Sunrise and some beach fitness!

 The other day, mrC wanted to get up early and watch the sunrise at the beach. Umm, yes! 

Since the beaches just re-opened here on Oahu (well, technically for solo activities), I was in full LET'S TAKE ADVANTAGE mode. I downloaded my FASTer Way workout to my iPad, put on my bathing suit and favorite sunscreen and packed the beach bag with towels. 

We sat for awhile listening to the waves, drinking our coffees and watching the the morning walkers. There is a very large number of people who walk their dogs on the beach, so it can be quite entertaining. 

The beach might seem like a crazy place to do a workout, but I love doing mine outside. Plus the scenery was A LOT better than my normal view on our lanai. FASTer Way workouts are available through the app and can be downloaded so you can easily take your workouts anywhere. I chose a HIIT Boxing workout from the workout studio because it is ALL BODY WEIGHT ---> perfect for doing it at the beach.

After a quick dip in the water, mrC and I decided to walk the entire length of the beach. I don't know why this appealed to me on this day except that it was so beautiful out and I wasn't ready to go home!

Even though it is one long stretch of sand, the beach has a different name depending on the location: Kailua, Kalama, Dunes, Oneawa, Castle's. At the dead end, the beach becomes blocked by lava rock which is the foundation of the beach front homes that continue. It's pretty private, but there was too much seaweed.

Hawaii (at the time) had a social distancing mandate that stated, "Individuals may engage in any lawful activity (e.g., walking, running, sitting, fishing, etc.) on the beach, but only by oneself. No group use or group activities are allowed." Believe it or not, this meant that even family members couldn't be together!! 

We knew that the Kailua Police would be patrolling the beach on their 4-wheelers, so when we heard them coming, we made sure that we were by ourselves! 

We haven't had that many beach days this year, because COVID restrictions closed them for months except to access the water for exercise.

I am planning to make up for it, big time!

What has been closed in your area that was frustrating?

Supersets with Tempo and a Booty Challenge

Today was our first strength training day following the new programming for July: Supersets with Tempo. We are going to be focusing on doing two exercises at a time back-to-back. One will be straight reps and the second we will vary the speed to increase the time under tension, aka max out the muscles!

I was really liking the mixed pyramid sets we were doing in June, but I know that in order to see change, we have to mix things up. That is why I love being in FASTer Way VIP. I get the perks of a personal trainer without the price!

This month we are also doing a Booty Challenge. So a couple of days a week we get bonus content to build our lower body strength. Today was day 2 and let me just say that things were on fire!

After my workout I did a cool down walk. It was a stunning day here in Hawaii with great trade winds, so I took advantage and headed toward the Lanikai Monument. This monument marks the entrance to the Lanikai neighborhood. 

The monument is my turn around spot, but I like to walk down the hill to the lava rocks and take in the view first. If you follow my Instagram stories you will see that I am here a lot! mrC and I love to sit and enjoy the breeze while looking for turtles. We came here almost everyday when the beach was closed at the beginning of the COVID quarantine.

I just love looking at the amazing view of Kailua Beach and the Kailua blue water from here. We truly are blessed to have this as our playground.

One reason I love this walk, is because it is all sidewalks and walking paths from our apartment (unless we take a side street which has very little traffic). The walking/bike path goes right through Kailua Beach park.

I spent the rest of my day working a little, chatting with my Functional Medicine Practitioner and eating! BreakFAST was one of my favorites: egg, tuna, avocado and hummus on gluten free, dairy free toast. The bread is made locally here on Oahu and is the best GF bread I've ever had.

While I was working, I had a 3 pound turkey breast cooking in the crockpot, so dinner was turkey breast, steamed broccoli and sweet potato chips. Turkey is my new chicken!

I got a bit of a game plan from the FMP today to help with my gut health and cortisol spikes. More on that in my next post.

Do you mix up your strength training workout programming or does someone do it for you?