A Walk in the Park

Last night Mom and I met for our weekly Wednesday night walk.  I look forward to these little jaunts of ours.  It’s a nice excuse to spend time together while also getting in some exercise.

Really, any time spent with mom is a proverbial walk in the park.  Why?  Well, cause she’s my Best Mom and I love her :).  However, last night we took that idiom and made it literal.

Thank you LTC Construction Company!

One of our local parks has a Fit Trail – a half mile walk around a pond with different exercise stations along the way.  The scenery is beautiful…

The fountains add a certain je ne sais quoi.

…but it’s the exercise stations that take this walk to another level.

Fitness Trails have their origin in 1960s Switzerland but they can be found all over the place now-a-days.  If you haven’t had the good fortune to experience one, it’s basically outdoor circuit training.  Come along with me and Mom, dear readers, as I re-cap last evening’s trek.

All walks should start with some stretching, so we got that outta the way first.

My beautiful, fit Mom.

We followed up stretching with some leg swings to loosen up the joints.

Exercise Barbie at the Park.

I’m not sure of the technical term for this contraption but it sure is a good time.  Your legs go all swing-y, swing-y, back-and-forth and it feels like you’re gliding.  Even better, if you bend your knees a little and focus attention on your hip action and contracting your quads and glutes, you get a great leg and tush work-out.

The best part is that there are two of these things side-by-side, so we could chat while we swung our leggies.

Next up was this barrell-roll type thing:

Someone bring me a Margarita.

If you do this the wrong way, you feel like you’re chillaxing at the shore in a not-particularly-comfortable beach chair.  However, if you do this the right way – contract those abs, lift those legs – it’s an excellent and tough core exercise.

We meandered our way to the next station and discovered this weird turn-y, twist-y thing:

I told Mom to “look confused” and this is the face she made…lol.

Weird arm exercise?  Medieval torture device?  We couldn’t quite figure it out.

Next up, though, was an arm machine we could appreciate:

Look the muscles in Mom’s arm. She’s got some guns, I tell you!

I’m a huge fan of this contraption cause no weights are involved, it’s designed to use your own body weight as the resistance.  Also, it’s double-sided so we could continue our convo as we lifted.  One side was decidedly easier…

No sweat.

…than the other.

Feel the burn.

Further down the trail, I tested my balance…

There I go!

…and made it safely across.

Here I come!

We also did some leg lifts on the parallel bars…

Parallel bars remind me of recess in grammar school.

…and I attempted a pull-up.

This is my “not-gonna-happen” face.

Folks, as fit as I am, I cannot do a pull-up to save my life.  No, not one.  I’m workin’ on it, though.  Perseverance and persistence.  I will get there someday.  🙂

Finally, I knocked out a few sit-ups.  This resulted in an awkward photo…

Made more awkward when Mom stumbled whilst taking the photo…hence the finger in the corner.

…in which I appear to be in the throes of possession by some other-worldly creature.

Didn’t see this comin’…didja?

Notice any similarities?  Hey, at least I’m smiling in my photo.  🙂

We did a few more loops around the pond and then threw in the towel for the day.  Nice walk, fun exercises, and the best Fitness Trail companion a girl could ask for.  It was a pleasant evening, indeed.  🙂

Have you ever done a Fitness Trail?

Do you have an exercise partner that you meet for regular work-outs?