SUMMER BODY
How to get a summer body: start in October
Start in October. Muscle builds slowly and a slow pace of weight loss may keep more of it, so you make a summer body in the months before summer. A good week has two or three strength days, one hard interval session to build your VO2max (the most oxygen your body can use in a minute), one circuit of full-body moves and some easy cardio. Muscle comes from the training, and fat comes off when you eat a little less than you burn.
Why a summer body starts in October
A summer body is the body you want to bring to the beach or the pool in summer. For most people that means more muscle, less body fat, or both.
Summer is one checkpoint. You build a body over years, and what you start in October can keep going after June.
Gaining muscle and losing fat both take months. From mid-October to mid-June you have about eight months, which is room to train well, to eat a little less than you burn for a stretch if you want to lose fat, and to miss a few weeks when life gets in the way.
Pace is the reason to start early. Aragon and colleagues, in a review of diets and body composition, write that slower rates of weight loss can better preserve lean mass (everything in your body that is not fat, muscle included) in leaner people. A sports nutrition position paper adds that athletes who keep weekly weight loss under 1 percent of body weight may preserve more fat-free mass (another name for lean mass) and performance. A slow loss needs time, and October gives you that time.
This guide promises no result by June. The sources describe groups of people, and your body will respond at its own speed.
- Aragon et al. 2017, International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: diets and body composition, Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition checked 18 Oct 2026
- Dietitians of Canada, Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and American College of Sports Medicine 2016, Nutrition and Athletic Performance (position paper) checked 18 Oct 2026
A week you can use without an app
The World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for adults set a floor: 150 to 300 minutes of moderate aerobic activity a week, or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous activity, plus muscle-strengthening activities that work all major muscle groups on 2 or more days a week. The week below starts from that floor and adds the pieces a summer body asks for.
Effort is a 1 to 10 scale. Effort 3 is an easy jog, and effort 9 is close to the hardest pace you could hold for four minutes. Easy cardio means a pace where you can hold a conversation.
Spread the hard days (strength, intervals and the circuit) so that no two sit back to back where you can avoid it, and keep at least one day free of training.
| Session | What you do | Beginner version |
|---|---|---|
| Strength, 2 or 3 days | Full-body sessions: a squat, a push (bench press or push-up), a pull (a row) and a hinge (a Romanian deadlift, where you push your hips back with a barbell in your hands). Two hard sets of each (a set is a run of reps without a break, and a hard set ends close to failure, the point where you could not do another rep with good form). The lean bulk guide writes one strength session out in full. | Two days. One squat or lunge, one push, one pull and one hinge, two sets each, with a weight you can lift cleanly. |
| Intervals for VO2max, 1 day | Hard intervals on a run, a bike or a rowing machine: four rounds of 4 minutes hard with 3 minutes of easy recovery between. The full session is written out below. | Add this last, once the circuit feels routine. Jog the full 3 minutes of recovery and keep each hard part at a pace you can repeat four times. |
| Functional circuit, 1 day | A circuit of full-body moves. Pick four to six from carries (walking with heavy weights in your hands), sled pushes (pushing a weighted sled across the floor), lunges, wall balls (throwing a weighted ball at a target) and rowing. Do each for a set number of reps or a distance, move to the next with little rest, and go around three times. | Lighter weights and two rounds. Rest when you need to. Add this first, once the strength and easy days feel routine. |
| Easy cardio, 1 day | A run, a ride or a brisk walk for 30 to 45 minutes at a pace where you can hold a conversation. If you ran, finish with 6 to 8 hill sprints: short, all-out runs uphill of 10 to 15 seconds, walking back down between them. | Walk briskly or jog easily for 30 minutes. When you add hill sprints, run the first ones at about 80 percent effort until the movement feels smooth. |
One session to copy: 4×4 minutes
VO2max is the most oxygen your body can use in a minute, and it is a standard measure of aerobic fitness. Hard intervals, short efforts with rest between them, are one way to train it.
A 2013 meta-analysis, a study that pools many studies, found that many of the interval training studies reporting large VO2max gains used longer intervals of 3 to 5 minutes. This session uses 4. It takes about 40 minutes with the warm-up and cool-down. If you are a beginner, jog the full 3 minutes of recovery: the gain comes from the time you spend working hard.
| Block | What you do |
|---|---|
| Warm-up | World’s Greatest Stretch (a lunge that twists to open the hips): 1 set of 4 per side. A-Skip (a skipping drill with high knees): 20 metres. Easy run: 10 minutes at effort 3 out of 10, a build with a couple of strides (short, relaxed fast runs). |
| Main | Four rounds. Each round: run 4 minutes at effort 9 out of 10. Settle into a hard, controlled effort, so your breathing is heavy by the end of each rep, not in the first minute. Rest 3 minutes between rounds. |
| Cool-down | Easy run: 5 minutes at effort 2 out of 10, until your heart rate drops. |
What to eat for a summer body
Training is what asks your body to build muscle, and food supplies what the training needs. Aragon and colleagues write that diets focused on fat loss are driven by a sustained caloric deficit, which means eating less than you burn. A calorie here is a kilocalorie (kcal), the unit on food labels.
A small deficit is the usual approach. The sports nutrition position paper for athletes describes cutting about 250 to 500 kcal a day from your energy needs as a practical approach for most athletes, one that can make progress toward short-term body composition goals over approximately 3 to 6 weeks, and it advises raising protein while you do it.
Your body builds muscle from protein. The International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand says that for building and maintaining muscle mass, an overall daily intake in the range of 1.4 to 2.0 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day is sufficient for most exercising individuals. Multiply your weight in kilograms by 1.4 and by 2.0 to get your range.
If you have a medical condition, or a history of disordered eating, talk to a doctor or dietitian before you change how you eat.
- Aragon et al. 2017, International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: diets and body composition, Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition checked 18 Oct 2026
- Dietitians of Canada, Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and American College of Sports Medicine 2016, Nutrition and Athletic Performance (position paper) checked 18 Oct 2026
- Jäger et al. 2017, International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: protein and exercise, Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition checked 18 Oct 2026
Where Complete fits
Complete starts from your long-term goals, not a plan. You pick from six goals: build muscle, lose fat, improve cardio, get stronger, general health, or become an athlete. They steer what Complete recommends every day, and the aim under every goal is more good years.
Train your own way and it counts. Every workout that reaches Apple Health, from any watch that writes to it, earns points toward your score, which is how you rank against your friends, and feeds the recommendation for the next day. Complete reads your goals, your recovery and your recent training and tells you what to do today, with or without a plan.
Complete is free to download, and logging and sharing your workouts on it stay free.
Frequently asked questions
When should I start training for a summer body?
As early as you can. October gives you about eight months before June, which is room to train and, if you want to lose fat, to eat a little less than you burn at a slow pace. If you are reading this later, start this week.
How many days a week should I train for a summer body?
The WHO advises muscle-strengthening activities on 2 or more days a week for adults. The week in this guide has two or three strength days, one interval session, one functional circuit and one easy cardio day, which leaves one or two days off.
What is VO2max and why train it?
VO2max is the most oxygen your body can use in a minute, a standard measure of aerobic fitness. Many of the interval studies that reported large VO2max gains used intervals of 3 to 5 minutes, so this guide uses 4×4 minutes.
Do I have to eat less to get a summer body?
Only to lose fat. Fat loss is driven by a sustained caloric deficit, which means eating less than you burn. If you have a medical condition or a history of disordered eating, talk to a doctor or dietitian before you change how you eat.
I am a beginner. Where do I start?
Use the beginner column: two strength days and one easy cardio day, with your first hill sprints at about 80 percent effort. Add the functional circuit first, at its beginner size, then the 4×4 session.
Does Complete give me a summer body plan?
Complete starts from your goals, not a plan. You pick goals such as build muscle or lose fat, and Complete recommends what to do each day from your goals, your recovery and your recent training. Every workout that reaches Apple Health counts.