Adding Variety to Your Workout Routine with the Top Outdoor Exercises and Workouts

When it comes to working out, many people tend to make excuses not to exercise outdoors. Whether it's the heat, the cold, the humidity, or the crowds, it's easy to find reasons not to take a run or try a HIIT workout in the local park. However, there are countless benefits to powering through strength training or cardio outside, including a greater calorie burn and a major mood boost.

According to Tina Vindum, founder of The Outdoor Fitness Institute, one primary reason for the calorie-burning benefit is that outdoor workouts challenge your muscles with inclines, declines, and obstacles. Additionally, research from the University of Essex in England shows that performing outdoor exercises can improve mood and boost self-esteem.

If you're looking to switch up your usual routine, try Vindum's 30-minute outdoor workout circuit. You can do it in your backyard or at a local park, and you'll burn about 250 calories while building muscle. If you're short on time, the quick cardio meltdown outdoor workout will get your heart rate up and sweat flowing.

Outdoor workouts don't have to feel like a chore, though. If you're in the mood for something fun and fresh, keep reading for 10 unique outdoor workout activities that you can do solo or with a group.

Before you get started, warm up with at least five minutes of power walking or light jogging. Then, perform each move for the prescribed time or number of reps. For these workouts, all you'll need is open space and a park bench.

Targeting inner thighs, quads, calves, and glutes, start with 20 lateral hops on each side. To target triceps, shoulders, and core, try 15 bench dips.

To work your chest, biceps, triceps, shoulders, and core, try 12 bench push-ups. Then, turn around and do 8 reps of bench push-ups with your feet on the bench to target the same muscle groups. To target calves, quads, and core, try "tightrope" walking across a curb or fallen tree for at least 3 minutes.

To work your glutes, inner and outer thighs, and quads, try shuffling to the right then left for 1 minute. For your core, obliques, glutes, upper back, and shoulders, try 12 standing crunches per side by stepping up to a step, log, or flat rock and drawing your knee to your elbow.

Finally, to target your quads, hamstrings, and glutes, try the kick cycle (back, diagonal, side) 26 times. For abs, try hanging from a sturdy and low tree branch or monkey bars, with your palms facing forward, and do leg lifts while keeping your arms extended.

Perform 12 reps of the following exercise while maintaining proper form. This movement targets the glutes, hamstrings, and quads.

A. Create a zigzag pattern using four to six small rocks, with roughly 1.5 feet between each rock.

B. Keep your feet close together and hop to the outside of each rock.

C. Turn around when you reach the end and repeat.

If you're looking for a quick, effective, and sweat-inducing outdoor workout, give this reps-based routine a try. Personal trainer Lindsay Ferrer designed this routine, which features several exercises that you can do back-to-back with no breaks in between. For even more of a test, time yourself while performing the entire workout and try to outdo your best time during your next outdoor sweat session, according to Ferrer. To complete this workout, all you'll need is a mat or towel and a timer.

A. At the shorter end of your mat or towel, bend your knees, brace your core, and jump as far forward as you can, landing gently.

B. Move backward in pedaling motions to your starting position and then repeat. Do 10 reps.

A. Start in a high plank position with your hands right under your shoulders.

B. While keeping your back straight, bend your elbows and slowly lower your chest towards the ground.

C. Push through your palms, extend your elbows, and return to a high plank position. Modify by lowering yourself to your knees if necessary. Do 10 reps.

A. Stand with your feet slightly wider than your hip width and point your toes slightly outward.

B. Bend your knees and drop into a squat until your thighs are parallel to the ground.

C. Engage your quads and glutes, push through your heels, and return to your starting position. Do 15 reps.

A. Get to the end of your mat and stand with your knees bent, your core braced, and jump towards the opposite side of your mat.

B. Bend down and place your palms on the mat, then jump your legs back into a plank position.

C. Jump your feet back towards your hands and stand up. Do 15 reps.

A. Lie on your back, with your hands clasped behind your head, and your knees bent at a 90-degree angle forming a tabletop position.

B. Raise your chest so that your shoulder blades are almost off the ground. Extend your right leg and simultaneously bring your right elbow to your left knee.

C. Keeping your chest elevated, return your knees to a tabletop position and repeat on your other side without a pause. Do 20 reps, 10 on each side.

A. Start in a high plank position with your arms directly below your shoulders and your legs extended behind you. Your body should form a straight line from your ankles to your shoulders.

B. Brace your core to maintain a flat back and bring your right knee towards your chest.

C. Return to the plank position and repeat with the opposite leg, quickly alternating as if running. Do 20 reps.

You don't have to go to the gym to get an effective full-body workout. In addition to cycling and rollerblading, top fitness experts recommend a variety of fun outdoor exercises. Check out stand-up paddleboarding (SUP), which builds full-body strength and core stability, or try celebrity fitness trainer Andrea Metcalf's high-intensity interval training (HIIT) basketball or volleyball court workout. You can even create your own fitness scavenger hunt by mapping out your route and incorporating bodyweight exercises along with landmarks you'll see during your workout.

To start your scavenger hunt, head out on your route and every time you see one of your outdoor workout landmarks, do 10 reps of the corresponding move. For example, if you listed 'park bench' next to push-ups, hit the bench for a set of 10 incline or decline push-ups every time you see one. It's a fun way to mix up your outdoor workout routine and add an element of play (and still keep plenty of sweat) to your typical route. (You'll need both for all those push-ups, but what's the real difference between muscular strength and endurance?)

'In addition to being a great outdoor workout, this will also keep your mind in the present moment, which is something that a stressful schedule can prevent us from doing,' says Martty. 'If you're actively looking for your scavenger hunt items, you can't be worried about the presentation you have to give the next day at the office.'

Who needs a gym full of equipment when you can get a total-body strength and cardio workout just by using a variety of balls during an outdoor workout? Gather up a variety — basketballs, soccer balls, Swiss balls, whatever you've got — and design drills using them as weights, cones, and/or to create instability, says Laura Williams, a certified personal trainer in the U.K.

How it works: Set two balls next to each other on the ground, and then place a third ball about 10 feet away. Starting on the side with two balls, pick one up and run, slide, or even dribble it between your feet to the other side. Once you get there, switch balls, leaving the one you had and picking up the one that was already there. Continue moving the balls back and forth until you've moved each ball 10 times to complete the outdoor workout.

Transform CrossFit into an outdoor workout with either of these workouts of the day (WODs) that use very little equipment, suggests Jason Benade, a CrossFit coach in Elk Grove, California.

'Sailing and rowing courses are affordable and an awesome change of pace, says Andia Winslow, a professional athlete, certified fitness professional, and ambassador for the Women's Sports Foundation. Sailing is a total-body outdoor workout that helps build upper-body muscular endurance, agility, coordination, and flexibility and can burn around 200 calories, says Winslow.

And rowing? Forget the machines at the gym and get out on the water. This low-impact cardio outdoor workout challenges your legs, abs, and back in a major way and can burn up to 800 calories per hour, says Winslow. (When you are in the gym, try this 20-minute rowing workout.)

Take your outdoor exercises to new heights and channel your inner circus star. Try a private trapeze lesson (solo, with a pal, or with your significant other — do you!) or enroll in a class to experience this total-body, endorphin-inducing outdoor workout that can have you burn up to 500 calories an hour, says Winslow. Plus, controlling your body while hanging off a bar in midair is also one serious core workout.

Want to burn more calories during your outdoor workout without having to run longer? Try trail running. Thanks to the textured, uneven terrain, your body has to work harder with every step, making trail running a more intense and effective outdoor workout than pounding flat pavement.

'Runners must be wholly engaged as they find footings, achieve balance, and adjust to incline changes,' says Winslow. 'Both your aerobic and anaerobic energy systems are being used during your run, as some trail positions require bursts of energy, unlike the steady-state fitness level of pavement or the treadmill.'

The muscles trained or number of calories burned shouldn't always be the focus of your workout. You can get active outside and give back to your community at the same time.

'Walking dogs for a local shelter or cleaning up a nearby park in the neighborhood are all great calorie burners and a nice way to give back,' says Jaime Sutton, a certified personal trainer and the owner of J'aime Fitness, LLC in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. To find great opportunities in your area, take a look at Volunteer Match.