Take a Run on the Beach

Today’s post will be taking a bit of a vacation based off of my own life this weekend. As anyone growing up in Philly knows, it can get damn hot here in the summer. The heat saps your energy and exercise starts to look a lot less appealing when its a choice between your cool air conditioning and beating your feet on the hot pavement of the city.

So a annual rite of passage, and one that is often made weekly, is a trip to the Jersey Shore. This weekend I took a vacation to beautiful Long Beach Island (which is, thankfully, still more surfer dude than MTV Guido wanna bes). Although it was a vaction there’s no reason why you should take a day off from keepig your body in shape. Instead of lying on the beach, take a swim, or go rafting on the bay (my body still hurts, what a great workout!).

But perhaps the single best thing you can do is to take a run on the sand.

Benefits

Taking a break from your trashy beach novel and hitting the sand running can get you plenty of benefits even in just the short weekend you’re at the beach.

Running on sand can actually burn 1.6 times the calories that running on asphalt can as you’re using more muscles more often to compensate for the shifting sands. Also, the impact of you’re feet on sand is much more diffused than on other surfaces, meaning that it will put less force strain on your legs and reduce the chance of stress injuries.

Because of the shifting and the change in forces, you can build up lower leg muscles much quicker than running on anything else. There’s a reason that the Navy SEALs take their runs on the beach.

Getting Ready

There are some major differences between running on sand and a track though. Bad traction and soft sand will cause a runner to press more on the balls of their feet. To compensate, lean the body forward and drive your knees and arms higher.

Also, running on the sand can be particularly dangerous for ankles. A bad shift in the sand can lead to a sprained or even broken ankle. Although running barefoot is great, a good pair of running shoes with supports can help your ankles but being careful is also just as good. Also, running on sand will take a little time to get used to so be prepared to take longer warm up laps to lessen the chance of injuries.

Have Fun
Taking a fun run on your vacation is mostly to have fun. Take some time, show off and run in great weather.

Most importantly though, you’re on vacation, have some fun.

Gonna Fly Now - Steps as exercise

It’s an iconic piece of Philadelphia legend. The Rocky Steps (alright, the Art Museum steps) are a must see attraction for anyone visiting the city. The run to the top has come to signify conquering an athletic challenge and being the underdog who becomes a champion. If you grew up in Philly you’ve done the run at least once.

But perhaps it’s time to do it a few more time.

Steps as Exercise

Running up stairs can be some of the greatest exercises possible. Football coaches have known this for years as they routinely have their players charge up the stadium steps after practice.

Researchers in Canada actually looked into the idea of using stairs as exercise and found that stairs were the most demanding when compared to level walking or weight lifting. In fact the study concluded that stair walking was twice as demanding as a brisk walk over flat ground and fifty percent more demanding than walking up a steep incline of lifting weights.

The researchers included a warming, however, that since stairs are so demanding the exercise should only be attempted by the already physically fit if you’re going to do it often.

Is it really effective?

Although it varies for your age and weight, climbing up a stair burns about 0.11 calories per stair and 0.05 calories down. There are 72 stone steps leading up to the front entrance of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

  That works out to a grand total of, um, well 11.2 calories burned for one trip up and down, excluding the calories you burn doing the Rocky pose at the top, of course. Although not amazing you can do that multiple times to get your heart rate going.  Besides, this exercise isn’t really about the calories anyway, it’s about the motivation of using an amazing Philadelphia landmark and working the city into your exercise routine.

And, as a little extra motivation, I’ll leave you with this:

Running Your Ass Off Philadelphia Style

Running.

For some it is the supreme and ultimate exercise. It provides a runner's high as endorphins pulse through your body and it is a great and natural exercise.

For others, it is absolutely dreaded and each step is loathingly taken against ones will.

But everyone can agree that running is an essential part of any work out routine and luckily Philadelphia is the perfect city to take a run.

Getting Started

Running alone can be accomplished almost anywhere in the city. The Fairmount park system, one of the largest in the nation, has a multitude of trails and paths that run through large swaths of the city. For beginners, the run along Kelly Drive provides a wonderfully maintained, popular, safe, and gorgeous path to exercise along. In the Northeast, paths along start behind the Philadelphia Correctional Facility and provide a surprisingly nice run (importantly, running near a prison is much safer than you’d expect, and brightly lit too).

For those who want to get the extra motivation and safety of running with a group, there are plenty of running clubs in the city that provide tips and tricks for running in the city. One of the best are the Philly Runners. The group has many runs, both competitive and free, that will push the apathetic runner into a better routine.

The group also provides suggestions for runs to join outside of the city along with a great fun run that leaves the Art Museum steps at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesdays.

Tips and Safety

It’s been a hot summer in Philly and that brings extra dangers to running. Hot weather running can bring on heat exhaustion and severe dehydration that will bring on headaches, spins, and possible collapse.

Some tips:

• Hydrate, hydrate, and hydrate. Although sports drinks may work for you, nothing beats a cool glass of water.
• Wear proper clothing. Go out and spend the few extra dollars on breathable sports clothing and keep the skin breathing.
• Be smart and quit your run if you start to feel the effects of heat. Know your body and don’t push it beyond limits, this is exercise but it can also be dangerous.

Running with buddies or in a popular area can also never be a bad idea. So grab a friend and hit the streets and paths of Philadelphia.

Happy running!

Swimming

Swimming is an amazing exercise that helps to burn calories, works out all your core muscles, and provides excellent cardio workout. 

But unless you're a multi-millionaire it can be challenging to find a pool in the city. Luckily Philadelphia has one of the great public pool systems in the nation. If you don't mind the happy kids, the old-timers, and the sometimes questionable water you can really enjoy a good outdoor swim in almost every neighborhood of Philadelphia. 

Where to find them:

The City of Philadelphia Department of Parks and Recreation (not to be confuseded with Pawnee Indiana’s Parks and Rec, great show!) is a great place to start looking for a pool. The website provides a complete list of every public pool in the city along with addresses and phone numbers. The phone numbers are important since due to budget cuts, thunderstorms, and, um, “children’s accidents”, all pools might not be open at all times. It’s safest to call ahead to make sure your pool will be open when you get there.

The complete list can be found here.

The best pool:

This might just be personal preference but my favorite pool in the city is called Carousel House. It’s special for being one of the few indoor pools administered by the city. Besides its wonderful name, Carousel house also has that beautiful indoor pool smell. Perhaps it was growing up on a swim team but the dank and damp smell of chlorine in an enclosed space really gets me ready to hop in a pool. I’m not kidding either, and we all know that smell. Even better, with so many people rather swimming outdoors in the heat, Carousel House is almost always empty except when it rains. For exercise though, an empty pool is absolutely perfect. Be sure to call ahead though or pick up a schedule since there are often swim meets and competitions occurring that close the pool down to public use. Also, bring a pair of flip-flops, it’s usually clean but public showers can get, eh, funky is the word I guess. Or just disgusting.

Happy swimming!

Take a Spin: Commuting as Exercise

We all know that going to the gym sucks. It’s always way too hot or way too cold and running while staring at the same four cinder blocks each day gets repetitive. So what can you do to vary you’re routine, keep exercise fresh, and keep motivated?

The best idea, especially in this great weather is to get outside. Philadelphia is filled with amazing places to get active and the City of Brotherly Love is getting more and more exercise friendly with each new bike lane and running path.

So let’s jump right in with my first tip. This is an obvious one but it’s the best way to get a little extra exercise in you’re day.

Fitting Biking Into Your Daily Routine
Get out the old bike. Philadelphia is a great city to ride a bike. Riding a bike has the obvious advantages of being low cost and having a low impact on the environment but it also can do wonders for everyday exercise.

All too often we take a bus, car, or subway to get even just a few blocks. A few trips to the supermarket on the bus are a huge waste of hours of exercise time. Riding just the mile or two back and forth from school to work can help to burn 200 - 300 calories. Since biking is a great low-intensity aerobic exercise it’s an easy activity to fit into you’re daily routine.

Biking Around the City
Although motorists and bikers in Philadelphia seem to be at constant odds, the introduction of bike lanes in the last decade has greatly improved the bikeability of the city.

The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, an advocacy group for the area, provides wonderful maps of bike lanes in the area on their website.

The group, which is a must join for cyclists in the city, also has meet-ups, provides tips, and delivers news about the ever changing city regulations on bike traffic.

Over the next few weeks I’ll be posting a few follow up posts as I use some of the bike paths that the Coalition has suggested.  In the mean time, try a few routes out for yourself, get active, and report any suggestions of your own in the comments below.

Happy cycling!