What Is Green Exercise, and Why Should We Do It?

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Travel is the best way to broaden your mind and feed your soul—but take the opportunity to exercise your body, too! If you follow a regular exercise routine, vacations may have a way of interfering with your regimen. You’re dependent on lackluster hotel fitness centers and forced to deal with unfamiliar towns that lack the amenities of your home turf. Why not give green exercise a try for a change? What is green exercise, and why should we do it? Mostly, it’s your opportunity to stay in shape while enjoying everything nature has to offer.

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Green Exercise Means a Smaller Carbon Footprint

Every time you use a treadmill, elliptical, or cycle, you’re using electricity and putting a greater strain on natural resources. Green exercise seeks alternative ways to work out. It relies on no-equipment exercises, exploring the great outdoors in physical ways, and otherwise cutting down on carbon emissions. With that in mind, when you plan your next vacation, make sure to…

Travel Somewhere That’s Green (and Close By!)

No matter where you live, you’re sure to find natural wonder and beauty nearby. Many state and federal parks offer lodging at reasonable rates, in addition to long and winding trails; opportunities for hiking, climbing, swimming, and bicycling; and other ways to exercise that are good for both you and the environment. Choosing a destination that’s just a short drive (or, better yet, a train or bus ride) away also reduces emissions.

Clean Up While You Work Out

Want to add some extra calorie-burning steps to your workout? For hikes and extended walks, bring a recyclable bag and a pair of work gloves to pick up any trash you see along the way. Taking a personal interest in the places you visit and work out can only add value to them and to your exercise regimen.

Green Exercise Inspires!

One of the biggest obstacles to exercising is that familiarity and repetition leads to boredom, which leads to giving up. Also, exercising for its own sake might feel a little selfish for some people.Earlier, we posed the question, “What is green exercise, and why should we do it?” Well, one big reason is that regularly exercising in places of natural beauty makes you appreciate nature and its preservation even more. As well-known Scottish-American naturalist and philosopher John Muir once put it, “In every walk with Nature, one receives far more than [one] seeks.”