A few close friends already know about my beach workouts and I wanted to share them with you now because of the great results I am getting. The workouts themselves come from a book I reviewed several months ago called “You Are Your Own Gym – By Mark Lauren“, which is all about using your body weight to provide the resistance you need to workout. It was recommended by Thad Forester, one of my best friends.

The book costs $9.99 and is hands down the best investment I have ever made for any workout/health purposes. It is the most efficient system I have ever used, (meaning it will completely destroy whatever muscle set you are working on in the least amount of time possible) and nearly all of the exercises can be done anywhere. Those words should not be taken lightly, I have been working out since I was 16 and have tried just about everything.

If you have 5-10 minutes a day (we all do), you can use the principles to stay in shape even when on the road. (I find when I am traveling the hardest time to workout). I still go to the gym 3-4 times a week to do a couple spin classes, and change up my environment. I have found myself a few times doing sets between editing or scripting videos, just to get my blood going.

Monday’s are my chest, shoulders and triceps days (pretty much all pushing exercises). I also add or tweak a few of the exercises, trying to find a good balance between healthy muscle fatigue and not passing out/throwing up.

The weather here on Maui is pretty good year round, it was 82 this morning when I hit the beach. I am fortunate to live about 2-3 minute walk from the beach.

The first thing I do is mark of 20 yards in the sand, dragging my heel to mark a line. I try to remove any shells or rocks that might get in the way, but I like to do this right where the water meets the beach. If I get wet, thats totally ok and sometimes I even incorporate waves into the workouts (for example when to hold a certain position for as long as there is water around me). I sure do get some crazy looks from people, but I just don’t really care. The first exercise I do is my warm up- which is something I’ve added to the recommended workout; 4-Way Bear Crawls, meaning I walk on all fours trying to have an even amount of weight on my arms and legs. Doing this alone will destroy your shoulders in a very good way.I start the set off with 5 Dive Bombers (which is what you Yoga folks call a “Chataranga”, Bear Crawl Forward 20 yards, do 5 Dive Bombers, Bear Crawl Backwards 20 Yards, do 5 Dive Bombers, Bear Crawl Right 20 yards, 5 Dive Bombers, Bear Crawl Left 20 yards and finish with 5 Dive bombers.By that last Bear Crawl, your arms and shoulders feel like fused lead, nearly impossible to move. (Note: Dive Bombers make this absolutely terrible, I started off with pushups, and slowly worked my way up to 20 between each crawl, then went to Dive Bombers).

This particular warm up takes about 2 minutes and I feel like I am ready to die at the end of it. Then I start my 4 exercise workout. Each exercise should be done pretty much continually for 7.5 minutes, pausing to rest when you are completely exhausted. I rest 2-3 times on each exercise.

The first exercise is one-handed pushups, but you do a ladder.

For Example, 1 with my left hand, 1 with my right. 2 with my left hand, 2 with my right. 3 with my left hand, 3 with my right, 2 with my left hand, 2 with my right, 1 with my left hand, 1 with my right. I can usually get 3-4 sets within 7.5 minutes.If thats too easy, you can also elevate your feet….I find that the beach has everything I need to tweak my workouts.Next is Shoulder Presses- I warm up for these by putting my legs on a rock and hold it for a minute. Absolutely destroys me. I then do ladders to 5 max reps on some rubber tires and having my feet elevated. I prefer this because it allows me to get full range of motion, whereas with the ground, your head hits before you reach your max range.

This is also absolutely brutal. Next Exercise is “Dive Bombers”, but instead of doing ladders, I do 8 sets of 5 reps, pausing for 15-20 seconds between each set. This is probably the hardest exercise of the 4. Last exercise is a descending ladder of dips which I do on some beach rocks. (I start at 12 reps, then 11 reps, then 10, etc, down to one- shortening the amount of rest time between each.)

I close my workout with a 20 yard “Crab Crawl”, just forward and backwards. I hate going forward because you can only move a few inches at a time. The entire workout, including walking to and from the beach takes just over 40 minutes. As far as pushing exercises go, I don’t do anything else for my Chest, Triceps or shoulders. (There are pulling exercises however on a different day). I should also mention I have been doing these exercises for several months now, it starts you off nice and easy and helps you build into the hard stuff.

I can’t stand posting a picture of myself without a shirt on. I obviously have some work to do on my abs and posting this will motivate me to do so, but I wanted you to see the great results I am getting in my chest, shoulders, traps and arms. I don’t think I’ve ever been this strong in my shoulders and arms, even when I was playing college football. A very big thank you to Mark Lauren, a Special Ops Instructor for putting it together. AWESOME BOOK – AWESOME Workouts! If you are short on time or energy to work out, THIS IS THE WORKOUT FOR YOU! (Especially over the Holidays!)

Every single time I start the day off with a workout like this (high intensity) I feel like I have sooooo much more energy. It doesnt take long, just do it and get it out of the way.

You Are Your Own Gym – By Mark Lauren