Posted on April 25, 2016 by Jenny Cromack

countryside workout

It’s no secret that you will get the best results when you follow your training plan and that sometimes involves being strict and disciplined but, sometimes things just don’t go to plan. When it’s out of your hands about fitting in a workout, what can be done!
Last weekend I knew that my schedule was pretty much back to back. I was heading home for a number of wedding related appointments and between that and looking after my niece and nephew I knew I was going to be pretty full on!

With this in mind I planned on getting to the gym at 5:30 allowing me enough time for a workout and shower before my 7am client. Many of you might be thinking wow that’s early but this would actually mean I had an extra 20 minutes in bed than a normal day with my personal training clients! My intentions were going to plan until I came down stairs to a defrosting freezer (It had been accidentally switched of at the wall!) meaning I had to salvage the remains and sort out the freezer!

By the time I eventually got to work it was 6:30am so I used my time to stretch off and foam roll something my legs actually appreciated. So the slight glitch with the freezer left me one strength session down so I knew I needed to make up for it during my weekend.

When I head back to my parents there is no question I am certainly active and love to get out and about the countryside the thing I was lacking was my weight season so I had to fit something else in. There is a gym about 10 miles away however timing wouldn’t allow me to get there so on saturday evening I set about to make shift myself a workout from stuff in the garden. It turned into more of a HIIT session but it certainly did the trick.

My mum wasn’t best impressed when I cut off a section of her new clothes line for skipping but it worked great. I used a hay bail for box jumps and lifting from the floor onto my shoulders. I filled a wheel barrow with bricks for shuttles and a lump of log for over head throws. I accompanied these with body weight exercises for a great cardio session. Often planning an alternative workout requires some thinking ‘outside the box’ and this alternative countryside workout shows that you can always train wherever you are!

So remember if you do have to change your plans, don’t panic and improvise you can always fit some type of training session in. Do something even if it’s not what was planned. If your day is completely written off then you can always swap your rest days. Remember though rest days don’t have to be completely nothing yesterday I enjoyed a long walk, which is great for an active recovery.