As the weather finally warms up, and we all have summer on our minds, what’s better than a workout on the beach? This workout is packed with all sorts of different activities, ranging from more relaxed to kick-your-butt exercises. Feel free to pick and chose which parts of the workout you want to include, or just jump around and do whatever activities appeal to you most. Pro tip: Grab some friends and challenge each other to make your workout even more fun!
Equipment needed: Sunscreen, towel or yoga mat and a water bottle. Optional: Tennis shoes, surfboard and other sports equipment like volleyballs
1. Warm-up: Start with a jog along the ocean. From your starting location, pick a landmark farther down the beach. Jog there and back.
2. Stretch: This is the perfect opportunity to incorporate some yoga into your workout. Do a few sun salutations, or look up some fun yoga poses on your phone and try them out with your friends.
3. Cardio: It’s always good to start off a workout with cardio to get your blood pumping. If you’re not into just running along the beach, swimming in the ocean can be a great cardio option. Go out far enough out so your feet can’t touch the bottom and tread water, or try body surfing. This gives you a chance to cool down and enjoy the water.
4. Arms/legs/butt: Now that you’ve been in the water, it’s time to get a little sandy. Some of the most fun workouts you can do on the beach are races and contests. These can include army crawling in the sand from one place to another, racing your friends to see who can get to a designated place the fastest, seeing who can crab walk the farthest without coming down or holding a contest to see who can squat the longest. If you’re at the beach alone, time yourself doing these activities and continuously try to beat your best time. To end it all, and to rinse the sand off, go for a surfing session. By paddling out and balancing on the board, you are definitely working your arms and the rest of your body, all without even realizing it.
5. Abs/core: Let’s face it, a beach workout wouldn’t be complete without getting in a good ab workout. One of my favorites is actually just floating. If you go past where the waves are breaking and float on your back in the water, it can actually serve as a mild ab exercise to keep your entire body afloat. For something more challenging, try doing some of your favorite ab exercises (like planks, crunches, leg raises, flutter kicks, etc.). Doing these on the beach will help keep your mind off the fact that you are working out.
6. Cooldown: Similar to the warm-up, the cooldown is a chance to incorporate some yoga or meditation into your workout. Another option is to go for a nice relaxing swim in the ocean. This will not only cool you off, but also stretch out your muscles.
Still looking to do more at the beach? Other fun activities include paddleboarding, volleyball, soccer, badminton, frisbee and hula-hooping. You can even go for a beach walk to look for cool shells!
Photo credit: honolulumagazine.com