With summer now upon us again, it makes sense to think about the best ways that you can take advantage of the hot weather by training more outside, which is why below we have summarised the best and most effective workouts that you can do outdoors in the hot weather to improve your health and fitness (as well as your tan)!
Read on to find out more about the best training to do outdoors and get some tips and advice on how best to perform each exercise and/or type of training:
Hot Yoga
There are now many yoga practitioners who strongly advocate that it’s beneficial to perform yoga in a hot room as it burns more calories and releases toxins from the body, so following on from this it makes sense to perform this type of yoga outside in the hot sunshine in order to achieve the same effect. Therefore, now that summer has arrived it’s an excellent time to hunt down a yoga session that is performed outside in the park, in order to take advantage of these added benefits of hot yoga.
Park Jogging
Although this seems like something of a simplistic one – when you think about it, the benefits are actually far more wide-reaching than you might at first appreciate. Jogging and running outside in the park rather than in a gym gives you the added benefits of good-quality fresh air, all the health benefits of being outside in the sunshine such as getting adequate levels of Vitamin D, and in addition, for most people it will be way more enjoyable and motivating to jog or run outside in the park as the scenery is more appealing and interesting and it’s altogether a more enjoyable experience when it’s nice and hot and sunny, compared to pounding away on a static treadmill or rowing machine in an indoors gym environment.
Circuit Training In The Park
This one is included as it’s perfect for performing in the park in hot sunny weather – there’s plenty of wide open space that’s adequate for all the different equipment and areas that are required for circuit training, and it often only requires a very limited range of equipment that can easily be transported and set up quickly once you hit the park.
Training Outdoors With A Partner
Training outdoors in the hot sunshine in the summer is the perfect recipe for getting fitter and healthier along with your partner as a couple, as again there’s plenty of wide open space for both of you to perform the same exercises together at the same time, and the addition of the hot sun to your workout as a couple really adds a sense of romance and beauty for the both of you to the sometimes seemingly gruelling process of working out!
As well as the obvious benefits of getting to spend more time with your loved one in a beautiful and scenic setting doing something that’s going to make both of you feel better simultaneously, there are of course many other benefits to training with a partner that will ensure that this mode of training really hits the spot – for example, training with someone else has been shown to increase accountability, and improve the overall morale and sense of fun and enjoyment when working out – which is bound to lead ultimately to better results for both of you!
Don’t forget to stay hydrated
One thing that we simply have to mention in a blog post about training outdoors in the hot summer sunshine is the added importance of ensuring that you stay adequately hydrated. This is important of course at all times, but becomes particularly relevant during the hotter summer conditions, where it’s easier to not drink enough water and become dehydrated much more quickly.
To combat this, organisations such as The American Council on Exercise has suggested the following basic water intake guidelines for people doing moderate- to high-intensity exercise: drink 7 to 10 ounces of water every 10-20 minutes during exercise. Be sure to at least consume this amount when working outdoors in hot sunny conditions, otherwise there’s a significant risk that you will suffer the unwanted effects of not getting enough hydration whilst you train.
Take Advantage of Bodyweight Exercises
When you train outdoors in the park, you want to utilise forms of training that are proven to be highly effective, but obviously don’t require sophisticated equipment or training aids and/or accessories to perform – and body weight exercises happen to fit into this category and meet this criteria perfectly!
Body weight exercise has grown in popularity in recent times and for good reason – if you stick to the proven mainstay exercises then you can get a high-quality, highly effective workout that’s perfect for performing with no equipment outdoors in the park in the hot summer sunshine – stick to basic but proven bodyweight only movements such as pull ups, push ups, bodyweight squats and bridges and planks to target the middle section and core, and you’ll be guaranteed a highly effective workout that’s as good as any done with weights – providing you use good technique and perform each of these body weight exercises properly.
Applying the Principles of HIIT to Outdoor Training
When training outdoors, remember to apply the all important basic principles of effective training such as HIIT, where you perform short bursts of very high intensity training followed by longer periods of much lower intensity training for best results. For example, one simple but highly effective way of doing this when training outdoors in the summer, is to mix up sprints across the park with other exercises that are nowhere near as explosive and can be performed for a much longer duration than is the case with sprints.
This is a simple but highly effective way to ensure that you are getting the most from sophisticated and highly proven methods of training such as HIIT, but in the simple setting of the park in summer without any sophisticated equipment required – which is perfect for this kind of outdoor training.
And there you have it – our tips, advice and guidance to outdoor training in the summer to help you to make the most of training outdoors in the hot sunny weather and get the very most from your outdoor training.
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