Parks are one of the best places for exercise. You have the space, fresh air and zero cost all waiting for you to make the most of – and most probably, there is a park just round the corner from your house or office.

You can exercise in the park all year round, weather permitting. Imagine how invigorated you’ll feel after a quick workout on a cold, crisp and bright winter’s morning. And you need no special equipment – just make sure you dress for the occasion with light clothing  in the summer and add on some layers as it gets colder and some visibility, so you can be seen plus whatever the weather keep a bottle of water to hand for rehydration purposes.

The biggest bonus with park exercising is the variety. You have so much freedom to enjoy a workout or sport of your choosing – we have suggested a few below to get your ideas flowing.

Jogging

Probably the most obvious choice, along with walking, but jogging is ideal for park exercising. You can choose to jog around the perimeter or create your own route – for example, in Battersea Park in London, you could jog alongside the bank of the River Thames.

If you are not keen on jogging or just starting with your fitness training, you could alternate walking and jogging. For example, you could walk at a reasonable pace for three minutes and then jog for one minute, repeating this as often as you like.

Fitness circuits

If your local park is a reasonable size, it may have a fitness circuit. Many of the parks in London and the South East have this facility including Battersea Park in London and Light water Country Park in Surrey. Each one is slightly different but fitness circuits offer a great workout at your level – select the exercises you want to do as you work your way around.

Create your own exercise routine

If your local park does not have a fitness circuit, you can easily create your own – all you need is a small playground which has monkey bars or equipment with a bar at a suitable height and a park bench. With just these few things, you can do some pushups on the bar, for example, using both hands and lifting your body up towards the bar and then slowly lowering yourself. Repeat about ten times, depending on your fitness level.

With the park bench you can simply stand behind it and take two steps back. Balancing on your toes, place your hands on the back of the bench with your arms stretched out. Then simply lower yourself down towards the bench until your chest is near the back of the bench, and then push back up. Another exercise is squats. Stand in front of the bench and put your hands on your hip, legs shoulder width apart – chest lifted, stomach in and body weight on the heel of your feet – and simply lower yourself closer to the bench and to a comfortable level. Then raise yourself up again. Repeat both these exercises about ten to fifteen times.

Of course, you don’t actually need any park equipment at all to do some exercise. For example, you could do some traditional push ups on the grass; some lunges and arm stretches; or find a kerb and step onto it and off it repeatedly. Alternatively, you may want to enjoy a game of Frisbee which will give your arms a good workout as you stretch to catch it or run around and kick a ball for a bit.

Extras

There are plenty of options to add variety to your park exercising. You could go running with a friend or play tennis on the outdoor courts. Also, many parks have sports pitches for football, hockey, basketball etc, as well as sports centres for indoor group training such as circuits or for exercise classes although these are not always free activities.

Parks are also the ideal place for personal training as there is more than enough room for you and your personal trainer to create the perfect fitness training for you.

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Esteem Fitness – Personal Training in London and South East