Ditch the Gym and let mother nature be your personal trainer.

It was around this time last year that I was paying around $60 per month for the privilege of using a treadmill at my local 24 hour gym. Most times when I had finished a hard days work , the last thing I felt like doing was getting changed into my gym clothes and driving to the Gym.

So late last year I decided to be more active in the worlds biggest gym " The Great Outdoors " , I am lucky enough to live in an amazing part of Australia just over the Great Dividing Range where there are ample beautiful National parks and walking tracks, but no matter where in the world you live you are more than likely closer to some amazing walking tracks than you realise.

I combined the joyless requirement of exercise with one of my favourite things Photography, rather than look at a 17 inch screen attached to a treadmill ,I get to look down the lens of some amazing scenes of nature. Its best to do it early for me I will wake up around 4.30am and drive around 20 minutes to my nearest National park , depending what time constraints I Have i will walk between 5-20 kms taking my time to enjoy the amazing locations while snapping all the Pictures that I can.

If you live in an Urban area , its equally as fantastic to walk around a city at night. This is something I do when I travel , just taking Photographs of people and locations that grab my attention , finding the beauty in the everyday. The best part of this is you don't even need to have a fancy DSLR camera , most of us carry a powerful camera right in our pockets, using such platforms as this STEEMIT and also photo sharing sites like FLICKR and INSTAGRAM is a way to see your activities rewarded. When I began doing this I had only a small digital camera and my iphone, but some of the shots that I took were totally amazing, When I walk I usually take a million photographs of tree trunks , its kind of my thing, There is something about a majestic tree that makes me feel so connected to the earth.

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So why not this weekend , decided not to do a quick cardio work out at the gym, and had to your nearest park or wilderness trail , charge your phone and fill your water bottle and enjoy what this beautiful planet has to offer, the second bonus is you wont be smelling some Crossfit guys feet but take in the lung clearing air of the forest