Last week, The Greatist Team journeyed to waterfront East River Park for a sprint and bodyweight circuit inspired by trainer and friend of Greatist Rog Law. While Rog wasn’t there to kick our butts in real life, his routine left us with Jello-y legs and sweaty… everything.

First we hit the turf for a warm up, juuuust in case the mile-long walk there didn’t loosen us up enough. Coach Tao introduced each move, and then we lined up shoulder to shoulder like the big, bad, Greatist gang we are (very reminiscent of West Side Story minus all that finger snapping business). We worked through two rounds of walking lunges with twists, inchworms, spidermans, butt kicks, high knees, and bear crawls to and from the finish line. We also threw in some bear crawl races at the end for good measure.

To round out the warm up and dynamic stretching, we engaged in a somersault tutorial because it’s fun and a good way to warm up up the neck and upper back. (But safety first!)

Then we hit the track for some 40 meter sprints. We rotated in pairs, and I cheated (not intentionally, I just got really excited). Now sufficiently sweaty, we scooted over to the outdoor gym, essentially a playground for big kids. Amidst the shirtless men busting out endless sets of pull-ups and dips, we commandeered a small area and made our (gang) presence known. We had two circuits to run through, four times each. We split into two groups. A member of group one manned each of the four stations, while the other formed a cheering squad and boogied to Biggie’s Hypnotize.

Here’s the breakdown:

Circuit 1 (4 rounds):

A. Chin ups/Jumping Pull-ups(30 seconds)

B. Bodyweight Squats(30 seconds)

C. Mountain Climbers (30 seconds)

D. Rest(30 seconds)

Circuit 2 (4 rounds):

A. Burpees(30 seconds)

B. Band Rows(30 seconds)

C. Jump Rope (double unders if you can)(30 seconds)

D. Rest(30 seconds)

Our fellow jungle-gym friends provided a fantastic music selection, which made the circuits much more bearable. And with some fresh air and not a whole lot of equipment, it was a lot like grade school recess, just without slides and dodge balls. Taking on this workout as a team (sans drill sergeant) was definitely still tough, what with the motivational cheering brigade, and our attempts to show up the burly brutes sharing the space. After scaling the stairs to the office the next day, our sore muscles verified a job well done.

Photos by Mykalee McGowan and Jordan Shakeshaft

What are your favorite ways to exercise outdoors? Share in the comments below!