Getting In That Beach Workout
Posted on 17 July 2009
This is a guest post from Rafi from the Fitness Adviser who runs a cool website dedicated to helping people in the field of Helath and Fitness he is also a pro when it comes to sports injuries so please check out his website! His guest post gives some ideas for fitness this summer along with a great little one week plan to get you started!
Enjoying the Summer
There’s no question that in many places, warm weather and clear skies can be hard to come by. So when the sun finally does start shining and the beaches start opening, make sure to take advantage of it. Here’s how to maximize how much time you can get outdoors by taking your workout outside:
Sprinting On The Beach
Two things that I really like are the beach, and high intensity interval training (short sets of high intensity exercise followed by rest). In fact, I like them both so much that it only made sense that I should put them together for an awesome beach workout. An example of how to do this is to start jogging for a few strides until you feel comfortable, then launch into a sprint of 80 to 100 meters and then rest for around a minute. You can repeat this 6 to 8 times depending on your level.
Swimming
Not only is swimming a great way to cool yourself off in the hot summer weather, but it’s a sport that burns enough calories to almost make up for that massive bbq that you indulged yourself in. To hit all the different muscle groups, make sure to mix up the different strokes(crawl, breaststroke, backstroke and if you’re really good, butterfly.)
To really work your body hard, try occasionally swimming as fast as you can for 50 meters and then resting for 30 seconds to a minute. But just to warn you, while swimming burns a tremendous amount of calories, it will also make you insanely hungry since your body will want to replenish you from the huge amount of calories you just burned up. So if you’re trying to lose weight, when you eat after a swim, remember that most likely you didn’t swim hard enough to warrant taking in the 4,000 calories per meal that Michael Phelps does.
Bodyweight Exercises
If you’re lucky, your beach also has a pull up bar and parallel bars (great for getting the heart to reach parts of your chest without weights). An excellent upper body workout is doing pull ups, parallel bar dips (where you grip the parallel bars, lift yourself straight into the air, lower yourself until your elbows are bent and then lift yourself again to complete a repetition) and push ups. Feel free to add sit ups planks to the mix to further target your abs.
Sample One Week Workout Plan
Monday – Sprinting for 80 to 100m 6 to 8 times on the beach.
Tuesday – 20 push ups x 3 sets , 4 pullups x 3 sets, 10 parallel bar dips x 3 sets, 1 and half minute plank x 2 and 1 minute side plank x both sides.
Wednesday – Swimming (From 15 minutes to an hour and a half depending on your level, doing fast swimming within the workout)
Thursday – Rest
Friday – 20 push ups x 3 sets , 4 pullups x 3 sets, 10 parallel bar dips x 3 sets, 1 and half minute plank x 2 and 1 minute side plank x both sides.
Saturday – An easy swim of doing laps consecutively at a slow pace to work on form and enjoy yourself.
Sunday – Rest
Enjoy the summer!
Comment by Frank Powell
17 July 2009
I am such the outdoorsmen type, so I would love to workout at the beach or in the park everyday. But, where I live, the summer hasn’t been too great. It rains almost every other day and it really doesn’t feel like summer! This is my sign that I have to move from here.
Comment by Jeff
17 July 2009
Good timing. I am in NC for the week and did 2 beach sprinting sessions just as you described.
Comment by Liam | gyms in letchworth
18 July 2009
Rafi said – “There’s no question that in many places, warm weather and clear skies can be hard to come by.” So you’ve been to England then?! For now I’ll have to try this workout out in the gym!
Comment by James Reno
19 July 2009
I like how your exercise routine is varied. Otherwise it can seem like a chore. I am going to incorporate some sprinting in my routine.
To Your Health!
James Reno (editor)
Raw-Food-Repair.com
Comment by Rafi Bar-Lev
19 July 2009
Thanks for the nice intro Chris!
Jeff – Awesome!
Liam – Haha. Yeah, from what I hear England’s weather is pretty depressing. At least for the most part, you don’t have to worry about droughts though!
-Rafi
No problem Rafi. Thanks for the contribution and remember I would love to return the favour sometime soon……