Looking for a beach body workout to keep you tight and toned all season long? We've rounded up expert advice for staying in tip-top shape, complete with insights from leading nutritionists, trainers, and a doctor. Check out our 19-point plan for how you can look your best, from what to eat and drink (vinegar!) to how—and how not to—work out (watch those crunches).

1. Rev Your Metabolism

Turbocharge your metabolism and burn through body fat by eating five or six meals, every couple of hours, that are small enough to fit in your palm. This keeps your blood sugar stable and prevents you from getting so famished that you chase fried chicken with powdered doughnut holes. "You never want to be hungry, and you never want to be full," says Ron Mathews, a trainer in Los Angeles who works with Joe Manganiello.

2. Prioritize Your Pecs

The centerpiece of the torso is no longer the six-pack. Pecs are a point of pride that you can't afford to overlook. Just resist the urge to channel Rambo. To keep your chest proportional, do a mix of exercises that use body weight, such as clapping push-ups and regular push-ups, and ones that require barbells, like bench presses. Choose a barbell that is 60 percent as heavy as what you usually lift, Mathews says. In addition, celebrity trainer Harley Pasternak, who's worked with Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Pattinson, recommends training the upper-back muscles with rows (using both dumbbells and TRX suspension bands) so you draw back the shoulder blades, which help tilt the chest up and out.

3. Manscape Your Underarm Hair

Clip your chest hair or don't—that's your call. But the one area where there's no negotiation? Under the arms. "You want to look like you care," says Anthony Sosnick, founder of the Anthony Brands grooming line. The simple test to determine if you need to trim: Put your arms at your sides. If any tufts stick out, snip them off.

4. Don’t Forget Your Lower Abs

Your lower abs—the bottom two of the six-pack—are the weakest muscles in your midsection. So work them first, before they become fatigued, says Mathews. Try this: Lie flat on your back, hands by your sides, legs raised straight toward the ceiling. While keeping your lower back pressed against the floor, slowly lower your feet to the ground.

5. But Don’t Overdo the Ab Work

Keep the crunches to a minimum. "Doing too many will create a strength imbalance and cause your body to bend forward and shorten your midsection," Pasternak says. "It creates some postural issues and the illusion of having a belly." He suggests toning the area with planks instead.

6. Prevent Unwanted Bloating

Prevent a puffy stomach with these pointers, per nutritionists Stephanie Clarke, R.D., and Willow Jarosh, R.D., founders of CJ Nutrition in New York City.

Cut Salt

Potassium-rich foods (some beans, dark leafy greens, squash, avocados, mushrooms, bananas) balance out the sodium in your body, and laying off processed junk (and otherwise healthy fare like cottage cheese, nut butter, wheat bread, and tomato sauce) keeps you from adding any more.

Increase Fiber

Too little can cause digestive problems that lead to bloating; up your intake by eating raspberries, pears, potatoes, Brussels sprouts, and cauliflower.

Hydrate

Water helps move that fiber through the digestive system efficiently

7. Stay Active at the Beach

Don't just sit there. You could be getting a workout—and having fun, too. Here's roughly how many calories a 180-pound man will burn during 30 minutes of various beach activities:

Beach volleyball: 355Swimming: 266Water-skiing/wakeboarding: 266Surfing: 125Stand-up paddleboarding: 123

8. Choose Your Beach Snacks Wisely

Not all beach-side indulgences are created equally. Here's how they stack up, from the totally okay to the if-you-absolutely-have-to, ranked by nutritionists Clarke and Jaros:

Frozen Fruit

Icy mango slices, pineapple chunks, or cherries are like healthy Popsicles. Freeze any fruit—the less watery, the better it will hold up in a cooler.

Watermelon Juice

The downside to drinking juice instead of eating whole fruit is that you can easily ingest 10 slices of liquid watermelon, where you might chew only three. (Still, it's less sugar than a snow cone.)

Ceviche

The fresh-fish, lime-juice, and olive-oil combo is like the unicorn of snacks: a rare protein-heavy, low-carb find.

White-wine Spritzer

Aim for an 80-20 wine-seltzer mix: You'll keep yourself hydrated and lower the number of calories you'd consume in a full pour.

Lobster Roll

Mayo plus bun equals a fat-and-carb calorie bomb.

Ice Cream Cone

Sugar cone trumps waffle because it has fewer calories and holds less ice cream.

9. Tan What You Can't Tone

Bronzing lotion, applied strategically, can help you fake definition. First, exfoliate to make sure the color goes on evenly, says Sosnick (Anthony Logistics for Men makes a Blue Sea Kelp Body Scrub ($18, anthony.com). Apply the bronzer along the center of your muscles, fading it outward. A lighter formula, like a mousse, is easiest to blend. Try St. Tropez Self Tan Bronzing Mousse ($32, ulta.com) and stop beating yourself up over those workouts you skipped.

10. Take a Run on the Sand

Hitting the sand will burn about 30 percent more calories than walking or running on pavement.

11. Strengthen Your Glutes and Rock Fitted Trunks

Even if you prefer knee-skimming board shorts, swimsuit styles are skewing tighter. Strengthen those glutes with walking lunges, reverse lunges, or speed-skater lunges, Pasternak says. And when you tire of all of the lunging, add in stiff-legged deadlifts.

12. For the Biggest Calorie Burn, Work Those Legs

If you're skipping cardio but still want a big-calorie burn from your workout, punish your leg muscles, the largest in the body. Try weighted squats (barbell on shoulders), deadlifts, box jumps, and burpees. Keep your heart rate up—and torch calories—by nixing rests between sets.

13. Give Your Triceps Some Extra Attention

Biceps may get all the love, but the triceps make up about 70 percent of your arm. So giving them extra attention can get you sleeve-busting arm muscles, too. Mathews suggests moves like extensions while standing (French presses) or while lying on a bench (skull crushers).

14. Get a Little Help from the Doc

If you exercise and eat right but still can't finish off the fat covering your abs, a trip to the doctor could help. UltraShape, a noninvasive treatment, ruptures fat cells using ultrasound frequencies, and "your body absorbs the destroyed fat," says Dr. Joshua Zeichner, a dermatologist at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. "It passes through the system the same way the body eats red blood cells from a bruise." During the procedure, a technician gels you up and moves the device over your abdomen for 30 to 45 minutes. The most you'll feel is a slight tingle. Multiple sessions are required (at between $800 and $1,000 each), but patients have reported losing up to three inches off their waists.

15. Go into a Calorie Deficit

To destroy body fat, subtract 500 calories from your normal daily intake and work out to burn an additional 500, says Mathews. He advises avoiding dairy, sauces, desserts, or any added sugar to achieve this goal. Here's how your macros should break down:

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Moderate-intensity cardio on an empty stomach (a.k.a. fasted cardio) is the most efficient way to torch fat, Mathews says. That's because the body doesn't have any ready glycogen to burn, so it uses stored fat to get through the workout. However, if you push yourself too hard, you'll start cannibalizing muscle. Keep the cardio easy enough (heart rate under 140) by alternating walking and running or by walking at a steep incline (you can do either on the treadmill). "You don't want to be huffing and puffing," Mathews says.

17. Get a Last-Minute Pump

No beach body workout is complete without an eleventh-hour pump. Get some last-minute definition with these three exercises, which are as essential to your beach prep as slathering on SPF. For the arms, do some tricep dips on a chair. For the chest, drop down and do push-ups. Finish off with some hanging knee raises to target the abs.

18. Maintain Good Posture

Don't undo all that time you spent in the gym with the three P's: poor posture in public. Use these shamelessly superficial—but entirely effective—methods for strutting your best stuff.

Stand at the Beach Bar

Show off your abs by turning your hips 30 degrees but keeping your chest facing forward (i.e., the hips and chest aren't in line with each other). The twist adds instant definition.

Lie on a Towel

Keep the focus on your newly defined pecs by resting on your stomach while leaning on your forearms—a position that also makes your biceps pop.

Read on a Lounger

Avoid stomach rolls and a double chin by reclining on your back and holding your book or iPad up above your face. (Bonus: You can use it to block the sun.)

19. Down Some Apple Cider Vinegar

Mixing apple cider vinegar with water before meals may fend off hunger, studies show. Clarke suggests mixing two tablespoons with eight ounces of water. "I wouldn't go any stronger," she says, cautioning that vinegar can be tough on tooth enamel. Or try Juice Generation's Fighter Cider—it's made with apple cider vinegar, fresh grapefruit, and ginger.

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