If you want to stay fit Di Westaway from Wild Women on Top reckons you should skip the gym and go on a micro-adventure.
"I used to think flogging myself at the gym was the best way to get fit for a great walk. I’d spend hours pumping weights and bouncing around the aerobics studio in my pink g-string leotard, leg warmers and big hair. But now I know there’s a better way to fitness and health. It’s called microadventure. And not only is it more fun than the gym, it’s more social, more natural and more specific to what you need when you go walking in the wild.
In spite of being a gym junkie in my early twenties, I haven’t pushed weights, smashed myself in a spin class or trudged on a treadmill for nearly 20 years. I still have muscles. I get them from micro-adventures hiking, kayaking, biking and climbing. According to adventurer Alister Humphrey’s, who invented the term, “a micro-adventure is an adventure that is short, simple, local, cheap – yet still fun, exciting, challenging, refreshing and rewarding.”
It can be anything from a 10-minute plunge in a lake, a whizz around a park on a bike, a sleep out under the stars or a sunset hike to a cliff top. But if the purpose of your micro-adventure, beyond being a daily ritual to make you smarter, healthier and happier, is to get you fit for a great walk, then it needs to be active.
Most of my middle aged adventure buddies, who are fitter and bouncier than most twenty-year-olds, use this method. And it works a treat. They don’t yo-yo like I used to do, but rather, they maintain a base line of fitness and strength simply from being “out there.”
They only use the gym for rehabilitation if they break something. They also get to bed early for muscle growth and repair, use massage and stretching for injury prevention and select nutritious delicious food for energy and vitality.
One of the best things about using micro-adventures for fitness is you can do them with a friend or three, which not only adds to the fun, but also makes it harder to cancel. The trick is diarise and commit so you get your social life, your fitness training, and your dose of nature all in one wanderlusty whack.
I don’t manage a micro-adventure every day because I’m a working mum but here’s what my weekly workout wish list looks like:
- Monday: Sleep in and an hour indoor rock climbing after work
- Tuesday: An hour hike up the nearest hill at sunrise and 30 min yoga in bed
- Wednesday: An hour sunrise kayaking and an hour indoor rock climbing after work
- Thursday: 30 minute bike ride to the harbour, an hour walking meeting and 30 minute bike ride home
- Friday: 2 hour sunrise hike and 15 min yoga in bed
- Saturday: 2 hour sunrise hike and 60 min indoor rock climbing OR a 6 hour hike with friends.
- Sunday: A 3 hour sunrise hike or a day out climbing or a bit of both.
- Once a month, I micro-adventure with a wild weekend of hiking, camping, climbing, kayaking or skiing for a really wonderful workout in nature.
- Then once a year, I go really wild by immersing immerse myself in an awesome exciting challenging Great Walk without ever stepping foot in a sweaty, smelly gym!"