The 6 Greatest Outdoor Workouts, Period

After a dark and cold winter, the fluorescent-lit gym starts to feel as drab and stuffy as a fluorescent-lit cubicle, and the old routines of arm day and leg day and ab day just aren’t cutting it. Ditch the racks and benches and venture outdoors into the sunshine. Your bleary eyes will find life’s better with the wind in your hair, the sun on your back, and the world zipping past. We’ve ranked the top outdoor sports — mountain biking, trail running, open-water swimming, obstacle course racing, road cycling, and rock climbing — based on exercise efficacy, calories burned, cost of gear, availability, and risk factor to see which one offers the most burn for your buck. So, go ahead and take your fitness to the next level while communing with nature. The outdoors awaits. Go work it.

6 Mountain Biking

TAKE A WILD RIDE

For a lot of guys, “mountain biking” conjures up images of adrenaline junkies in full-face helmets rocketing down white-knuckled descents and hucking themselves off cliffs à la Tygerberg Trails. “It’s not necessarily gnarly”, says seven-time world champion endurance mountain biker Rebecca Rusch. “It’s like skiing, where you can choose a green, blue, or black trail depending on your skill level.” For her, mountain biking is all about leaving the road behind and exploring. “It’s easy to say, ‘I want to see what’s over that hill’ or ‘I’ve never