I (Lisa) just returned from a mini vacation to Mackinac Island with my sister.  Due to its geography, getting around the island, just over 7 miles in circumference, entails a lot of biking and walking. So even people who don’t intend to workout do actually get some exercise.

During my stay, I opted for biking on the road around the island. Navigating on the road can be tricky when the “horse and buggy crowd” is out. Getting out early allowed me to avoid that problem. There are also great trails for the mountain biking enthusiasts.

The property where I stayed had a great outdoor nature trail with 10 stations setup for different exercises.  Many of the stations included parallel bars, chin-up bars, a low bar for doing dips, and another stationary bar that I was able to use for doing a kip-up exercise.  I also utilized a cement bench.

The trail, though beautiful, wasn’t extremely challenging for us but with a little imagination and improvisation we fixed that.  By running hills and doing sprints along a nearby gravel road path we challenged ourselves.  We put in 60 minutes of work and got a great workout.  It sure beat using the treadmill or other cardio equipment in the “fitness center”.

If the vacation “home” where you’re staying offers a great place to exercise outdoors take advantage of it.  I don’t have anything against fitness facilities but getting outside to exercise is exhilarating and beats being cooped up indoors.

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