When you’re on vacation at the beach, and want to exercise without going to a gym, here’s a short and very effective workout.
I enjoy working out when I’m on vacation, away from the gym and all of the standard/traditional (at least for me) modes of exercise. There’s no better time to break out of the routine than when you’re away from home and at the beach. Here’s a quick workout – just about 30 minutes – that’s plenty challenging and will allow you to enjoy the unique opportunities that come from training on the sand.
Warm-up for about 5 minutes by doing some calisthenics or jogging and sub-maximal sprinting on the beach. I like to do a combination jog/shuffle/backpedal/shuffle/75% sprint over approximately a 40-yard course, and repeat this pattern 4-6 times at various speeds. A good rule of thumb for using this combo run is to take about 5 strides in each running mode and you should cover about 40 yards.
When you’re ready to go, march off a 30-yard course on an area of the beach that’s relatively flat and obviously unpopulated. I’ve used both the harder sand close to the water and soft sand higher up the beach; both are challenging terrains. From here it’s simple; sprint the course you’ve marked out, at 100% effort. If you have a watch rest for about 30-60 seconds depending on your level of conditioning, and if you’re “watchless” do your best estimate and countdown your rest period.
Perform 6-12 sprints, again depending on your level of conditioning. If you’ve kept up the pace, not including the warm-up, you should be under the 15-minute mark.
Next is the bodyweight squats and push-ups portion of the workout; you’ll do a set of 25 squats and 10 push-ups with about 30 seconds of rest in between sets. Just like with the sprints you want to use a flat area of sand. Place your towel down to keep the sand off of your hands – if you want – and get to it. If you’re ambitious, shoot for 10 sets and a total of 250 squats and 100 push-ups, and this should take you to about the 30-minute mark. If you haven’t included high-repetition bodyweight squats into your routine set your goal at 5 sets of squats/push-ups.
There you have it; a quick, effective, and challenging workout that you can do at the beach, and without the need for any equipment. If you’re on vacation, going on vacation, or live at the beach give this workout a try.
