5 Things to Know Before Working Out on the Beach

1. Every workout will feel more challenging.

When you do an exercise on a hard floor, like pavement or a wooden fitness studio floor, the surface stays put underneath you. When you do that same move on soft sand, the sand shifts and moves. Your body has to respond to this movement by firing up muscles and tendons that can help create stability, says Bethanie Bayha, D.P.T., O.C.S., of Real Rehab in Seattle, Washington.

2. The unstable surface is actually more taxing on your joints.

Any instability or injury in the knees, ankles, hips, or lower back can be exacerbated by exercising on sand. Since sand is generally soft, there’s a little more give and shock absorption, which will make it gentler on your joints in terms of impact force. But even though the compressive stress (impact) will be lower, the shear stress will be higher, “so you’re kind of trading one for the other,” says Bayha. Compressive stress is more like when the femur hits the top of the tibia, whereas shear stress, she explains, is “a translation across joint surfaces, so for example, the femur sliding across the top of the tibia.”

3. Always start slow so your body can adapt.

“The importance of beginning slowly cannot be overstated,” says Campbell. “If an athlete has spent most of their time on hard surfaces and then goes directly to the same workout on soft sand, the stabilizing muscles will not be strong enough to support the movements and injury can occur immediately.”

4. Beware of sharp objects.

Barchi stresses that you should always check the area before you get started to make sure there are no sharp objects hidden in the sand. “Be careful about what you’re stepping on,” she says. The last thing you need is a sharp shell or broken glass puncturing your foot.

5. Avoid slanted ground during runs.

Many beaches are slanted in the area between the soft, dry sand and the wet sand closer to the water. Campbell says that where she is in Hawaii, most beaches have a slant, which makes it difficult to do a lot of running. “We keep our beach runs in a shorter area where I can control for slant; either going up and down the slant or finding a small flat area with deep soft sand,” she says.

Source