Top 5 Tips to Stay Looking Hot This Summer

Summer Fitness tips from SB Fitness.

stay looking hot summer

The spending cut backs, the quiet nights in avoiding nights out… It has all led to this point; your highly anticipated, well deserved and greatly discussed Summer holiday. The months of sacrifice to look great in the beaming rays has arrived and hopefully it’s time to BIRG (bask in reflected glory) about your new physique, the crowning glory of your summer fitness regime.

Has the paragraph above described your conversations with your friends, family, colleagues, hairdresser and anyone who will listen? Do you also fit the profile of someone who lets their initial holiday ‘BIRGing’ quickly turn into CORSing (cutting off reflected success), as over indulgence begins to chip away at those hard-earned summer fitness results?

Irrespective of whether you BIRG, CORS or do neither it’s usually accepted that most of us will return back to home soil out of condition to some degree. That is unless you’re an avid holiday exerciser, in which case good for you! We’re all familiar with the routine though; late nights admiring the sunset with a few too many cocktails and exotic couisine over-indulgence.

When you’ve been hitting the gym hard and being disciplined with eating in anticipation of a holiday letting yourself down at the last hurdle (the holiday itself!) can be really demotivating. So as a means to allay these fears and minimise the anticipated holiday paunch, this ten minute read will guide you through some easy to follow tips designed to help maintain your hard-earned summer fitness regime results.

timing fitness stopwatch running

1. It’s all in the Timing

Before I discuss things like nutrition and exercise I know being told to try and eat healthy and train on holiday all the time is unrealistic. However, before you click away let me just say my one big tip is not just about what you eat but when you eat it.

Before I get into this statement, did you know that nearly 50% of the global Caucasian population is gluten intolerant. You can read more from Business Insider about this. Quite a shocking statistic I know and you’re now probably wondering if you are as well, so to check whether you fall into this category or not below are some considerations.

After eating gluten based foods such as anything containing white flour (i.e. bread, pastry, rice, pasta, biscuits, cakes), beer, breaded meats and almost all processed foods do you present any of the following conditions?

  • Stomach bloating (To the point where the stomach feels hard to touch)
  • Stool inconsistency
  • General fatigue

Further to these short-term issues, more long-term chronic conditions irritable bowel syndrome, celiac disease, brain disorders such as autism, schizophrenia and epilepsy have all be linked to a gluten intolerance.

Remember non-Caucasian populations can present these issues as well, but because Caucasian individuals carry 2 specific genes (HLA-DQ2 and HLA-DQ8) they are said to have a stronger chance of getting such symptoms.

So, why am I telling you about gluten intolerance in an article about tips to maintain a beach physique article? you ask. When you have a think about the sorts of foods you may typically consume on holiday it all becomes clear. Naturally the list often includes ice cream, sandwiches, rolls, chips, sweets, chocolate, alcohol, donuts, cookies and so on….

Hopefully your jaw hasn’t dropped to the floor at the concept that excessive poor gluten based food consumption = diminished six pack! Now that that’s out of the way, let’s move on to some further tips to retain your summer fitness success.

Exercising in the heat water

2. Hydration

Keep quenching your thirst by trying to drink water throughout the day instead of fizzy drinks, processed fruit juices, stimulants (tea/coffee) and alcohol; it will keep you hydrated for longer and improve your energy levels. Never travel to the beach without packing plenty of water. The NHS has published an extensive guide to hydration, which details how you can spot the signs of dehydration.

  • Exercise can also help to reduce stomach bloating, therefore taking on board alcohol during your night out and combining it with lots of dancing might not make you feel so sluggish!
  • As an extra bonus drinking water alongside alcohol can also reduce your chances of stomach bloating and minimise the likelihood of getting a bad hangover.
  • Remember if you are sleeping in a hot climate you might need to consume 1-2 litres of water every morning to replace your body’s lost fluids overnight and prevent any succeeding dehydration.
eating food fitness exercise

3. Nutrition

As touched on earlier, try not to eat heavy gluten based foods at all if possible but especially within 2-3 hours of hitting the beach. Here’s why:

  • For some, larger gluten based meals will take hours sometimes more than 3 to digest which at times means regular bloating and a subsequent unsettled stomach.
  • Smaller gluten based foods for some will potentially digest within 90 minutes, however as research has proven the constant insulin spiking from consuming these foods often leaves you craving more sugar and processed foods afterwards.

4. Keep Healthy Snacks to Hand

  • Pack your bag after breakfast with as many lower sugar fruits, nuts, seeds and boiled eggs as possible. If you’re staying all inclusive it would surely make sense to take full advantage of that buffet! Although not likely to be organic these will still provide you with more nutrients and sustainable energy than any gluten based food and help you retain your summer fitness results.
  • Make sure to eat every 2 – 3 hours
transformation on sb 123 fitness course

5. Exercise

Do 10 minutes of exercise! Let’s face it; the only way to keep those calories from turning into fat is by burning them off. It’s just a matter of balancing the odds, right? With the planned activities and commitments to other travellers, doing some exercise when away – especially gym based – may be a tough ask. However, if you do find 10 to 20 minutes spare in your hotel room try doing some short HIIT workouts (High impact interval training).

  • Did you know you can burn more calories in 15 minutes of HIIT than 1 hour on a treadmill running at the same speed and, a simple HIIT workout will increase your calorie burning rate throughout the day.
  • An example beginner’s workout which could be done in a hotel room would be doing high knees, a fast feet movement (skipping), squat thrusts or mountain climbers for 30 seconds then walk/stay active on the spot for 30 seconds to 1 minute, repeating 10 to 20 times.

As this short article draws to a close I hope you can now understand my above timing vs. consumption paradox and, see that it is how you prepare with your timings alongside what you consume which governs your ability to sustain your ideal weight and muscle tone.

My hope is that after reading this you should hopefully have the knowledge in your armoury to take you a long way towards achieving and sustaining a great all year-round physique starting with your summer fitness goals. If you would like to learn more about how my team and I can help you achieve your fitness goals, you can read about SB Fitness in the about section of this website.

By

Sean Burgess
(MSc, BSc (Hons), ASCC, MGBT)
SB Fitness Founder

Email: [email protected]
Phone: 01202 282726