Ready to start a beach body workout for an upcoming beach vacation?
If you’re hitting the beach soon, you’re probably wondering how to get a bikini body. While you might think you don’t have enough time to get the flat stomach and beach body you want, we’d like to suggest our beach body challenge.
With this beach body workout, in just 4 weeks, you can actually strengthen your core, sculpt the perfect bikini body, and be on your way to flat abs.
This beach body workout challenge isn’t some boring 100 crunches a day challenge. In fact, you won’t do a single crunch during the whole month! Planks on the other hand….well, we’ll talk about that later.
The 30-day beach body workout will work your abs and core muscles from all angles. You’ll develop strong abs, a healthy back, and, oh yeah, a totally beach-worthy stomach!
Even if you don’t have an actual beach trip coming up, there’s no reason not to try a bikini body workout today. There’s very little equipment required so you can easily complete the workouts at home or at the gym.
So if you want to learn more about the ab-sculpting bikini body workout, click the button below to get started!
Who knows, you might even enjoy trying on your next bikini! And the sooner you start, the sooner you’ll see the results!
Bikini Body Workouts for Women that Work
Plank
The plank is the primary move for the 30-day beach body challenge. Planks are a core stability exercise that sculpts the primary abdominal muscles. Planks are also important for spinal health and reduced lower back pain. In the 4-week bikini workout, you’ll do planks every workout, sometimes twice. If at any point in the beach body challenge you can’t do the prescribed plank duration, simply take 5-10 second breaks and then resume where you left off.
Set up on the ground or a mat like you’re getting into a push-up position. Instead of keeping straight arms, bend your elbows and lower down onto your forearms. You can interlock both hands and you should be up on your toes. Your body will form a straight line from your ankles to your shoulders – your hips should neither dip down nor lift up. During your plank, brace your abs, squeeze your glutes, and keep both contracted throughout the entire duration of the plank.
Feet-Elevated Plank
This simple tweak to the standard plank makes the move even more difficult and perfect for a beach body workout. With your feet elevated, your upper body and core have to bear more of the weight.
The execution of the feet-elevated plank is the same as the Plank, but with your toes up on a bench or box. This exercise is also called a decline plank because of the shape of your body. Remember to keep a neutral spine and hips level just like you do in the regular plank.
Side Plank
How to get a bikini body: side planks. Side planks can’t be beaten for training your obliques and definitely have to be part of your bikini body workout routine. They’re also a powerful stability and balance exercise that will help you protect your spine during twisting. Side planks also effectively target the smaller gluteal muscles, gluteus minimus and gluteus medius, which are often neglected during our trips to the gym but play a pivotal role in hip alignment and stabilization.
Lie on your left side with straight legs. Support your upper body on your left elbow and forearm. Brace your core and raise your hips until your body forms a straight line. Don’t let the hips dip or rise and resist allowing your torso to twist one way or another. Hold for the prescribed amount of time and then switch sides and repeat.
Swiss-Ball Jackknife
The 30-day beach body challenge would not be complete without the Swiss-ball jackknife. This advanced core exercise will strengthen the muscles of your spine while you sculpt a flat stomach. If you struggle with getting into the starting position, try this instead: Drape your body over the ball with your tummy on the ball and your hands and feet on the floor. Then slowly walk your hands forward until you’re in the correct starting position.
Get in the top of a push-up position with straight arms and your shins resting on a Swiss ball. Brace your core and, while keeping a straight back, roll the ball towards your chest by pulling it with your feet. Pause briefly and then roll the ball back to the starting position. Move slowly to avoid falling off of the ball or losing your balance. A killer beach body workout move!
Weighted Russian Twist
This rotational core exercise challenges all of your abdominal muscles, especially the obliques, making it a perfect addition to your bikini workout. You’ll also work your lower back and hips. The added resistance will help sculpt lean muscle, giving you a more defined midsection. This move is a multi-tasking beach body workout move!
Sit on the floor with your feet flat on the floor and bent knees. Hold a weight plate, medicine ball, or the ends of a dumbbell with both hands and your arms straight out in front of you. Lean your torso back to about a 45-degree angle to the floor. Maintain this position, brace your core, and rotate your torso as far to the left as you can, then rotate as far to the right as you can. That’s one rep.
V-Up
Your beach body workout should also include this all-inclusive exercise. V Ups tone your lower abs, obliques, and hip flexors. Your goal should be to touch your toes at the top of the movement, but if you can’t don’t worry, you’re still benefiting from the exercise.
Lie on the floor on your back with straight legs and arms. Reach your arms back and hold them out straight above the top of your head. In one motion, lift your torso and legs at the same time as if you’re trying to touch your toes. Your body should be in the shape of a V in this position. Slowly lower back down to the starting position.
Leg Lifts
This deceptively challenging exercise sculpts your entire core and hip flexors. Don’t do these in a rush! You want to lower as slowly as possible and with total control. Don’t let your legs come crashing down. Squeeze your glutes to engage them and protect your lower back.
Lie on the floor on your back with your arms extended straight out to your sides, palms up. Lift your legs straight up in the air, feet together, and with a slight bend in the knees. With a rigid core, slowly lower your legs back down to the floor. Try to take 3-5 seconds to lower the legs. Keep your back firmly planted into the floor; if you end up with an arched lower back, don’t lower your legs as much.
Mountain Climbers
Mountain climbers will tone your tummy while adding a huge cardio boost to the 30-day beach body challenge. These can be done slowly, but for this challenge, do them fast to really get your heart pumping!
Set up in a push-up position with straight arms. Brace your core, lift your right foot off the ground, and raise your knee up to your chest. Return to the starting position and then repeat with your left leg. Keep alternating until the time is up.
Burpees
Burpees are the total-body conditioning move that you love to hate. They’re included in the 30-day beach body challenge for a fat-blasting boost, cardio blast and to strengthen your upper body and core. Burpees are a perfect way to finish off your bikini workout.
From a standing position, squat down to the floor and put your hands on the ground. Jump your feet back until you’re in the top position of a push-up. Perform a push-up then immediately hop back to the squatting position and then explosively jump up into the air. Repeat and do as many as you can during the prescribed time.
Next, learn how to lose that fat!
Building the Perfect Beach Body and Toning your Abs
Now that you’ve had a chance to look over the exercises for the 30-day beach body challenge exercises, let’s go over a few other important things.
You’ll need to understand some fat loss basics to see the best results and have truly toned and visible abs.
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- First, it’s almost impossible to have a flat stomach if your diet isn’t in check. Crappy food will lead to less-than-stellar results, no matter how much you work out.
- On the other hand, if all you do is starve yourself but you don’t do the workouts, you won’t have any definition. Ever heard of skinny fat?
- Calorie balance is by far the most important variable in fat loss. That means you need to take in fewer calories (food) than you burn (daily tasks and exercise).
- Stomach pooch is often caused by food sensitivities that lead to bloat. So if you’ve ever had issues with dairy or gluten, you can experiment with cutting or reducing those.
- At the end of the day, the calories matter most.
To help you lose fat faster, the programs in the 4-week beach body workout include some extra cardio. You’ll do mountain climbers or burpees each workout to get that metabolism firing on all cylinders.
These moves are just enough to get your heart racing and help you burn some extra fat throughout your day.
And although each bikini body workout is fast and some of the movements are simple, by doing them with good form you’ll be building lots of fat-burning muscle mass.
You should start noticing results pretty quickly, especially if you are eating a healthy diet!
Falling off Your Bikini Body Workout Schedule
What happens if you miss a day….or ten? Well, first off, don’t freak out. We all know how life can get in the way. Hopefully, you don’t have a problem squeezing these short and sweet workouts into your daily routine, but, if you do, life goes on. If you only miss a day or two, the best thing to do is to start where you left off and don’t worry about trying to make up for a lost day. Just turn it into a 31 or 32-day challenge with an extra rest day. No big deal.
If your missed days go beyond a few, then the rules change a little. Stop, go back, and take it from the top. Don’t get hard on yourself for not making it through the first time. Just start over and do your best to see it through. It’s only 30 days. If you find you continuously fail to make it through, maybe it’s time to re-evaluate how you’re choosing to spend your time. We’re all busy but your health should be your number one priority — just keep that in mind.
30 Day Beach Body Challenge Quick Tips
No matter how dedicated you are, it’s easy for life to get in the way. Here are a few quick tips to help you stay on track, make it through the 30-day beach body challenge and succeed in reaching your goals.
- Crank your favorite tunes — music makes everything more enjoyable!
- Invite your posse to take on the challenge with you. A little friendly competition, encouragement and accountability never hurt anything. It’s a lot easier to skip out on a workout when you don’t have your two besties counting on you to show.
- Do your bikini body workout the same time and same place every day. Well, at least the same time — it might be fun mixing up where you do your workout, a sweat sesh outside is always nice when the sun is shining. Doing it at the same time is a biggie though. By scheduling your workout in the same time every day, you’re less likely to neglect it.
- Book a trip somewhere! Having a little motivation to get that beach body never hurt.
Now on to the 30 Day Beach Body Challenge!
Ready for the challenge?
Looking for more challenges to help you lose 15 pounds in a month? Try our 30 Day Cardio Challenge or 30 Day Ab Workout Challenge!
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