Fellas, this one’s for you.

We all know beach season is fast approaching. How’s your body looking? Be honest. We all know what we want to see from the ladies. And those curvaceous, toned bikini bodies don’t just happen overnight. Whether it’s time to run shirtless on the beach, toss around the pigskin in the sand, tan it up under the parasol or use the classic “I can’t reach my back with the sunscreen” line, let’s get serious about getting fit for summer.

Cut. Jacked. Ripped. Whatever you want to call it.

If you’re heading for some fun in the sun and trying to show off for Ms. Right, ask yourself, “Do I look like Mr. Right?”

Either way, this is the first installment of a three­post series detailing a full beach body workout routine. Keep up with this program and your abs, pecs, arms and legs will be the envy of the oceanfront.

The Schedule

With the weather getting warmer every day, we’re not going to waste any time. We’ll be doing plenty of compound movement lifts to max out each rep and overlap results. The cumulative effects of this synergistic workout blasts the body and achieves amazing results in the fastest possible time.

Our goal is building mass and cutting down body fat. As for cutting body fat, your best bet is eating a low carb, low sugar diet with minimal saturated fats.

To build mass and create a toned, ripped physique, we’ll need to really tear the muscle fibers.

By performing fewer reps and heavier lifts, we’ll ensure we’re receiving maximum overload and producing maximum results. If you’re not hitting failure and needing a spotter at the end of your final set, you’re not lifting heavy enough.

We’ll be lifting weights by segmented body parts on each day of the week. By implementing this method, we hyper­target each muscle group to ensure all weak areas are addressed and nothing gets overlooked. The result is a proportionate, chiselled­ all­over, hardbody aesthetic. Since abs are ultra­ important to a great beach body, and a problem area for many people, we’re working abs five days a week.

Stick with the 30­ Day Fitplan Beach Body Challenge and you’ll be looking like Hercules, feeling energetic and sporting a mega­strong body to boot. Now let’s get to it. These muscles aren’t going to make themselves!

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Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday

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Weights: Chest + Abs
Weights: Back + Abs
Weights: Shoulders + Abs
Weights: Legs + Light Cardio
Weights: Arms + Abs
High Intensity Cardio + Abs
Rest or Activity Day

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M/T/W/F/S: Abs

The following ab routine is designed to target each critical area of the abs: upper and lower rectus abdominus, inner and outer obliques and transversus abdominis.

#1 Seated Medicine Ball Twists

Medicine ball twists are effective for targeting the obliques and the transverse abdominus. The lateral motion targets the abs from a different angel, obtaining quicker definition in a fuller, 3D fashion.

Grab a cushioned pad, a medium sized medicine ball and then take a seat. Place the ball on your right side. Lean back to a 45 degree angle, raising your feet from the ground and hooking them together in front of you. Pick up the ball while maintaining your balance. Slowly transition the ball across your abdomen, bringing it smoothly to touch the left side. Now return it to the right side. Repeat the process, alternating the foot that is on top between sets.

4 sets of 15 reps

#2 Side Raises

This exercise is for the outer obliques ­ those pillar­slabs that run from under the ribs down the side to the hip bones, wrapping towards the inguinal V. Grab a free weight plate or a dumbbell. Hold it in one hand, positioning your other hand on the other hip at a bent angle. With feet planted firmly hip­width apart, slowly lower the weight towards the floor in a straight line. Allow your alternate side to bend naturally, stopping when you feel a tightening around a 30­ 45­degree angle. Slowly bend yourself and the weight back up to upright. Repeat the reps on the alternate side.

4 sets of 10 reps on each side

#3 Planks

Planks are a total abdominal exercise that shreds each different muscle group while creating deep core strength and strengthening the low back.

Grab a pad and position yourself parallel to the ground. Keep your back straight, hips locked, feet together, hands forward and elbows pressing into your chest. Hold the line of your body in this position, engaging your core by pulling your belly button towards your spine.

3 sets of 60 seconds each

#4 Captain’s Chair Leg Raise

The Captain’s Chair targets the lower rectus abdominis and transversus abdominis, the hard lower abdominal areas. This exercise also helps to define the envied inguinal V that surround the hip bones.

Climb into the chair, keeping your spine perfectly straight. Raise your legs straight up and out in front of you. Curve the hips up and try to get the toes above your head. Consciously engage the core for best form. If a full leg raise is not possible, raise the knees alone. Hold for a second at the top and slowly release.

4 sets of 15 reps

#5 Exercise Ball Crunches

Angle yourself across a large exercise ball, feet in front of you with knees bent to stabilize yourself. With your back firmly planted on the ball and arms crossed across your chest, curl yourself up towards a seated position. After a 20-degree incline, stop and hold to feel the burn in your abs. Release to the original angled position on the ball.

4 sets of 25 reps

 Monday: Chest + Abs

#1 Bench Three Ways ­ Flat, Incline, Decline

Start on the flat bench to add width and girth to the pecs, then move to the incline and decline. Incline bench tears up the upper pecs and provides great definition along the collarbone.Decline bench rounds out the lower areas of the pecs, tightening up the lower curve of the pectoralis muscle.

Start your sets on barbells. After you feel confident in your weights, mix in barbell presses to hammer the auxiliary muscles, tendons and joints in the shoulders and arms. If you are an advanced weightlifter, feel free to compound superset these bench sets.

Otherwise, always give yourself 1­2 minutes of rest between sets. Remember to always use a spotter.

Flat Bench

Lay back flat on a bench press and reach your hands up to the bar above your head. Keep your arms at shoulder width, bent to a 90­degree angle or a little wider. Increasing the angle more than 90 degrees will target shoulders more than pecs. Hook your thumbs out from under the bar alongside the fingers. This will protect your thumbs.

With firm, even pressure push the bar away from yourself in a clean motion. Exhale as you do so. Breathing in, lower the bar to about an inch or so above your chest without touching your chest. Don’t allow your hands drop down more or the tendons in the shoulder can be strained with too much weight. Exhale and push the bar back to the starting position at the top.

5 sets of 8 reps

Incline Bench

Sit at the incline bar press, adjusting the seat for easy access to the bar. Similar to flat bench, raise the bar off the rack and slowly lower it towards your chest with a shoulder width grip. Only bring the bar parallel to your chest where your arms are at a 90­degree angle, not all the way down to the chest. Hold for a moment and push upwards, exhaling to the starting position at the top.

5 sets of 8 reps

Decline Bench

Hook your legs under the pads and recline into the bench. Take a shoulder width grip on the bar and slowly lower. The bar may reach your chest as it comes parallel to the floor and your arms are bent at a 90 ­degree angle. Exhale strongly and push the bar up to starting position.

5 sets of 8 reps

#2 Dumbbell Flies

We use dumbbell flies to add width to the pecs and stretch out the rib cage, making the chest larger across the front. This exercises increases strength to the outer areas of the pecs and also works the shoulders (similar to all of these chest exercises).

Grab two dumbbells and recline on a flat bench. Make sure you have room to raise and lower the weights freely. Start with both arms pointed straight to the ceiling and slowly lower them both to your sides. Try to go slowly and keep your elbows straight. If you can’t keep them 100% straights, that’s fine. Keep in mind that too much bend and difficulty compromises the integrity of the exercise.

Once your arms are parallel to the level of the bench, slowly begin to raise them back to the straight starting point. A minor bend in the elbow is acceptable, but if you can’t maintain a slight bend, drop the weight. Feel the upper pecs near the shoulder and outer pecs burning.

5 sets of 10 reps

#3 Cable Crossovers

This exercise brings the inner pecs together, joining the shelves of both pecs and creating a hard line of male pec cleavage. Fix basic handle cables to the dual­sided cable pulleys. Raise the pulleys to chest height or just slightly lower. Take both cables in your hands, lean forward between 30 and 45 degrees with one foot braced ahead of the other. Standing between the two cable lines with a firm grip, pull both together across your chest simultaneously.

This is not a forward pressing motion or a flying side­raise motion. Instead, imagine yourself performing a large bear hug across your chest. Curl the wrists at the end, feeling the interior of your pecs burn as you hold the motion. Release and alternate the forward foot.

5 sets of 10 reps

 Tuesday: Back + Abs

#1 Pull Ups

Stand under a pullup bar and jump to grab it with a bit more than a shoulder­width grip. Pull yourself up to the bar, keeping your body at a backwards 30­degree angle. When your chinpasses the bar, release to a full hanging position.

4 sets of 10 reps

#2 Bent Over Dumbbell Rows

Find a flat bench and lay a dumbbell on the ground to the right. Place your left knee and left hand on the bench, facing forward with a straight back. Dip your right hand down to grab the dumbbell. Holding it in a fixed position, raise the dumbbell from hanging up to the side of your pec around the nipple. Slowly release the hanging position. Alternate sides after completing one full set.

4 sets of 10 reps on each side

#3 T-Bar Rows

T-Bar rows provide an amazing long, wide curve of lat strength from below the shoulders.

Grab a V shaped handle, typically used for rows, and place a barbell end into the corner of a wall. Load with weights. Straddle the bar and bend forward, looping the metal V handle beneath so you can pull the bar towards your chest. Bend your knees and keep your back straight as you pull the bar towards your chest, almost touching. Release the weights away from your body slowly. Be sure you’re breathing.

4 sets of 10 reps

#4 Deadlifts

Bend your knees and take a firm grip of the barbell with two hands, shoulder-width apart. With a straight spine, push into your heels while bringing your chest forward and out. Bring your knees to a straight position and stand up straight. Slowly lower the bar with a straight back.

4 sets of 10 reps

Wednesday: Shoulders + Abs

#1 Military Press

Sit in the straight back chair, hands as wide apart as your shoulders. Press the bar upwards to a full extension of the elbows and then lower to the level of your chin. Exhale your breath and push the bar back up to the starting position above your head. Mix in sets of seated dumbbell presses for variety.

4 sets of 10 reps

#2 Barbell Shrugs

Take a grip of the barbell and raise your shoulders towards your ears, keeping the neck and head as static as possible. Rotate your shoulder heads from back to front (alternating front to back) during the sets. At the top of the shrug, hold the trap muscles at the ears a moment before releasing.

4 sets of 10 reps

#3 Lateral Dumbbell Raises with a Twist

Stand with your feet hip distance apart, core engaged. With two dumbbells at your side, raise your arms to shoulder level. Keep the elbows as straight as possible. Hold the dumbbells at the top before bringing the dumbbells facing forward. Release from this held position and return hands to side starting position. Feel the top and sides of the shoulder as the front deltoid head burns.

4 sets of 10 reps

#4 Reverse Bent Over Flies

Sit on the end of a flat bench, two dumbbells on the ground at either side. Lean forward until your abdomen and chest are sandwiched to the knees, almost parallel to the ground. Looking straight ahead, grab the dumbbells and raise them to your sides laterally in a reverse-fly motion. If you feel like an eagle whose rear delts are about to give out, you’re doing it right.

4 sets of 10 reps

 Thursday: Legs + Light Cardio

#1 Squats

Space feet shoulder-width apart (or wider for a greater gluteus burn) in a squat cage. With hands supporting the bar at either side, press up and disengage the barbell from the rack. Center your weight equally over the balls of your feet and heels. With your core engaged, lower your bottom towards an invisible chair and stop. Press up explosively into the starting position.

5 sets of 12 reps

#2 Moving Lunges

For additional targeting of the quads, take hold of dumbbells as you walk. Step forward with both hands on your hips, planting your foot solidly on the ground. The rear knee should hover above the floor. Press up and out of your bent leg, arcing the other foot up and forward into a similarly planted position. Keep your torso elevated and your back straight.

5 sets of 20 reps

#3 Machine Calf Raises

Place the ball of your foot and toes on the near edge of the leg press machine. The rest of your foot should be hanging off the edge. Release the lever to increase the weight onto your calves. Push both calves outwards into a full extension away from the body, keeping the legs taut but uninvolved in the movement. To build the calves, really load up the weights here. Calves are used every day for walking so add 5x-10x the weight you think they can take. They can take it!

5 sets of 25 reps

#4 Leg Press (Superset)

Since you’re on the leg press machine already, superset your leg presses between calf raise sets. With legs a bit wider than hip width, spaced centrally in the middle of the platform, lower the weights slowly towards your body. Hold at the bottom when your knees are to the chest and explosively push the legs out to the starting position. Never lock the knees. Instead, keep a micro bend to your knees with engaged quads.

5 sets of 12 reps

#5 Hamstring Curls

Lay prone on the hamstring curl machine. Evenly bring your heels towards your bottom, feeling the hamstring engage. Hold the position at the top of the curl and slowly release to the starting position.

5 sets of 12 reps

#6 Light Cardio

This isn’t to torture you, it’s to help your legs recover. A bit of bike- or run-time increases the blood flow to the legs. By doing light cardio, you’ll feel better in the following days and recover faster. Don’t worry about feeling silly when your legs look as if they are made of wet spaghetti – that’s the look of a champion!

Friday: Arms + Abs

In the name of reaping huge rewards, we’re going to superset one of our arm workouts. This not only creates time in our workout, but numerous exercises actually increase muscle-shredding efficiency when supersetted.

#1 E-Z Bar Curls

Keep your elbows cocked inwards and really squeeze at the top. You want to feel the contraction. Slowly release.

4 sets of 10 reps

#2 E-Z Bar Skullcrushers (Superset)

Lay on a flat bench, hanging your head off the back while the neck is propped up at the end. Grip the barbell on the inside bend with both hands. Extend the barbell to a 45-degree angle from your head while the bar hangs loosely behind your head. Extend your arms straight behind your head, feeling the triceps burn as the bar straightens. Keep your elbows fixed and slowly lower the bar back down.

4 sets of 10 reps

#3 Standing Alternating Dumbbell Curls

It’s important to maintain good form and use the dumbbells correctly. Reduce the weight if necessary. Curl the weights – or supinate – when you reach the top of the movement. Release slowly.

4 sets of 10 reps

#4 Preacher Curls

Extend your arm flat across the preacher curl surface or the angled back of a flat bench. Keeping your tricep and elbow stationary, curl the bicep and bring the dumbbell towards your face. Never compromise this form; it’s meant to be more difficult as it isolates the bicep.

4 sets of 10 reps on each side

#5 Seated Hammer Curls

Sit on a variable bench with a straight back. With dumbbells on either side, curl them towards your face alternately. Keep your elbows in a locked position, gripping the weights in like hammers with the heads pointed towards your face and the ground. Make a complete contraction after the full range of motion with the arms. Release.

4 sets of 10 reps on each side

#6 Tricep Push-down

Lean forward slightly and take a hold of the rope. Keep the elbows stable and unmoving as you push the line away from your body. At the bottom of the motion, push the sides of the rope out to maximize your contraction.

4 sets of 10 reps

#7 Close-Grip Bench – Triceps

Lay flat on the bench with hands close together. Lower the bar slowly towards your chest, stopping when your wrists touch the sternum. Press up and out from the chest explosively. Always use a spotter when performing this exercise.

4 sets of 10 reps

#8 Tricep Kickback

Place your left hand and left knee on a flat bench. Hold your dumbbells and bend your right arm at the elbow; keep it at a 90-degree angle. Extend the arms back and away from yourself until straight. Contract at the top and hold. Slowly release, keeping the elbow fixed.

4 sets of 10 reps

Saturday: High Intensity Cardio

It’s your choice today. Whether you choose to run, bike, swim or row – just be sure to include intervals of high intensity output. Most cardio should be done at 65-75% of your max, but High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) intervals should be done at 85-90% of your max. These intervals need only be for a couple minutes.

We add HIIT to boost the metabolism and fat-burning potential for 24 hours. On your Sunday cheat day, you can relax and know that your body is kicked into overdrive while you recuperate.

The Last Word

Alright guys, there’s the first workout in your 30-Day Beach Body Challenge! This post outlines every movement and every step you need to get 30 days closer to the body you’ve always wanted. Or the body you have, but want to perfect. Just remember: Rome wasn’t built in a day. And neither were the gladiators. Give yourself time to see results!  By the end of our three-month challenge, I promise your body will display serious changes.