No gym? No problem. You don’t need to choose between the beach or a workout. Try these workouts that require no weights or equipment. There is a common misconception that bodyweight exercises aren’t effective when it comes to losing weight, building, muscle, or increasing endurance. But according to Mayo clinic,  bodyweight training is an effective type of strength training. It can be just as good as training on gym equipment. So stop making excuses and start making a plan for your beach vacation workouts. Follow some of these workouts to give you results. Unlike the incline dumbbell press, you can do it anywhere.

Increasing your weight against the sands is a sure way to gain muscle while you burn fat. You can increase the challenge in a few ways:

• Increase reps
• Increase sets
• Modify for additional challenges- For example: find different ways to engage all the muscles of the arms through shifting your arm positions.

Unlike solid surfaces, sand moves underneath you, so you’ll find every workout more challenging and ultimately more effective.

5 Best Bodyweight Moves for Your Beach Workouts

Lucky for you, beach workouts don’t need to be fussy or overly complicated. In fact, you can plan out on targeting your whole body in just 30minutes. Start small. Pick a few leg, arm, and core workouts to mix up. Then up the intensity to make your beach weekend pump workout as effective as possible.

Here are 5 Workouts You Must Try:

1. Water Running

Water running brings a good challenge to an old cardio favorite: Running along the edge of the beach where the waves crash on the sand is more low-impact than running on hard surfaces. To get a good cardio and strength workout, try running on both looser and more hard-packed sand. You’ll find the softest, most challenging parts next to the water and above the wash line where the sand is still dry.  Follow some techniques to get out of your comfort zone and optimize your results.

2. Squat Jumps

3. Burpees

Burpees on the beach work your whole body; legs, arms, core, and butt. Unlike solid ground, sand makes it more of a challenge to get back up from your push up stance. You can start by dropping to a push-up, then jump and pull your feet underneath you, then spring upwards to return to a standing position. Remember to modify to accommodate your fitness level, if needed. This can be the perfect intermittent option in a beach HIIT workout or beach cardio workout.

4. Paddleboard Yoga

Think this one is too challenging? Paddleboard yoga might not sound like a tough workout, you can modify and slow down movements to help isolate your muscles for the most intense strength training workout. Unlike regular yoga, paddleboard yoga introduces more balance factors that require you to keep your core engaged. The unsteadiness of the water adds in a boosted strength challenge that can help boost your balance skills and work your core to the max. You can work your upper body, lower body, and core depending on which moves you do 

5. Sand Sprint & Shuffle

This is the ultimate cardio workout because the sand absorbs the impact energy from your legs, it takes much more effort to sprint and shuffle on sand. You’ll strengthen your calves, ankles, and feet without the impact injuries of hard surface running. It will also fire up your metabolism to keep burning fat for the rest of the day. In order to prevent injury, keep your sand sprints & shuffle combo workouts to 30-minutes max.

Just How Effective Are Bodyweight Beach Workouts?

If done right, all these workouts are just as effective as going to the gym, if not providing you the extra core and strength challenges of moving through sand and water. You can easily hit your fitness goals without all of the bulky gym equipment and get your summer glow up with beach workouts. Just remember to make sure you’re refueling after going hard at the beach with the proper nutrition and protein to fuel your muscles.

Transformation Protein’s formula was developed with your fitness goals in mind, so you can get results from a balanced multi-protein formula. Three types of protein support your need for strong, sustained energy throughout your workouts and throughout the day. 30g of total protein per serving with plant, collagen, and egg white proteins also includes essential vitamins and all 9-amino acids to help fuel your body the way it needs. Ditch the fat and keep the muscle with the right nutrition.