Summer is all about sunshine, ice cream, BBQ’s and having a good time outdoors. But what happens when the beach season is closely approaching and we don’t have our beach body ready? Should we hit the gym? Definitely not.
Summer is the perfect season to ditch the gym and embrace a wide range of outdoor activities that can help us burn calories. Why should we stay cooped up in a room when we could step outside, take in the lovely sunshine and engage in various sports and physical activities that blend efficient calorie burning with lots of fun.
Following you can discover our list of summer outdoor activities ideal for toning your body. The calorie burn for the activities listed below has been calculated for an 175-pound (80 kg) adult who has been physically active for 1 hour.
Walking: 444 Calories/Hour
Walking is a simple form of exercise, with powerful long-term health benefits. If during winter time the cold weather may prevent you from stepping outside, the warm summer temperatures are ideal to increase your walks. Walk the entire distance to work if possible or partially, take a stroll in the evening, go to the park, to a garden or some other place that gets you closer to nature. It doesn’t really matter where, as long you walk more you’ll feel the rewards. According to research, walking for an hour at a speed of 4 mph (6.4 km/h) will allow you to burn 444 calories.
If you set a goal for yourself to walk more, it’s important to be able to track your progress. Tracking can help you properly understand how much you’re moving during the day, how far you’ve come along and it will give you the necessary motivation to keep going until you reach your fitness target. In order to track your steps, the calories burned or the distance covered you could purchase an additional fitness gadget or you could keep that money in your pocket and install a pedometer app on your phone.
The latter solution may turn out to be more convenient since you carry your phone with you everywhere you go. On the other hand, if you opt for a fitness tracker, you have to remember to charge it periodically and to bring it with you on purpose when exercising.
Running: 648 Calories/Hour
If you want to take things to the next level, this is definitely an alternative to consider. In comparison to walking, running has proven to be more effective in terms of calorie burning due to the fact that it’s a high-intense physical activity. Running at a speed of 5 mph (8 km/h) for an hour will help you burn an impressive total of 648 calories.
Since it’s summertime, you can enjoy the lovely outdoors and run anywhere you want. You can do it in nature, in the park, on a specially-built track if you can find one close to you and also on the beach. In fact studies show that running on sand will allow you to burn 1.6 times the total of calories burned while running on even surfaces. This is due to the fact that you’ll engage more muscle groups and put more effort into keeping your balance.
Cycling: 326 Calories/Hour
If you think running is too intense for you but you’re still looking for a type of workout that’ll get you in shape, cycling may be the answer. Compared to running, cycling is a lower impact activity and therefore has a lower rate of injuries. This doesn’t mean it won’t help you get rid off those undesired calories. Riding your bike at a speed of 8 mph (13 km/h) will cut 326 calories in an hour.
Cycling is worth considering not only because it’s a low-impact form of working out, but also because it’s fun, relaxing and bring lots of health benefits. Moreover, it’s a physical activity you can easily incorporate into your everyday life. You can ride your bike to work instead of driving, you can use it run errands, for shorter trips and even for grocery shopping if you add a metal basket.
Swimming: 420 Calories/Hour
Looking for a way to cool off in the heatwave and at the same time burn those unwanted extra calories? Then swimming should be on the top of your list. Just like cycling, this is a low-impact type of workout, which means it won’t put any stress on your joints and muscles. At the same time, depending on your swimming style, it will allow you to torch more or less calories.
The front crawl, also known as the freestyle stroke, will burn 420 calories/hour. The breaststroke, which is one of the most popular style of swimming, will help you burn 336 calories/hour, while the backstroke – 264 calories/hour.
Tennis: 408 Calories/Hour
Tennis is a fun sport and also quite beneficial for both the body and mind. This is a type of sport that requires constant running from one side to the other, going often to the net, stretching to reach the ball and in general a lot of moving. It also involves sudden accelerations and explosive forehands and backhands, which can help you tone up your arms and legs.
Playing tennis during the summer months can be considered an efficient workout, because you can burn an average of 408 calories/hour. If you don’t quite feel up to the challenge, you can also try playing doubles. Of course, since there will be two players to cover the court, you’ll apply less effort. Hence you’ll only burn 366 calories/hour.
Basketball: 690 Calories/Hour
Basketball is a truly popular sport and quite accessible as well, since you can find a court in almost all neighborhoods. Basketball is ideal for toning up your leg muscles, improving your balance and of course for torching calories. This is due to the fact that it’s a truly fast moving sport and it involves a lot of running from one end of the court to another, a lot of quick turning, stopping and jumping. All this intense activity will cut a total of 690 calories if you play for an hour.
Soccer: 618 Calories/Hour
The most popular sport in the world, soccer is enjoying an ever-growing notoriety in the US as well. Soccer is a great sport to practice if you want to get fit. This is because, during a game, you’re most likely to go through various stages of physical activity: walking, running and of course constant sprinting. The variety of exercises and the dynamics of the game will help you burn an impressive amount of 618 calories during an hour of activity.
