Yard work can be a workout. If you’ve spent any time bagging grass clippings or fall leaves or digging a hole for a new tree or weeding and planting a new garden, then you know what I mean.
But in the front yard of a house on Shannon’s Way in Standish, the workout really is a workout. Complete with dumbbells and a big tire to flip and mini traffic cones that let you know just where to drop to the grass and start hammering out those push-ups.
Trainer Amy Kilburn has led open-air fitness classes in the front yard of her home for a couple of years now. There’s a circuit-style Happy Hour Fitness class on Wednesdays from 6-7 p.m. and a more bootcamp-style Open Air Fitness class on Saturdays from 9-10 a.m. And everyone is welcome to come take part.
But I’ll warn you: The grassy front lawn and the sunshine and the dog watching from the front door might lead you to believe that this is just going to be an easy-going morning (or evening) of stretches and gentle sweating. Wrong. You will work your arse off.
Amy changes up the workouts all the time, so the classes won’t always look the same, but when I was there on a recent Saturday, we started with a warmup (high knees, butt kicks) before moving on to pyramids. You know pyramids: start with a set of 10, then 9, then 8, then 7… We began with a round of 10 push-ups by the mini traffic cones, then side-shuffled down the yard and did 10 squat jumps. Then side-shuffled back for 9 push-ups, side-shuffle, 9 squat jumps. You see where I’m going here.
Then we split into groups to do dumbbell rows and lunges and more squats. And we flipped tires! (Tire-flipping is, in my opinion, one of the most badass, super-human-feeling acts of fitness. I always feel like some kind of havoc-wreaking all-powerful monster…but a nice one who only wreaks havoc on tires in socially-acceptable environments and who only uses her power for good.)
There was another round of pyramids, this time with lunge-jumps, running, and running men. And we even returned to the original pyramid, and when I did the math afterward, I realized we’d actually done 110 push-ups. Holy crud!
I was entirely spent by the end of the hour – panting and red-faced. And it felt awesome to sweat in the sun early on a Saturday morning (early, but not too early. 9 a.m. rocks).
Find more about the classes on sunrisefitnessme.com and work out in the yard – no grass clippings involved. Drop-in is $10 or buy a 10-class pass for $80.
Personal training
Amy also does personal training at her home gym, which is equipped with all the things. Personal attention without being surrounded by lots of other people at the gym, if that aspect isn’t your thing. Amy’s a Certified Personal Trainer, Corrective Exercise Specialist, and Behavior Change Specialist. She also just got her certification in pre- and post-natal fitness. Contact her at Amy.Kilburn623@gmail.com for more info.
Outdoor workouts with Sunrise Fitness
15 Shannon’s Way, Standish
Happy Hour Fitness class on Wednesdays from 6-7 p.m. and a more bootcamp-style Open Air Fitness class on Saturdays from 9-10 a.m.
Drop-in is $10 or buy a 10-class pass for $80.
FMI: sunrisefitnessme.com and Sunrise Fitness on Facebook.
