Want a real challenge? Go on a holiday with two teenagers…
I have a 14 year-old boy and a 17 year-old girl. If you didn’t already know this, teenage boys love to embarrass their teenage sisters. One effective way to do this is by making farting noises in public. This of course is much more fun when said sister goes into hysterics asking him to stop. Teenage girls love to shop, especially at places like Victoria’s Secret, an ideal location to make said farting noises by said, now bored out of his mind, teenage boy. And so the cycle goes…
As much of a challenge as teenagers present, I’ve never laughed as much or had as much fun.
We took a pre-Christmas trip to California. Last year we came to Cali and experienced the most rain that the state had received in about 10 years, (thank you very much Mother Nature). Even so, we decided to make what will be an annual trip to California and enjoy better weather.
(2011 ‘is it ever sunny in Cali’ Christmas holiday)
2011 turned out to be a great start to the tradition.
I asked the kids what they wanted to do in Cali, and although theme parks are a ton of fun, they wanted some ocean fun.
We found ourselves on Venice Beach. If you’ve never experienced the strangeness of Venice Beach, it’s well worth it. We spent some time walking by the Kush Doctor’s and various kiosks, as well as assorted people of all shapes and sizes and states of being. Even teenagers seemed ‘normal’ compared to the peeps on the boardwalk…
On our ‘to do’ list was to surf, so we lined that up for 10:30 when the tide would be just right. I stupidly thought I should get in a workout prior to this. I say ‘stupidly’ because after I tried surfing, I realized it’s a pretty exhausting workout by itself.
In any case, a beach workout was in order since I’ve never done one. I felt I’d hardly look strange doing burpees on the beach compared to all matter of weirdness around me. No one would even notice me I’m sure.
Here’s the video of the workout:
Here’s the workout described in the video:
Do AMRAP style, that is ‘as many rounds as possible’ in a 20-25 minute period.
25 squat jumps
20 push ups
15 full burpees
10 pull ups
rest 30 seconds
Repeat over again (as many times before your 20-25 minute time is up).
I mentioned in the video that if you don’t have anywhere to do pull ups, or assisted pull ups you can eliminate this part of the workout. Or if you have a wall around, you could do stick ups, or if you have any dumb bells, or tubing you could substitute with some rows.
The key with this workout is to get as much work done as possible in the short amount of time allotted and then hit the beach! (Or do what ever else floats your boat, whether you’re on a beach or in your living room.)
We had a great time surfing; I got up on my board first try even though my form got worse as time went on, turns out surfing is a great workout.
I out lasted the kids who pulled their boards up onto the beach for a rest after about 90 minutes. I guess there’s something to be said for all those crazy challenge workouts that I do…
Then it was off to rent bikes and head to the Santa Monica pier. We biked for about 3 hours in the afternoon. I had some tired puppies on my hands by dinner time. My master plan to tire the kids out had worked. Off course, I was pretty tired too. It was a quiet night, even the farting noises took a break.
This was an awesome start to the trip. We’ll definitely want to perfect our surfing form and get some more California sunshine.
By the way, I’m sorry for taking away ALL EXCUSES for not training.
If you want more challenging workouts and a way to improve your pull ups so you can some knock out on a beach or in the gym, check out my program here.
(2011 ‘is it ever sunny in Cali’ Christmas holiday)
