There is nothing like getting outdoors and taking a break from the stress of daily life to jump-start a weight loss journey, push you beyond a brief plateau, or just get you excited to recommit to eating right and working out with consistency.

While personal training will keep you in shape on a weekly basis, it is fun and healthy to get out of the gym into fresh, new surroundings from time to time. If you don’t have a big budget to work with you have even more incentive to plan an adventure vacation. There is no charge for fresh air and nature’s finest mountain ranges and roads!

And, what better time to take an adventure in the great outdoors than in early fall, when the air is crisp and invigorating, and the weather is still warm enough.

Here are just a few great ideas for cheap fitness adventures that your personal trainers would approve of wholeheartedly.

Swim with the Dolphins

Go to Florida or California and you can easily find resorts and adventure companies offering programs that allow you to swim with the dolphins. You will burn minor amounts of calories while treading water or swimming slowly in the water with the dolphins, but you can always enjoy other water sports to burn tons of calories, such as surfing.

Adventure Hiking

If you live near large mountain ranges such as the Rockies, you can escape into the mountains for hiking or backpacking at different times of the year.

However, as New Yorkers, we still have access to terrific outdoor hiking and mountain trekking. Just 50 miles away from the heart of Manhattan, Bear Mountain- Harriman State Park, in Upstate New York, is a fantastic place to get away from the concrete jungle, and into the real thing.

Or, venture to the Mohonk Preserve, and explore the trails of the Shawangunk Mountains, in New Paltz, New York. You can hike, mountain bike, and even horseback ride your way through 7,000 acres of preserved land. Don’t forget to stop and enjoy stunning lake views.

For those who live out west, some states such as Utah and Nevada have mountain ranges that are very remote. You could easily go 30 or more miles away from roads and civilization to experience the wild like never before.

Of course, you can also play it safe and stay within state parks for day adventures. You can also camp out for a weekend or longer in most state parks, getting out for hikes and even biking adventures during the day.

A 150 pound person could burn around 430 calories per hour while hiking. If you spend an entire weekend in the mountains with daily hiking adventures lasting at least a couple hours you could easily burn over 1,000 calories per day just during that activity!

Bike Tour of Local Tourist Destinations

If you are really tight on cash or just want to stay as close to home as possible, get out the map or look around online and note some of the best tourist features in surrounding cities. How far out you go is up to you.

Now, plan a biking tour to visit all of these destinations. You can do this in a weekend, a week, or longer, depending on how far out you want to go. Book hotel rooms for each night, carefully planning how far you can bike each day to get to each of your destinations.

All of these adventure ideas allow you to take the strength and health you have gained from your personal trainers and put your body to the test. Plus, you can relax on vacation while burning tons of calories.

A person weighing 150 pounds could burn nearly 600 calories per hour biking at a casual to moderate pace. Plan daily trips around your time that include at least a couple hours of biking round trip and you could burn 1,200 calories or more just for those trips! Even if you plan shorter trips to accommodate children, biking is a great calorie burner.

So, take advantage of these transitional months, and take your personal training to the wild outdoors!

When exercising your abdominal muscles, are you exercising the deep ones? If you’ve surfed the Internet, watched TV, or read a magazine or newspaper during the past week, then you’ve probably seen an advertisement for some sort of abdominal gadget. But oftentimes, even these gizmos don’t work the deep abdominal muscles. Fortunately, core exercises and the invaluable guidance of a personal trainer in New York city can provide your body with several benefits:

1. Better breathing

Not only is breathing important, but proper breathing is equally important. Your transversus abdominis muscle (TVA) is linked to the diaphragm. So after strengthening your core muscles, you greatly boost your ability to inhale and exhale completely. And the more oxygen your body intakes, the better all of your body’s systems will function during a workout.

2. Recreational activities will be more enjoyable

Whether you enjoy skiing, surfing, cycling, or running, core exercises will improve any sport that requires flexibility and aerobic routines. That’s because these exercises improve your balance, flexibility, coordination, and breathing. The bottom line is that your endurance and sports skills will improve.

3. Less frequent lower-back pain

Lower-back pain is a relatively common occurrence in everyone’s life. This usually happens after placing too much weight on the lower back, or applying it too quickly. But by strengthening your core muscles, your lower back will become better suited to bear heavy weights. When you have stronger core muscles, your spine will move more freely, thus reducing the frequency of lower-back difficulties. With the help of a certified personal trainer in NYC you can add the right exercises to your workout regimen to help prevent such problems.

4. More strength

In the old days, you’d wear a weight belt in the gym, in order to do exercises such as deadlights, shoulder presses, or squats. The function of the weight belts was to support your core muscles as you did an array of exercises.

However, that was before we knew about core exercises. Through a personal training program in New York City with a personal trainer that is knowledgeable in these areas, you can add the right core exercises to your exercise program, to strengthen the original “weight belt”: core muscles. Your core muscles, such as the TVA can replace those ancient weight belts, supporting your body the natural way.

5. Your flexibility will increase

You may be thinking, “What do deep abdominal muscles have to do with flexibility?” Core exercises stabilize your lower back, which in turn can improve your body’s flexibility. That’s because your ligaments and muscles can move in their full range of motion. This improved flexibility will reduce pressure and tension in the muscles of the lower back. A personal trainer can help to choose the best core exercises to improve flexibility.

So there you have it! Core exercises should be an integral part of your exercise routine, because they give your deep abdominal muscles a workout. Personal training with a personal trainer in New York City can help to determine which exercises and how many sets would be right for your particular workout. By strengthening your stomach, you also strengthen your workout!

To learn more about our private personal trainer services in NYC and our special introductory offer and free gym membership click here.