Outdoor sports and leisure activities are getting more popular all the time. In the summer months it’s not very enjoyable to be stuck indoors in a stuffy gym or sports hall, when you could be outside in the fresh air. 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. As this is where all the propulsion and stabilising comes from, the shoulders especially get a fantastic workout. Furthermore, when you need a bit of a break, you can just stop paddling and glide along for a little bit. If you don’t like getting wet though, this might not be the sport for you.

Climbing. If you are looking for a sport that works every muscle in the body then rocking climbing is the one for you. 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. Conversely, a lot of the power and endurance work is provided by the arms during climbing. 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 Bikes. More people ride bikes outside than take part in any other sporting activity. Having said this, cycling is more of a leg sport than an arm workout. Hand bikes however such as Pinarello Dogma 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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