Summer is great time to spike up activity levels with pleasant weather and sunny days. At the same time, it can be a grand period of celebration and something I like to call “Vacation Dieting”. We spend the latter part of winter and spring chiseling away at the physique in preparation for the summer, only to repeat the process in the fall. Maintaining a stellar health and fitness regimen is hard work, but it can be made more effective with the alteration of training routines and habits. Here are a few tips to work smarter around this cycle instead of just working harder.

If there is any one thing you could do now to help your body in a multitude of ways, it’s keeping your body hydrated. Seriously, from abundant benefits like more energy, boosted metabolism and digestion, and even better looking skin, you definitely want to keep that water bottle close! At a minimum, one should be drinking 64 ounces of H2O/daily. Also, take into account that in the warm summer months, hydration can be easily lost and/or overlooked. So get to sippin’!

Aside from walking, running and hiking outdoors, I highly suggest resistance training outdoors. Benefits of sunny day training sessions versus indoors include increased mental stimulation, improvement in mood, strengthening of the bones and immune system with a good ol’ dose of Vitamin D. Plus, who doesn’t prefer a breath of fresh air to a gasp of gym air? You get the idea.

Creating a consistent exercise routine is often difficult and can become mundane over a short time. So here is where I challenge you to take your workouts outdoors. One of the greatest tools to train literally anywhere is the TRX Suspension Trainer. Not only can you strap this to any solid anchor point, but also the exercise selection for the whole body is virtually endless! Personally it has been a favorite and effective apparatus for almost 4 years and I use it to train clients and even myself.

Get back to your youth and make the city your jungle gym again. With simple instruction and correct form, calisthenics can be one of the best ways to increase relative strength and flexibility. Training with your own bodyweight is also a much safer alternative for beginners and even advanced exercisers. Below, you can find a list of parks that cater to this style of training. Find one near you and get started!