Mar

Outdoor Activities: Can indoor sports compete?

Mark Pawlak Category

gym, indoor activities, indoor climbing, indoor sports, outdoor activities, outdoor activity

OK, this is an adventure sports blog so we all love our outdoor activities. But don’t think for a minute we are exclusive here; even the hardiest mountaineer chooses good weather over bad. So what is it about the outdoors that makes them so great and which indoor sports, if any, tempt us from our treks?

Mmmm, pause for thought. I can see indoor versions of outdoor activities being really enjoyable. A good climbing wall can test the best climbers’ abilities, but it’s just practice really, preparation for the real thing.

A friend of mine is training for a marathon – on a running machine. In his case he has little option, as he works on an oil platform. But I bet when he gets time off he’s not switching on a treadmill at home, he’s off up some wooded lowland trail.

Training simulators have been around for some time: feeble looking, wind turbine-like Heath Robinson contraptions that replace the back wheels of road bikes; rowing machines with hypnotic digital readouts and arctic ski-ing machines with brushed steel pulse points.

Slightly surreal don’t you think? An arctic ski-trainer plonked in a warmed conservatory, cup of tea on the side, washing machine finishing its cycle, watching the Winter Olympics on TV.

Enough on the solo sports. Where indoor sports come good is when they are team events. You’ll never convince all of your work colleagues that playing in the driving rain is preferable to hiring a gym. And why should you; any fool can be cold.

So for group events, indoor activities often trump: it’s the team experience that’s most important. But for solo pursuits, forget it. The reward is the effort, the elements are the challenge, the truth is out there.

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About the author

Mark Pawlak wrote 170 articles on this blog.

Editor at Adventure Sports Holidays, Mark's love affair with travel and the challenges of adventure sports continues... "You could save all year for a two-week, all-inclusive, doss by the pool, booze and buffet binge. Or, with a little planning and some good equipment, get off your arse and plan an adventure!"

Stuart Halliday March 19, 2010 at 11:40 am
First day home from that Oil Platform and its off with the steel toes and on with the trainers. What Mark didn’t mention is the fact that I have dragged my long-suffering wife along for the ride. So it’s a steady eight miles on the open Galloway forest trails this afternoon. A far cry from the steel box that poses as a gym/fitness suit on the rig. With the sun on my face, my dog at my heel, tunes in my head and my wife at my side life does not get much better.

Spring on its way and Galloway is coming to life, the spring flowers are abundant and the lambs gambol in the fields, we are truly blessed to live in a place of such natural beauty. Karen has been doing a steady 4 mile circuit from our back door round one of the many rolling hills in the area, which has recently had a wind farm plonked in the middle of it. It’s a green initiative that I guess has to be somewhere. Lots of people complain about these power generators but I think they are kind of hypnotic like a team of giant dancers cursed to eternally dance the ballet of the Giggawatt.

First longish run for Karen today in a while so I hope she does ok.
Mark Pawlak March 19, 2010 at 1:17 pm
Putting in the miles, with the smiles. I agree on the wind farms. They look natural to me: large wings turning under the power of nature, flowers with their petals blown off. Proof we are at one with, not just turning a profit from the earth. Outdoors it is.
Luke March 19, 2010 at 3:15 pm
When it comes to adventure sports outdoor activities win over their indoor versions every time but the indoor versions certainly have their place. For example a snow dome can’t compete with the Alps but when you can’t get to the Alps a visit to a 150m long indoor slope with real snow is at least good practice and is certainly better than nothing.

It is funny you talk about outdoor activities and fitness as I choose to visit the gym when I could exercise outside. I go a few times a week and use the rowing machine, bikes, treadmill and even the funny ski/cross trainer machines. I don’t do it simulate the activity I do it as a convenient way to keep fit. So in this case indoor is better than outdoor as I have no intention of joining a rowing club so I can do 10 mins of rowing twice a week.

So for me the outdoor activities vs indoor depends on the circumstances but for adventure sports outdoor is where you need to be.

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Outdoor Activities: Can indoor sports compete?

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