The Ultimate Guide to Summer Outdoor Workouts

Who said you can’t work out during the summer? Today, we’re bringing you the ultimate guide to summer outdoor workouts, so you don’t miss a sweat session. When the weather’s nice, nothing beats getting outside for your physical activity. Besides, it will help you change your environment and spice up your workout experience.

There are a lot of fun and different types of workouts you can do outdoors this summer that will help you stay active and moving.

Best outdoor summer workouts

If you usually don’t have a lot of space to move around, the outdoors offers more room to do various exercises that you might not do otherwise. Also, you’ll be able to enjoy your surroundings, enjoy nature, and the fresh air. The best part is that you can work out with your friends, and create fun partner workouts.

One thing you have to keep in mind is to try not to do outdoor workouts in the peak hours of heat. So the ideal would be to work out either in the morning or the evening when the sun is not that high, so you can do them safely. But enough rambling, let’s jump into the best summer workouts.

Bodyweight workouts

Intensity: medium

Length: 15-45 min

Weight: basic equipment needed (tables, benches, chairs, etc.)

Outdoor bodyweight workouts are quite simple because they require very little equipment, yet are highly effective when done correctly. If you don’t have any equipment, you don’t have to worry that much since you can use whatever you have around you, like a bench or a big tree.

The bodyweight workouts can be super different from one another, for example, you can go to the park and do several sets of repetitions of different exercises, like a circuit. Let’s say, for example, you want to do a full body workout, here are some exercises you can play around with:

1. Plank exercises
2. Squats
3. Push-ups
4. Lounges
5. Sprints

Do about 12 reps each for 4 rounds. Mix it up and increase or reduce reps depending on how you feel like working out. You can also do it as a Tabata Workout.

However, there are other types of bodyweight workouts, like Yoga or Pilates, for example. They are so easy to do outdoors, you only need your mat and that’s it! If you already have some yoga knowledge, you can go and do it on your own, whenever you feel like it. But, if you don’t know too many yoga flows or Pilates movements, you can join a group. If you join an app like the meet-up app, you’ll find several groups that practice the activity you want

with a teacher. It’s very usual to do these workouts in the park or on the beach. So, go find your group and location and start moving outdoors!

HIT workouts

Intensity: high

Length: short (15-30 min)

Weight: basic equipment needed (tables, benches, chairs, etc.) or home weights

For those who still don’t know, HIIT responds to High-Intensity Interval Training. Similar to bodyweight workouts, HIIT workouts are a great and fun way to do cardio and burn a lot of calories in a short amount of time. A HIIT workout can last 15 or 30 minutes and still be super effective if done correctly. And it can be done with equipment or with zero equipment. The most important thing is to raise your heartbeat and recover when needed.

The benefits of HIIT training are several, the most known being the fact that it can burn a lot of calories in a short amount of time when done correctly. However, there are other benefits like your metabolic rate staying higher for hours after a HIIT workout, it can help you lose fat, and if you do it with weight, it can help you gain muscle mass, HIIT training can help stabilize blood sugar levels, heart rate, blood pressure, and improve oxygen consumption.

But, since this type of workout is a little more intense than the ones mentioned previously, we highly recommend you do them either early in the morning or the evening, when the temperature is not that high and the sun isn’t as harmful as peak hours.

Low-intensity workouts

Intensity: low

Length: 30-90min

Weight: basic or no equipment (yoga mat or workout shoes)

Low-intensity workouts are sometimes underrated, and people choose not to do them because they think they’re less of a workout. Let’s start by explaining what exactly is a low-intensity workout: it is any exercise that keeps your heart rate at a steady pace of about 50% of its maximum capacity and lasts for an extended period of at least 30 minutes. Since these types of workouts do not require a lot of equipment, they can be done outside and are a great way to enjoy the outdoors during the summer or spring, when the weather is good and the days are longer.

Here are some examples: 

• Taking a walk or light jogging
• Cycling in a casual place
• Rowing at a steady pace 

These are great ideas for low-intensity workouts. Getting 10k steps a day is perfect to keep yourself healthy, be outdoors and get in a workout.

Water sports

Of course, this category had to be included in our guide to outdoor workouts in the summer. Watersports are a great way to beat the summer heat and stay cool.

You can take advantage of the beach or the lake and do your workouts in the water. You can go swimming, kayaking, surfing, stand-up paddleboarding, diving, waterskiing, wakeboarding, and the list goes on! 

It’s a great way to move your body, get your workout in and enjoy nature. Besides, you can get a tan while doing it! Remember to use sunscreen though.

Now that you have our guide with plenty of ideas for the best summer workouts you have absolutely no excuses to skip working out this summer. You can do most of them even when you’re traveling, besides, they’re a good excuse to explore your surroundings, meet new people, and visit new places. So put on your workout outfit and go outdoors!