Sunday, July 13, 2008
Life, Health + Fitness
Hit the beach
Heading to Tybee Island for vacation? Don’t worry, you can still get your workout on
Andrejs Pidjass
Rise and shine on your beach vacation with a sunrise workout.
WHAT: Sunrise Workout on Tybee Island Beach
WHERE: North Beach, Tybee Island
HOW MUCH: Free, but donations are accepted
CONTACT INFO: Call 912-596-3009, or e-mail vickilyn62@gmail.com (Advance registration is requested.)
FITNESS FACTOR: 4 stars
FUN FACTOR: 4 stars By Colleen Oakley
My parents live in Savannah, Ga., about 10 minutes from the beach at Tybee. When I go visit them, I am in full vacation mode: wearing my bathingsuit 24 hours a day, noshing on mom’s homemade brownies and washing them down with cold beer.
I always have good intentions about working out while I’m there. The first morning, I’ll get up and run the three-mile route around their neighborhood or swim across the lake that their house sits on. And then, I just kind of … give up. And my jeans are always a bit more snug when I head back to Atlanta.
When I went to visit them for the 4th of July this year, I vowed I would be different this time, but I knew I’d need a little kick in the right direction. I did some research and found a sunrise beach boot camp on Tybee Island from 6 to 7 a.m. and decided that would be just what I needed to balance out the excess of brownies.
I got up at the crack of dawn the first Monday I was there (um, what kind of vacation is this?!) and dragged my tired self into the car and down Highway 80 to the beach.
I met Vicki, a peppy (but not annoyingly so) woman whose husband, Paul, started the boot camp two years ago. Paul passed away in May, and Vicki is continuing the boot camp in his honor. “This is what has kept me going,” she told me. She also has lost 50 pounds since its inception, so it’s obvious that the workout works.
We walked out onto the beach and laid our towels down as mats. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the beach at 6 a.m., but it’s really serene and beautiful. Vicki gave us all two sets of weights (heavy and light) and took us through an hour-long routine of stretching, squats, arm weights, chest weights, dead lifts and abdominal work. With a strong breeze blowing, it never got too hot, and watching the sun rise and paint the sky with bright orange made sit-ups an almost pleasant chore. It was moving thinking about Vicki and her husband. I can see why she would feel closer to him out there.
When I got home at 7:15 a.m., I figured I would crawl directly back into bed, but I was surprisingly energized. If you have to work out on vacation, doing it on the beach at sunrise is the way to go. I went a few more times that week, and despite the beer and brownies, I didn’t have to unbutton my jeans on the car ride back home. SP
Got a fitness challenge for Colleen? E-mail her at colleen@sundaypaper.com.