1. Move your workout into the water. The next time you’re at the beach or poolside, take a break from lounge-chair languishing and try a shallow-water workout instead. Walking through thigh-deep water burns nearly twice as many calories as walking on land.
Total burn: More than 210 calories per half-hour
2. Hold the ’07 Olympic trials in your backyard. The real Games may be a year off, but you can make your mark in the garden-rock shot put or sandbox long jump. Choose your favorite summer Olympic sport and tweak it to make it backyard-friendly. Then gather all the friends and family you can and go for the gold.
Total burn: 170 calories per half-hour
3. Adopt a stretch of park or beach and keep it clean. Picking up trash can help both your community and your heart. Start by recruiting buddies, then crank up some fast-paced tunes on your boom box or MP3 player and get to work. All that squatting and lunging will leave you—and the land—looking beautiful.
Total burn: 102 calories per half-hour
4. Take a bike tour of a nearby city. Explore new neighborhoods, or grab a friend and a map to create your own sightseeing trip. Your heart will be racing in no time.
Total burn: Around 270 calories per half-hour at a moderate pace
5. Pick your own berries. Get a full-body workout while you gather fresh fruit. Walk the fields at a nearby farm, pick to your heart’s content, then carry the berry-filled baskets back to your car. To find a local farm, visit pickyourown.org.
Total burn: 102 calories per half-hour
6. “Test out” playground equipment. 170 calories per half-hour
7. Crank up the iPod and get your groove on. 153 calories per half-hour
8. Go canoeing. 119 calories per half-hour
9. Scale the longest staircase in town. 272 calories per half-hour
10. Get spinning with a hula hoop. 153 calories per half-hour
11. Jog on the beach. 238 calories per half-hour
12. Twirl a jump rope. 340 calories per half-hour
13. Play a game of tennis—with no out-of-bounds. 238 calories per half-hour
14. Volunteer to walk dogs at a local shelter. 102 calories per half-hour
15. Take a self-defense class. 340 calories per half-hour
16. Listen to books on tape while walking the chapters away. 129 calories per half-hour
17. Cultivate a garden of your family’s favorite veggies. 136 calories per half-hour
18. Pack a picnic and hike to the perfect spot. 238 calories per half-hour
Note: All calorie estimates are based on a 150-pound woman.
