When you go to the beach, odds are pretty good that you go to relax. Lay on a towel, get some sun, maybe have a snack or two – make sure it’s a healthy one! But while you are relaxing by the water, there’s nothing wrong with trying to get a little exercise in while still enjoying the sand, fresh air, and surf. I went to the beach with my kids this past week, and while we all know that there’s NOTHING relaxing about that in general, I tried to spend half of the time active. I was mostly successful, thanks to the following tricks:

Stress is very common in today’s world and can be caused by just about anything. It has been proven that stress damages your health and can lead to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, weight or skin problems, heart problems, and can also weaken your immune system. Exercise is not only good for your physical health, but can help you manage the stress in your life by relaxing tense muscles, improving sleep, and by releasing chemicals in your body (endorphins) that give you a sense of well-being.

Top 5 Activities To Reduce Stress

1. Running/Walking
2. Bike Riding
3. Weight Training
4. Swimming Workouts
5. Competitive Sports
   

Swimming is one of the best total body workouts for your body. Swimming, unlike running (for most people), is easy on the joints and can be fun depending on the type of swimming you are doing. Swimming with friends is a great way to enjoy yourself as well as enhance your physical and mental strength and endurance. This is also a great way to change up your workouts from time-to-time.

Research has shown that swimming workouts burn approximately three calories a mile per pound of body weight. One mile is 1,609 meters. So for a 150 pound person, at a 30-minute/mile pace, they would burn around 900 calories. Nine hundred calories in a half hour; it takes an hour on the treadmill at a fast pace to burn 900 calories! Below are a few different swimming workouts that you may want to give a shot!

Tired of your old, boring workout routine and searching for a new and enjoyable one? Today, I am going to discuss the top five exercises that burn calories like it is going out of style.

1. Swimming Workouts are a fun and enjoyable activity for almost anyone and burns up to 700 calories per hour.

2. Running stairs adds a new twist to your cardio routine and burns up to 700 per hour calories as well.

3. Boxing is a great total body exercise and burns around 900 calories per hour.

4. Snow skiing or snowboarding burn 600 to 700 calories per hour, depending on your weight, but is expensive and the mountains are not always right next door. It is still a great workout and helps reduce a great deal of stress.

5. Running, the best of both worlds. Although rough on the joints, it is by far the best fat burning exercise for the body. Running burns up to 1,000 calories per hour, depending on how fast and far you are running.

Swimming is an excellent total body exercise and offers no joint impact or any such stress on the body like many other types of activities. Swimming workouts are perfect for any kind of rehab, muscle endurance, burning unwanted calories, controlling breathing, and a good way to switch up the workouts in general.

There are six types of strokes, all of which work almost every muscle in the body:

The Free-style stroke (with flutter kick) mainly works the deltoids, hips, quads, and hamstrings.

The Butterfly Stroke (with Dolphin kick) focuses on the complete lower body, deltoids, and chest muscles.

The Side Stroke (with scissor kick) mainly works the triceps, hips, quads, and hamstrings.

The Back Crawl (with flutter kick) emphasizes the deltoids, back, hips, quads, and hamstrings.

The Breast stroke (with “frog kick”) mainly targets the chest, triceps, and complete lower body.

The Elementary Back Stroke focuses on the deltoids and complete lower body. I have put together a list of exercises to help with your swimming and recommend doing three sets of twenty repetitions of each movement. Congratulations to Michael Phelps for his great accomplishment.

8 Exercises To Target Each Major Muscle Group

External Cable Rotation (Deltoid)

Internal Cable Rotation (Deltoid)

Cable Chest Press (Chest)

Leg Raise (Hips)

Leg Curl (Hamstrings)

Leg Extension (Quads)

Hip Adduction (Inner Thigh)

Hip Abduction (Outer Thigh)