Outdoor sports and leisure activities are getting more popular all the time. Especially when its warm outside, nobody likes being stuck indoors where the air recycled and the only wildlife is a couple of woodlice and the odd spider. The draw back of sports done outdoors though is that most of them are biased towards working the lower body.Short of doing just press ups and pull ups on a tree, its not always easy to think of activities that work the upper body well, here are some that do?
Kayaking. Water sports such as kayaking and canoeing are very good at exercising the muscles of the back, shoulders and arms. The arms and shoulders provide the vast majority of the movement, but the upper torso is also called upon lots to stabilise the body. The most attractive part of kayaking though has to be the ability to stop paddling and just bob about for a bit when you get fatigued. If your not keen on water however, this sport might be best avoided to be honest.
Rock Climbing. There are few sporting activities that demand effort from every single muscle within the body…rocking climbing is one that does. That said, your legs are not actually worked as much as you might think as a lot of the grip comes from special sticky slim line shoes that look like cycling shoes. The arms are in fact called upon a lot more in most types of climbing and get a real workout. Simply keeping yourself vertical on a climbing wall can be an effort and the muscles of the lower arm and shoulders will be toned in no time.
Hand Biking. More people ride bikes outside than take part in any other sporting activity. However, it’s not so great for toning up the arms. Hand bikes however such as Pinarello ones are geared in such a way that you can pick up some great speed just by turning your arms. They are often used by those who cannot use their legs, so have been designed with usability and endurance in mind.
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