Throughout the winter and spring, you have been eating right and working out hard with the goal of looking your best this summer. Well, now the summer is here and you can walk around in your favorite swimsuit with pride.
Unfortunately, the tremendous progress that you have worked so hard for will disappear if you don’t keep your calories under control. Don’t become part of the 80% who will put their weight right back on. Keep moving forward with these 5 surprising ways to burn calories this summer!
5 Ways to Burn Calories this Summer
Walking in Sand
The reason that many of us got in such great shape in the first place was to get out in the sun and enjoy the beach. If your idea of summer vacation is spending hours on the shore, then you have a great opportunity to get in some major calorie burning activities.
Taking long walks in the sand is a great way to burn calories while enjoying the summer sun. You may have noticed that walking in the sand causes a great deal of foot instability. This is actually a good thing because it requires greater effort to stabilize yourself.
As we all know, more effort equals more calorie burning. In fact, walking in the sand burns 20-50 percent more calories than walking on flat surfaces at the same pace. That calorie-burning effort also helps to strengthen our feet, calves, quads, glutes, and back.
Swimming
Swimming in an ocean, lake, or swimming pool is a perfect summertime calorie burning activity. You will probably get into the water anyway this summer, so why not help keep your weight down while you’re at it?
Swimming for just 30 minutes can burn around 223 calories, depending on your body weight.
30 minutes of swimming 4 days per week also fulfills the World Health Organization’s (WHO) requirements for weekly physical activity.
It’s important to take note that this calorie burning effect does not happen if you are simply standing in shallow water, waving your arms around. Stick to the freestyle, backstroke, butterfly, and even the doggie-paddle.
Suspension Training
Working out inside a gym may have been what got you this far, but the summer is a perfect time to take your training outside. There are several legitimate training tools on the market that can turn anything into a gym, and a suspension trainer is one of them.
Working out with a suspension trainer can burn around 240-350 calories an hour. However, if you really push the pace and have a more vigorous workout, you may burn closer to 360-500 calories per hour.
Suspension trainers are super lightweight, take up little space, and are easy to take to and from the beach. Just find a sturdy object, like a tree or a lifeguard stand, and you have a fully functioning gym on the beach.
Yard Work
I know what you may be thinking: “This doesn’t sound like a vacation.” Well, no one ever said that everything that you do in the summertime has to be fun.
The fact is: doing yard work makes you, and your home, look good.
Just the satisfaction of having an immaculate yard may be all the motivation you need to get outside and get to work. If that doesn’t get you going, take a look at how many calories you can burn by performing some common chores outside your home:
- Landscaping, moving rocks, hauling dirt = 400-600 calories per hour
- Raking and bagging lawn clippings and leaves = 350-450 calories per hour
- Gardening; pulling weeds, planting flowers = 200-400 calories per hour
- Mowing the lawn = 250-350 calories per hour
Kayaking
Kayaking is a common summertime activity that can be performed in the ocean or in a lake. It’s a great way to strengthen your upper body and improve core strength. Kayaking also requires a lot of lower body activation by using a lot of isometric contractions.
You can expect to burn around 283-454 calories per hour of kayaking. This, of course, will vary depending on your current body weight and rowing conditions. Try paddling backward to help keep you loose and add some variety to your venture.
Wrap-Up
You’ve put in some hard work so far this year. Just because you have finally reached the summer, don’t think that you have to wait until the winter to start getting in shape again. As you can see, it’s completely possible to burn calories and enjoy your summer!
Eric is the content manager at Fit&Me. Fit&Me is dedicated to helping you achieve your health and fitness goals, and transform your body by offering the best fitness equipment and knowledge you need.