If you’re like me, working out can sometimes feel like a chore. You’re stuck in the gym with a hundred other sweaty people. Smells bad. Someone always uses the squat rack as a hangout, rather than serious exercise equipment designed for optimal muscle shock. Exercising at home works, but sometimes the motivation just isn’t enough and you don’t have all the equipment you need. So what are you going to do when you don’t want to drive to the gym, and you don’t want to get locked in, but you want to give your body a great workout and rock the muscles?

I find that turning a nice, easy-going afternoon walk with my wife into an intense, spontaneous, multi-faceted total body workout is just the cure. If you try the occasional walk exercise, you’ll be out and about with a loved one and you’ll never be bored. Plus, you get an incredibly intense workout. And let’s face it: a truly strenuous workout makes us feel good eventually, but the actual exercise can be painful and unpleasant. Why not make it fun? Making your workouts enjoyable experiences can make you forget you’re actually exercising. You won’t even notice the muscle shock you’re feeling.

The next time you go for a walk, take a look at your surroundings. Find out what you can use as makeshift training equipment. If you broaden your horizons, I think you’ll find that the natural environment offers many options. See that low hanging branch? Use it for pull-ups. Do you see those two trash cans ready to be picked up in the morning on the curb? Use them to make dips. See that set of stairs? Run upstairs.

Start by walking normally. Suddenly, she yells something like “stride!” and then do lunges for 20 steps. Walk normally again, then yell “Wow! Climb on the nearest branch, pipe or ledge and do a set of 10 or 15 pull-ups, it keeps your body guessing, and that’s the best way to build strength, causing muscle shock and reducing muscle memory.

There are plenty of exercises you can do in your spontaneous walking training. Aside from the aforementioned pull-ups, dips, and lunges, here are several other examples:

Lizards

The classic bodyweight exercise, these can be performed anywhere. All you need is the soil. To increase the weight, have your partner sit on your back.

“Box Jumps

Unless your neighborhood is full of random boxes, you’ll have to make do with park benches, rocks, or ladders. These work great.

Jumping/Bouncing

Instead of just walking, hop or skip a couple hundred meters. You might get weird looks, but it’s great for your leg muscles.

Skipping

Not just for kids, jumping is actually a fun anaerobic exercise that really hits your leg muscles.

sprints

Run for thirty seconds!

running backwards

Run backwards for thirty seconds!

burping

A great workout for the whole body. After doing a push-up, bring your knees up to your chest and explode up into a jump squat. Go down and repeat.

The key is to enjoy your workout. If you love your gym and get a lot out of it, keep going! If you can work out at home and stay motivated, well done! For those of you who aren’t happy with your current routine, a muscle-impacting walking workout filled with compound movements might be the answer.