Gyms are designed to help you get the best workout possible. There are dozens of machines, group classes, and pieces of equipment from which to choose, placing fitness at your fingertips. But, gyms can also be places where people want to talk your ear off instead of letting you work out, home to a number of infection-causing germs, and sometimes too overcrowded to serve their primary purpose of convenience. Thankfully, you can always take your workout outside.

To maintain a healthy lifestyle, all that's required is 30 minutes of activity per day -- whether it be jogging, walking, shooting hoops, gardening, dancing, etc. And, to keep muscles and bones strong, doctors suggest also incorporating 20 minutes of resistance training exercise two or three times a week.

With summer still here, there's no better time to break free of the confines of your gym walls and take your workout into the great outdoors. No longer will you have to wait for equipment, wipe sweat off a weight bench, or even have to worry about making it there before they close. Now that sounds pretty convenient to me.

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Gyms are a great place to work out. You have more equipment at your disposal, there are experts on hand to answer questions, and the camaraderie can be motivating. But there's no denying the convenience of working out at home. But if you live in a small apartment or just don't have spare rooms for weight benches and other gear, what are you supposed to do?

Ellen over at Green Daily just posted about an innovative new solution called the Otto Bench. The bench serves as an ottoman when all packed up. But just open up the sides, remove the equipment and it becomes a multi-adjustable bench and a bench press as well as storing free weights.

The Otto Bench was designed for a Life Fitness contest, so it's not available for sale yet. When it is available, I think it will be a great solution for small spaces. I just hope they make it a bit more attractive than the prototype!

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Workouts getting boring? Interested in trying something really new in your workouts?

Well, here's the Bodywall.

Bodywall is a stick-um velcro-like wall that allows you to do Spiderman poses. But the people at the Bodywall website say you can also use it for strength training and injury rehabilitation.

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