Summer Body Sculpting Series - Beach Cardio Workout

Beach Cardio Workout
'Summer Sculpting - Part 4 of a 4 part series

An early morning or sunset workout on the beach can be one of the most rewarding and refreshing ways to get in your daily training. Many exercises I have outlined in the previous 'Summer Sculpting' articles can be done on the beach to form a well rounded Beach Cardio Circuit. Circuits are compact, efficient both for time and effectiveness plus are wonderful to help out those who are looking to lean down and show some tone. There are only a few items you need to bring but do not need a gym for this workout. Being in a different atmosphere and being outdoors will give your motivation a boost making it exciting to train and giving you a break from the gym.

Make sure you have water and a towel with some type of mat. This can be especially fun done with friends and a radio so that you can play some motivating music which you know will make you want to move about. Circuit training is even more fun when you use dance moves in between the weight training. Normally stepping, spot jogging, jax, skip rope and jumps are used for this type of heart rate increase but to make things interesting you can use the resources by exchanging some of these normal circuit cardio spots with water jog on spot, jax in the water, and a little bit of spot dancing. Using water as resistance even if only to your calves, will really intensify your fat burning and if you can get in up to your middle then you can really work it out! Going in to your chest and using arms would be super advanced! The water plunges will also be nice as your body temperature heats up! Your joints will love the water training since it is no impact but dually you will be working injury prevention by conditioning these joints.

Keep your Cardio intervals 1-2 mins and your weight exercises 1 min or 30 reps. Keep your movements full range and not too fast nor too slow. Make sure to breath during exertion and through exercises since some of us can tend to hold our breaths!

Here are the ideas and order of my suggested Beach Cardio Circuit:

• water jog
• lunges
• water jax
• pushups
• water stepping
• leg flutter
• front shoulder raises
• dance
• lying butt bridge
• water jog
• lying back presses
• crunches
• water jax
• oblique crunches
• water stepping
• glute kicks backs

Now stretch, drink some water and rest for a total of 5 mins then repeat 1-2 more times. Stretching during your rest is crucial as it brings oxygen to the muscle and helps with recovery and injury prevention. Water will help fight against heat exhaustion but you may want to wear head protection if it is very sunny, as well as some sun block.

What better way to spend the rest of your day after your workout than by the water at the beach. A nice summer salad with greens, nuts, fruits and a light vinaigrette dressing should hit the spot nicely with your ice cold water, now that's a great post workout meal!

By Linda Cusmano