Sun, Sand and Health Benefits: You’ll Love Beach Volleyball

If this winter weather has you dreaming about sun, sea and sand, why not indulge your fantasies by considering a summery fitness trend, like beach volleyball. Not only does it get you out on the beach, which does wonders for anyone’s overall sense of wellbeing, but beach volleyball has a number of wellness benefits. Women can expect to burn up to 495 calories per game, while men might burn a whopping 550 calories. However, according to Linda Drummond, wellness expert and fitness writer for Body + Soul, that’s not all.

 

Drummond notes, ‘In an average match you work your cardiovascular system and tone your core, glutes, lower back, thighs and calves, but in a low-impact fashion. You can also tone the muscles in your upper body: pecs, shoulders, arms and upper back. The benefits aren’t just physical; the game’s also a great way to improve hand-eye coordination and boost mental agility. Flexibility and physical agility are also improved with regular play. Injuries from playing beach volleyball are rare, and that plenty of people recovering from injury take up beach volleyball to maintain their fitness and aid their recovery.’

 

Convinced? Of course you are! But how does it work? ‘The game of beach volleyball is similar to the indoor version,’ Drummond explains. ‘Each team is allowed three hits of the ball before returning it to the other side of the net, and no player can hit the ball twice in a row. The ball is generally returned over the net using the hands and arms, but it is permissible for any part of the body to be used to hit the ball. Teams can only score when they’re serving and the first to 15 points, with a break of two points, is the winner. However, there are differences between beach and regular volleyball. Beach volleyball is played on soft sand, between 30 and 40 centimetres deep, and is traditionally played outdoors.’

 

Drummond continues, ‘Players of beach volleyball have no set positions and are free to move around the court to attack the ball. At an elite level, beach volleyball is played by two teams of two very athletic players, but beginners can have six a side. The soft sand court surface of beach volleyball makes for spectacular play, with players able to fling themselves around and dive for the ball in order to score a point without the same risk of injury as indoors.’ In fact, spectators have enjoyed watching beach volleyball since the late 1800s, when volleyball enthusiasts saw the opportunity to spend even more time on the sand and shifted the sport seaside. Richie “Doc” Coles is an instructor with the Sydney Beach Volleyball School and says that what he loves about the sport is it gives him the chance to get on the sand at every opportunity.

 

So that’s the benefits of beach volleyball, how it works and where it started, but how do YOU get started? Here are Drummond’s tips for having a go at beach volleyball:

 

1. Know the terrain: ‘Familiarise yourself with the soft sand, Drummond advises. ‘Go for sprints, long, endurance runs or jump in the sand.’

 

2. Give your fitness an edge: Drummond recommends, ‘Use stairs to increase your all-round fitness for the game. Run up them, jump, hop or crawl up them.’ She adds, ‘The higher your level, the more physically demanding the game becomes, so prepare your body with strength work in the gym, agility training and some flexibility work such as Pilates or yoga.’

 

3. Talk to your team: ‘Communication is key,’ asserts Drummond. ‘Talk to your teammates and learn to shout out for the ball. It’s the first thing beginners need to master.’

Categories: ball, beach, beach volleyball, drummond, heart health, nbsp drummond, sand, soft sand, tone, volleyball

Sea, Sand and the Best Circuit Workout You’ve Ever Had

There possibly isn’t a more fabulous place to work on your wellbeing than at the beach. Think about it; with all that soft sand, hard sand, water of varying depths and benches, you’ve got a natural circuit training session for free! Don’t believe me? Let’s turn to the fitness experts and a few “Ironman” competitors who have graciously shared their tips on beach exercise, and why it’s so rewarding for your wellness.

 

1. Soft sand running: According to Ironwoman Naomi Flood, soft sand is a killer to run in, but the unstable surface forces your body to really work at balancing and remaining upright. Still, there’s a trick to soft sand running. ‘Soft-sand running is quite taxing on the body, so stabbing your toes into the sand and running mainly on the balls of your feet is the best way to float across the sand,’ Flood advises. ‘Soft-sand running is great for fitness and also builds strength in the calves, ankles and quads.’ Linda Drummond, wellness expert and fitness writer for Body + Soul, adds, ‘Don’t limit your running on the sand to the regular one-foot-in-front-of-the-other scenario. Try running sideways: leaping in the air and bringing your feet together to tone and hone your thighs. Or draw lines in the sand and sprint forwards for 10 to 25 metres, before running backwards to the start.’

 

2. Strength exercises: According to Drummond, the sand is a great place to work on your strength. ‘Push-ups on the unstable surface of soft sand not only tone your arms and shoulders,’ notes Drummond. ‘But if you switch on your core while you’re doing them, you’re getting a core workout as well. Walking lunges on the sand will also make you work extra hard. Add in a couple of deep squats, some tricep dips on a bench, stair, or just the sand, then perform a hover on the sand and you’ve worked most of the main parts of your body.’

 

3. Balance exercises: It’s not just your strength you can work on when you’ve got sand between your toes; your balance can greatly improve with Drummond’s on-sand routine. ‘Stand in the soft sand on one leg, arms by your sides, and keep your eyes on the horizon,’ she instructs. ‘Then see if you can close your eyes and maintain your balance. Or take it another step and lean your body forward, with the opposite hand straight out in front of you and your other leg raised parallel to the sand. Hold, then swap sides. An early-morning yoga session on the sand also bumps up the benefits. Thirty minutes of yoga poses can start your day off in the most invigorating way.’

 

4. Work out in the water: You know that swimming is an amazing way to give your body an all-over workout, but walking or running in the shallows can add resistance, which helps tone your feet, ankles, calves and thighs and makes your heart pump faster. ‘Body surfing can also provide an intense workout,’ says Drummond. ‘Get the most out of a body surfing session by striding out through the waist-deep water, with your arms ploughing through the water for added resistance. Or if you’re really keen, swim out past the breakers for deep-sea swimming. You’ll tone most of your muscles and give your cardio system a workout, particularly if you’re swimming against any currents.’

 

5. Take Care: When at the beach, make sure you don’t do more harm than good by following our health tips…

• Always wear sun cream when outside, even if it’s not that hot or sunny.


• Keep hydrated by sipping water before, during and after a workout.


• Scan the sand for hazards, especially if you’re going barefoot.


• Swim between the flags or learn to read the water if swimming in an unpatrolled beach.

Categories: beach, body, body surfing, Running, sand, sand running, soft, soft sand, Soft Sand Running, Strength Training, unstable surface, Workout

Life’s a Beach...Run It! The Pains & Gains of a Beach Run

If you want a hardcore way to improve your fitness levels, as well as your wellbeing, try running on the sand. This is the mantra of Mike Musso, a lifeguard in North Wildwood who’s aiming to run his first marathon this autumn in two hours and 45 minutes (if you don’t run marathons, believe me, that’s a good time). According to Musso, speed work on the water’s edge is an integral part of his training and wellness and he’s not wrong – beach running isn’t easy!

 

Beach running is like ‘running with weights on your ankles,’ explained Dr. R. Amadeus Mason, a team physician for USA Track and Field and an assistant professor of orthopaedics and family medicine at Emory University. Whether you go barefoot or wear shoes, Dr. Mason notes ‘it’s harder to get your foot planted into the ground, and it’s harder to get your foot up off the ground.’ Dr. Thierry M. Lejeune, of St. Luke’s University Clinics in Belgium and lead author of a study on beach running that appeared last year in The Journal of Experimental Biology, to run on sand you need 1.6 times more energy than you would to run on a hard surfaceyou’re your ‘muscles perform more mechanical work when running or walking on sand than on a hard surface.’

 

When running on a hard surface, it’s most likely that you’ll hit the ground with your heel first, as this is what most runners do. Your momentum and forward-moving weight then causes your foot to go flat, then forward to the toes, which pushes your body up off the ground and into the next stride. However, the soft and shifting beach surface means that your foot has to work hard to displace the sand, and so your muscles can’t work as efficiently. Dr. Mason says, ‘When you’re on soft sand, your heel strike doesn’t come down and hit that firm surface.’ As a result, your body relies on the small ankles around your ankle to keep your foot steady, and your calf muscles come into play because your foot can’t go flat on the sandy surface.

 

As your calves work so hard to normalise this motion, and then get the toes up off the ground again, you may notice they’re more sore than usual after your run. Dr. Mason comments, ‘When you go for toe-off, some of the sand gets on top of your muscle and you’re not able to bring that toe up as easily. That’s where the calf muscle starts to work more, because you have to lift your toe up as you’re doing your normal toe-off.’ Even if you usually strike the ground first with the middle or front of your foot, you will still have to work harder to gain a solid footing. ‘The sand will cause some spreading of your toes, and that can be uncomfortable,’ Dr. Mason points out.

 

So if it brings so many aches and pains, why on earth would runners like Mike Musso bother training on sand at all? While the side effects are there if you’re not used to it, these are often temporary and can translate into a faster time. Dr. Mason asserts, ‘There’s more drag on your feet as you’re doing that training, so when you’re in an environment where there’s not that drag, your legs will not fatigue as easily. When beach runners get on the normal pavement, they move even more quickly because there’s not that kind of impediment.’ Musso can attest to that fact, as he notes, ‘I’ve been getting faster every year.’

Categories: beach, Beach Running, Better Performance, dr mason, foot, hard surface, mike musso, muscles, Running, sand, surface nbsp