The weather is warm, the sun is shining and the days are long. That’s a wonderful recipe for getting outdoors for your workouts. We are so fortunate in Clark County to be home to so many parks, trails and outdoor spaces thanks to the Parks Foundation for Clark County. 

Ideas For Your Outdoor Workouts

Park

Any community park is a fabulous location for a full body workout. You can use the monkey bars for chin-ups, a bench or step is great for performing step ups, box jumps, tricep dips or incline pushups. You can wrap an exercise tube around a pole and perform pulls and presses.

Waterfront

The waterfront path is a great location to do intervals while enjoying the beautiful views. Walk or run a few minutes and then stop and perform a couple muscle conditioning exercises. There are poles and railings that allow you to wrap tubing around to perform various muscle conditioning movements. 

Paths & Trails

You can use Salmon Creek Trail, Discovery Trail, Whipple Creek, Vancouver Lake or Lacamas Lake trail to couple running/walking/skipping intervals with body weight muscle conditioning exercises like lunges, squats, pushups and burpees.

Stairs

If you’re looking for a high intensity workout, look no further than a set of stairs. You’ll work your cardiovascular system and condition your legs. You can run or walk the stairs and either way, you’ll be huffing and puffing right out of the starting gates. You can find stairs along the new waterfront by Grant Street Pier or at most school athletic venues. 

Hill

Find a short hill and do repeats for an incredible cardio workout. Run or walk a hill and then perform a few muscle conditioning exercises. Repeat multiple times with different exercises for a fabulous workout. 

Curbs

You can use any curb to perform stepups, running up and down or modified burpees.

Rocks

Heavy rocks can be lifted overhead or pressed for upper body strength.

Sand

Sand running or performing walking lunges or squats in the sand can develop leg and ankle strength and stability. Head to Frenchmans Bar or Wintler Park for a great sand workout. 

Log

You can stand on it on one leg to condition your balance system or try stepping up and down onto it or hold a V-position for your core.

An outdoor bootcamp-type workout can be highly effective providing an intense interval workout that combines cardiovascular training, resistance training, and sports conditioning training that is physically challenging, inspiring and a ton of fun. 

Structured Outdoor Bootcamps can improve your overall physical and mental fitness. The group comradery can help with your consistency and results. The fresh air and vitamin D can boost your immune system, increase your energy, and make you feel amazing! 

FREE Sunday Community Bootcamps: If you’re looking for something structured so you don’t have to think about it, we offer a FREE Community Bootcamp class every Sunday at 9am June 5th -August 28th. Bring your friends, family and co-workers. This workout will take place outdoors utilizing many of the local parks in downtown Vancouver including the Columbia River waterfront, Fort Vancouver and more! Get the Details. Show up early on Week 1 to get organized. 

Yours in health & fitness,
Sherri McMillan

Sherri McMillan

Sherri McMillan

Sherri McMillan, holds a master's degree in exercise physiology and has been inspiring the world to adopt a fitness lifestyle for more than 33 years. She has received numerous industry awards including 2010 CanFitPro International Presenter of the Year, 2006 IDEA Fitness Director of the Year, 1998 IDEA Personal Trainer of the Year, 1998 CanFitPro Fitness Presenter of the Year and 2005/2006 ACE Fitness Educator of the Year - Runner up. She is a fitness trainer, fitness columnist for various magazines and newspapers, author of five books and manuals including "Go For Fit - the Winning Way to Fat Loss" and "Fit over Forty" and the featured presenter in various fitness DVDs. She has presented hundreds of workshops to thousands of fitness leaders throughout Canada, Australia, Mexico, Jamaica, New Zealand, Germany, England, Spain, South America, Asia and the U.S. She is the owner of Northwest Personal Training in downtown Vancouver, the founder of WHY Racing Events & WHY Community, participates in various community fundraisers and can be found running, biking, or hiking around the community. Find more information at nwpersonaltraining.com.

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