Until Wednesday, my only experience of a bootcamp class was watching one take place from across a park, usually as I lounged on the grass sipping a beer. So it was with an impending sense of doom that I caught the bus up to the Blackbird Leys leisure centre to try one out for myself.

I have to say, I loved it. Exercising in a group outdoors is as exhilarating and motivating as it looks in stock photographs or on Instagram and everyone in the group was warm and welcoming. Our instructor couldn't have been more different from the monstrous drill-sergeant I had pictured. With friendly but firm encouragement, she had us huffing and puffing at each station, concentrating on each of our individual limits rather than instilling group competitiveness. She caught all of us newbies up to speed quickly and was always on hand to offer help and advice.

A number of stations had been set up around the field at the back of the leisure centre, and we had one minute at each station before rotating. The class was around 45 minutes long, which ended up being three rotations of the whole circuit. The exercises ranged from shaking a rope to lifting weights. Every so often the instructor would blow her whistle, which was the call to sprint off down to the end of the field and back and then pick up where you left off at your station.

This weekly bootcamp session is part of Fusion Lifestyle's Great Outdoors campaign. The campaign hosts all sorts of outdoor activities, from guided walks to abseiling. Their swish looking website asks, 'how adventurous are you feeling?' and ranks their activities from 'a little' to 'extremely' so that you know what you're in for. The participating centres in Oxford are the Ferry Centre in Summertown and the Blackbird Leys Centre.

As we move into summer, exercising outdoors is a great way to stay active. Group activities are also much better than solo exercise at guilting you into leaving the house, as well as being a great chance to meet like-minded people. Take a look at what Fusion's outdoor programme has to offer and see if you fancy any outdoor activities this summer.