Have you had enough of keeping to the same routine, day after day, when walking to keep fit? Transform your neighborhood into a real outdoor gym and spice up your usual routine, thanks to this tour of seven simple exercises! Add to the mix the crisp air of the season, and guarantee yourself true health. Just for you!

The Ingredients for a Pleasant Walk

You’ll need thirty minutes, clothing to suit the season, a safe place to walk, and some stairs. A park or the streets of your neighborhood, and the staircase from your balcony will do nicely. That's all!

What to do?

Practice this circuit two or three times a week, taking a rest day between workouts to allow your muscles to recover.

Warming Up

Walk for five minutes at a speed of about 115 steps per minute (2.5-4 miles an hour), to prepare gradually for greater efforts.

The Circuit

After each of the seven exercises, walk for two or three minutes, but this time at a speed of about 140 steps per minute (4-6 miles an hour).The effort that you feel should be between 4 and 7 on a scale of 0 to 10, imagining that 0 represents a state of complete rest, while 10 represents the intensity of a sprint at the end of a race.

Returning to Rest

Walk slowly during from 5 to 10 minutes.

Exercises

Circles with arms

After your warm up, keep walking by making 10 large circles in the front with your right arm, and then with the left. Repeat the circles in the opposite direction.

Slots

Reduce your speed; then take a giant step with your right foot. Slowly bend your knees, lifting the left heel off the ground, as if to genuflect. Finally, straighten your legs and bring the left foot beside the right. Repeat this maneuver by making a giant step with the left foot, and so on. Swing your arms in opposition to each leg. Make 20 slots, alternating right and left.

Squats with Leg-Back Extension

Place your feet parallel to each other, hip width. Do a squat by bending your knees as if you were going to sit down. While straightening up, lift and push your extended right leg behind as well. Do 10 squats extending the right leg; then 10 more with the left.

Standing Crunches

Stand up straight with your feet slightly wider than hip width. Place your hands behind your head, elbows open. Raise the right knee and bring the left elbow to the latter by a rotation of the trunk to the right. Straighten up and drop your right foot to the floor. Repeat 15 times. Repeat with the left knee and right elbow.

Punch!

Stand straight, with your feet at hip width. Fold your arms, close your fists under your chin (like a boxer) and tighten your abdominals. Rotate the trunk to give a right punch to a left corner, then a left punch to a right corner. Alternate fists for two minutes. Go, Rocky, go!

Using the Staircase (for this exercise, there are two possible scenarios)

1. If you have access to many steps (more than eight), place your hands behind your back and lean slightly forward. Climb the stairs two by two, turn around and descend them quickly, one by one, for two minutes.
2. If you have access to only a few steps, adopt the same starting position. Climb the steps one by one and run backwards slowly (facing the top of the stairs) for two minutes.

Elbow Extensions

Sit on the first step of the stairs. Press your hands on the edge of the second step with your fingers pointing forward, and lift your toes to rest on your heels. Now straighten your arms to raise your hips above the step; then, bend your arms again to lower your hips close to walking without sitting down. Repeat 10 to 15 times.

Walking is one of the best ways to get fit, burn calories, and lose weight. By walking in a circuit, you will discover that the process becomes doubly effective. Go on! Put on your sneakers, take a bottle of water, and head out!