Lounging on a bright yellow beach towel, surrounded by your best girl friends, while rocking your stunner shades and floppy hat, is only entertaining for so long. The tireless workouts you endured for bikini season have paid off, so why not skip the gym and sweat out some calories at your favorite sandy local? Inspire your girls to toss a frisbee in the shore break for some heart pumping shits n’ giggles. Besides, who said gaining a little extra attention from the hotties across the sand was a bad thing?

Here are 7 fantastic ways to utilize the beach as your calorie blasting playground:

1.) Build A Sand Castle: Between the digging, hauling, pushing, and shaping of your fantasy sand palace, you’ll activate muscles rarely used and burn between 210-315 calories an hour.

2.) Volleyball: Create a community vibe by gathering friends and fresh faces for a game of Volleyball. Bump and set your way through an hour of this calf burner and roast up to 475 calories!

3.) Frisbee: Toss a neon frisbee into your beach tote for a wet and wild game. Playing in ankle deep water presents it’s challenges and therefor more of a workout. Playing catch or twirling a frisbee burns about 200 calories an hour. Depending of course on how daring and competitive you get!

4.) Surf/Bodyboard: If you’ve got the cojones to brave the pumping sets, you’ll be rewarded with a major full body workout that can burn up to 250 calories an hour.

5.) Swim or Bodysurf: If you’re a fish like me, the water is where it’s at. Diving through and catching waves is by far my fave pastime at the beach. Thankfully it burns up to 420 calories an hour. Just treading water in place works wonders.

6.) Rock Jump: Get your heart pumping by climbing and ahhhhh jumping off cliffs/rocks into the ocean below. If you’ve got the landscape use it to your advantage. Fearlessness can work off up to 500 calories.

7.) Build a Bomb Fire: When the sun slides to the horizon and you cozy up in a thick sweatshirt the only thing left to do is chat around a blazing fire. Just fifteen minutes of carrying wood from the car to the pit burns upwards of 70 calories.

All calorie calculations above are based on a 130lb. person. Want to know how much you’ll burn? Use Glamour’s calories by activity calculator here.

Source
Photo by Ron310

When work, men, and laundry have you ready to pluck your hair out strand by strand it’s time to de-stress! Some people need a quite bubble bath, candles and a good book to calm their tension, while others get their jollies by shaking out their frustration on the dance floor. I’m with that latter group and find myself blasting upbeat tunes to loosen up and relax. Chances are even the most determined wall flowers have found themselves dancing around their bedroom (behind closed doors) in underwear, flipping their hair and lip syncing in the mirror. It feels so good, why not?!

So, I thought I’d give us all an excuse to let off a little steam. Here’s a playlist of my favorite hair thrashing songs to get you amped:

Lululemon Hatha Tank: Super light weight and incredibly soft, this tank is made with micromodal fiber extracted from beech wood. Built in support and moisture wicking awesomeness make this one of my favorite tops for hot weather.

Prana Organic Jada Pant: Perfectly placed front panels on this pant flatter all body shapes and is 95% organic cotton to boot.

Bamboo Wrap Top By Blue Canoe: When the sun slides to the horizon you’ll need some long sleeve action. This bamboo wrap top is sure to keep you warm and stylish. Love the gathering on the side seam!

Organic Short By Prana: Bare those gorgeous gams with this 90% organic cotton short. The fold over waist is key to comfort when it’s cooking outside.

Bamboo Swim Wear by Rogan Gregory For Target: A summer wardrobe wouldn’t be complete without a great suit. Luckily, renowned European designer Rogan Gregory launches his eco-friendly clothing line for Target on May 18th (two days!). Included in the light weight line are some hot and functional swimsuits. So while you probably can’t swim laps in these bikinis, throw on one of these skin bearers after all your hard work at the gym.

While “green may be the new black”, and we’re comforted knowing “it’s easy being green,” creating an earth-conscious sustainable lifestyle is not just an ad campaign or fad, but a necessity for overall health. Oh it’s a tangled web we weave!… The health of our environment, whether it be the soil that grows our food or the cleaning products we use at home, directly effects our personal wellness. We can’t simple take care of ourselves, we’ve got to take care of the web that sustains us.

With that being said, we can definitely hit two birds with one stone. Choosing to live sustainably offers you the ability to get and stay fit while being green. Here are 7 simple ways to burn calories, and save the planet in one fell swoop.

1. Spring Clean Tis’ the season to clean out those packed closets, drawers, and cupboards. I know when I overhauled my place, I was sweating up a storm from all that lifting, organizing and scrubbing. Vacuuming and dish washing could seriously replace a workout! With all that cleaning we sure don’t want to choke on toxic chemicals so here’s a run down on the best eco friendly cleaning products from Grist.org.

2. Compost And Recycle: Taking the recycling out and tossing food scraps into a compost pile isn’t always so convenient. By the time you are done sorting and hauling the recyclables down several flights of stairs or across town for some people, you’ve definitely burned some calories! Compost stiring is also a great upper body workout.

3. Bike Or Walk To The Farmers Market: Farmers markets are definitely the best place to find locally grown organic fruits, veggies, and even beauty products. While you probably already hit up the stands every week, why not get a workout in on the way to and from? Leaving your car behind obviously prevents CO2 emissions and saves you money on gas.

4. Tend Your Garden: Between pulling weeds, digging, hauling soil, and dealing with that unruly hose, gardening can be quite a sport. There’s nothing like taking a bite out of a home grown cucumber or tomato. Best of all, no pesticides, trucks, or planes involved. Just a few steps to the kitchen!

5. Jog The Stairs: Elevators spend a lot of time and energy traveling (at least in my building!), so save energy and sculpt gorgeous legs by taking the stairs. Jog or skip steps for more intensity. Or my favorite, make it a race to the top.

6. Limit Coach Surfing: There’s no doubt the tube can suck you in with Fresh Prince reruns, but how many wasted hours do you spend watching when you could be hitting the carpet for some crunches and pushups? Dig out those free weights or fitness ball and save energy during that normally useless hour.

7. Finish Home Projects: Chances are you have a list of things to fix, improve or upgrade at home, but have you explored all of your options? If you’re dying to paint the kitchen, look into low VOC water-based paints. Wanting to replace flooring? Research the highly sustainable and gorgeous bamboo flooring options. Do it yourself and save money while getting your sweat on!

Spring is officially here and while some of you can’t wait to get outside for a morning jog in the sun, gyms are unrolling innovative fusion classes to keep you indoors. It’s well known that the body becomes accustomed to your usual workout over time. To lose those last few pounds or to take your personal fitness to the next level you’ve got to challenge your muscles in new ways. Here are a few of the spanken’ new fusion classes that will have you burning calories, shaking your groove thang, and most importantly, creating your most epic self. 

Available From Crunch Fitness:
Club Cirque: Ever fantasize about running away and joining the circus? Here’s your chance! Based on movements from Static Trapeze and other Circus disciplines, this class focuses on agility, flexibility, acrobatics and strength to give you the ultimate performers body. From the flying trapeze to climbing the Spanish web, it will bring out the daredevil in everyone.

Buff Girl Workout: Come on, let’s be fabulous! Combine pilates, ballet, bootcamp and vintage aerobic moves for one great workout. Create a long lean sexy body. Even your psyche gets in shape through empowering words. Alright guys can come too!

Blading w/ Gliding™ Discs: No helmet or kneepads required in this fun, fat-burning class inspired by rollerblading. Simulate the street stride with Gliding™ Discs and Body Bars while cruising your way through cool cardio and strength training exercises.

Kangoo: Kangoo is the exercise boot with bounce. Strap on a pair of Kangoos, equipped with springs on the bottom and hop, jog, and jump your way through this low impact workout.

BodyWeb with TRX System®: Hang from the durable TRX system ropes to push, pull, lift and lower your body through Spiderman moves for a total body suspension workout that also super-strengthens your core.

Surfboarding w/ Gliding Discs: Get ready to hit the waves! Using the unique and fabulous Gliding Discs, and the balance challenge of the half foam roller, a multitude of surfing skills will be introduced, practiced, and perfected leaving your body toned and ready for the athlete in you to spring into action.

Available From Equinox:

Buff Ballet Barre Workout: Work on and off the barre to sculpt and define a long, lean dancer’s physique. Intense and fun for dancers and non-dancers alike.

Candlelight Yoga: Incorporating a gentler and more healing approach, and to relieve stress and relax from the inside out. Set to a candlelit room.

Video Dance Jam: Shake your booty like Beyonce. Bring down house and break a sweat with fun and hip dance video choreography!

This is just a sample of all the wonderful classes available from only a handful of nationwide gyms. Now there is definitely no reason working out can’t be super fun! I’m sure there are tons of creative classes near you. Have any favorites you want to share? Let me know in the comments.