Beach Burpees

I'm taking it pretty easy this week since I'm on vacation down in Cape May. I've been laying on the beach for about six hours each day, reading, floating in the ocean, stuffing my face with seafood and drinking about six pack of Victory lager a day, however, despite my week of leisure, this past Saturday morning just didn't seem right without some combat fitness.

The place I'm staying in is close enough to the beach that I could a throw a medicine ball and hit it,  so it was only natural to hit the sand for some beach burpees. I did a leisurely 1-mile barefoot run to an isolated part of the beach where signs warn you not to proceed any further. Beyond those signs is a live fire range used by the  Coast Guard.

Since sprints have become a regular fixture at Saturday classes, I couldn't resist sprinting on the wet sand. Then I did our basic stuff: squats, jumping jacks, push-ups, burpees ... all while facing the distant horizon where the Atlantic and the sky merge.

Despite the pleasant setting, doing this stuff on the sand adds a little bit of difficulty since it gives way beneath feet and hands, but the sand also temporarily kept the record of my workout in the burrows dug from my burpees and the divets cut by my sprints until the next high tide wiped it away.

When I was all done, dripping sweat and breathing hard, I only needed to take five steps before I was submerged in the cooling ocean waters.

I'll close out this blog post with a modified version of how we end each class: Heroes don't quit! - but on occassion they do go on vacation.