1 Minutes
Run x 4 Minutes
Push-Up x 1 Minute
Run x 4 Minutes
Reverse Lunge x 1 Minute