A Workout To Take With You Anywhere (but especially to the Beach)

Spring break is here for many of us and just around the corner for others. Here’s one of the first workouts I shared with the press back in my NYC days. I had never shared it here on the blog but I think it’s a great one for vacation and/or taking to the beach. All you need is a towel and you can do it in as little as 5 minutes or if you run the circuit a few times 15-25 minutes. It’s a full body cardio and toning workout, so make sure to push it on the Tip Toe Runs & Hippity Hops to get that heart rate up for the rest of the circuit. Pics of the exercises are included or feel free to watch one of the videos below to see them in action. The second media clip is pretty funny as it was done at Pebble Beach in England, which basically has no sand.

Tip Toe Runs (1 minute high intensity cardio): Place towel horizontally in front of you. Staying on toes, lead with right foot and run forward and back over the towel. Thirty seconds in, switch to lead with your left (works core, calves, quads and heart!!).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moving Tree (1 minute low intensity recovery): Standing on one leg place opposite foot against shin or inner thigh (avoid the knee cap). Hold towel above head in each hand. Squeeze shoulder blades together to pull towel tight. Keeping core and gluts engaged to maintain balance, slowly tilt the body up and over to the right and return with control. 30 seconds in switch to the other side (works core, upper back and glutes).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hippity Hops (1 minute high intensity cardio): Place your towel vertically in front of you. Keeping feet tight together, bend knees and swing arms back. Arms swing up as you hop over the towel making sure to land toe to heel with soft knees on the other side (works outer thighs, core and heart!). If you need to modify step one foot over the towel at a time but still work for speed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Triceps Pulse (1 minute low intensity recovery): Hold towel with 2 hands behind your back. Hinge forward at the waist maintaining a nice flat back by squeezing the shoulder blades together. Squeeze arms tight to sides and lift towel up in little pulses (works triceps and back).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plank Tuck: (1 minute core blast) Begin in Plank (the starting point of a push up) with the towel underneath your feet. Engage core and without lifting gluts too high pull towel and knees into chest (works core and shoulders – great overall body toner!).