The beach is a great place to work out, especially in the Spring when the whether is warming up and locals are tourists are beginning to make their way back to the surf and sand. If you live in the Queens area and are looking for a great way to get in shape, you are visiting and looking for the perfect excuse to get to the beach, or if you are thinking about relocating to one of the beautiful Queens neighborhoods close to the beach like Arverne by the Sea. These tips will help you burn that body fat, build muscle, and improve your overall health, energy, and quality of life.

There’s more to a beach work out than the fresh air, cool breeze, and the beautiful scenery. Beach workouts can often be more effective for a number of reasons, and chief among these is the sand itself. Sand offers the perfect natural resistance for a number of workouts. You’ll feel the difference and get more benefit in a shorter amount of time. Here are the first two and we will bring you more later.

1. Running or walking – Running is one of the most effective workouts anyone can do. Your legs have some of the longest and largest muscles in the body, and working these out translates to more calories burned with less effort. At the same time you are getting a great cardio workout. Everyone knows that running is great for them, but what makes it even better on the beach is the soft sand. The resistance sand offers works more muscles and works those muscles harder, for example the muscles in the front of your shin receive a better workout as you are pulling your feet from the sand with each step, and these muscles help to prevent shin splints. Walking is almost as good, and is recommended for anyone with a medical condition or for the elderly if running is not an option.

For the best results, do sprints in soft sand and distance runs in the harder wet sand, and switch it up. For walkers spend as much time in the soft sand as possible.

2. Sand pushups – Pushups are one of the most effective upper body workouts in the world because the body is using all of the triceps, chest, and shoulders in a single natural motion. The benefits are multiplied on the beach due to the natural resistance of the sand. Everyone knows how to do a push up but it’s important to concentrate on keeping the body flat like a board and making sure you are completing a full circuit with each rep, all the way from a position where your elbows are at a 90 degree angle or greater, back to full extension of the arms. If you’re not ready for full pushups do them from your knees, positioned so your knees are in contact with the ground instead of your feet, and the rest of the motion is the same as a regular pushup. The goal should be to work up to regular pushups.

For the best results change the angle your hands are at with each set; wide, close together, and unparallel with one hand closer to the head and the other closer to your belly. Note that despite what some say, everyone, girls and boys, benefit from building upper body strength. You burn calories faster and it allows for a better workout for the rest of your body, ie, your lower body will only get so much stronger than your upper body before you stop seeing benefits and vice-versa. For those concerned about “bulking up too much” the answer is more reps, less weight so try a lot of sets from your knees, almost like an upper body cardio workout. For strength training, stick to the soft sand and work up to the point where you can push yourself off the sand and switch the position of your hands with each rep then increase the number of reps you can do in this fashion as you get stronger.