While summer brings with it the many joys of beach vacations and family barbecues, we can’t forget the importance of daily outside movement. Getting outside everyday has numerous health benefits including a vitamin D provision, increased serotonin levels, and helping to maintain a healthy sleep cycle. This gives reason to get outside, even on hot days, because summer is not over yet. Below we’ve included some tips to help you enjoy movement in the summer, including some tricks for outdoor activity, ideas for staying in (when we must), and great ithriveX products to keep you active.

1. Walking This may sound like a “cliché” tip that you hear everyone say when talking about fitness, but these tips are specifics to the hot mid-summer months. First, try to go first thing in the morning or in the late evening. Going in the morning will help wake you up by getting your blood flowing and giving your body lots of sun exposure first thing. Plus, a refreshing smoothie after a summer morning walk is delightful. Or in the evening after dinner, the sun will be less harsh than the afternoon and the movement after the meal will help to aid digestion. If you can’t go at either of these times when it is cooler, an umbrella would help provide shade to protect your skin and keep you cool. Or, you could always do an indoor walking workout if weather is an issue. And of course, wear the proper footwear! Skip the flip flops and grab your athletic shoes. If you’ve got issues with blisters or sore feet, rub a little ithriveX Anti-Friction cream on your feet before or after your walk. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at the result.
   
   
2. Housework Didn’t get it all done during Spring cleaning? Keep the momentum going with some indoor cleaning (especially if you have air conditioning) or use this time to reorganize your garage space. Things like vacuuming, sweeping, and moving boxes and furniture around, utilize a lot of muscles but we promise you that you will love the results. Of course, expending all that energy could give you some joint and muscle fatigue. Once you get cleaned up, you might want to consider rubbing a little ithriveX Performance cream on the areas you feel most discomfort. Your back, your knees, your shoulders…we got you covered.
   
   
3. Anything with water Summer seems to attract so many of us to the water. If you, a friend, or your community have a pool-swimming is a great way to get physical activity. You can swim laps, do water exercises, even just treading water for a few minutes can help build up your resistance. If you live near a lake or river, you could rent some kayaks, or canoes or standing paddle boards. Don’t forget to pack a healthy lunch. Even things like washing your car or running through a sprinkler can make you feel water refreshed.
   
   

Hopefully these ideas will help you to get in more movement before the summer actually comes to an end. The cool fall weather is right around the corner, but in the meantime do your best, wear and re-apply lots of sunscreen, and keep your ithriveX products handy because summer is not over…yet.