HIIT the Beach  

It's time to take off your shoes and hit the beach for some HIIT (high intensity interval training).  Remember Rocky and Apollo sprinting hard along the beach in Rocky III?  Well, that’s pretty much what I’m going to have you do.  Beach interval training is a fun and great way to burn calories and boost your metabolism while being outdoors and enjoying natural surroundings.  Beach running provides an awesome interval workout since running on sand is harder than running on other surfaces because it provides more resistance unless it's packed down.  The increased running resistance that sand provides also allows you to burn more calories than you would running on flat hard surfaces.  You can choose to run barefoot or run with your shoes on.

For beach intervals I like doing the Tabata protocol.  The Tabata protocol is a short but intense 4 minute interval workout split between 8 sets of 20 second high intensity work intervals followed by 10 second rest intervals.  The goal of these intervals is to sprint along the beach as fast as you can during each work interval and walk during the rest intervals to catch your breath.  Always warm up before interval training and cool down afterwards.  When you are done go relax and lay out on the beach with a refreshing beverage and work on your tan.  You deserve it.

Interval Chart: