Mastering the Sand: Strength and Speed Secrets for Beach Ultimate

If you want to dominate on the sand, standard field workouts won't cut it. On this page, we have brought together two professional video tutorials from the BULA Beach Fitness team and elite coach Tim Morrill. These guides will show you exactly how to optimize your body for the unique challenges of sand.

By watching these two videos, you will discover:

1. How soft sand changes your movement biomechanics and why the usual plyometric effect doesn't work here.
2. Which basic training tools and kettlebell weights you should choose to kick off your beach workouts.
3. A step-by-step breakdown of the perfect squat technique designed to generate maximum explosive lower-body force.
4. The ultimate secret to accelerating on sand: how to properly load and activate your glutes and hamstrings.
5. The most common sprinting mistake that kills your velocity on the beach, and how to fix it instantly.

Part 1: Developing Fundamental Strength with Kettlebells

Strength is the foundation of your speed on the beach. The stronger you are, the more force you can put into the ground, and the faster you will accelerate. Kettlebells are a tremendous tool for this environment because they are highly versatile and portable enough to bring right to the beach.

Step 1: The Sumo Squat Hold (Goblet Position)

Before adding dynamic movement, you need to open up your hips and learn to generate torque:

1. Clear the sand under your feet to ensure you have flat, solid ground.
2. Set a solid stance with your feet wider than shoulder-width, toes pointing forward to about 15 degrees out.
3. Clean the kettlebell into the 'goblet' position at chest height. Pack your shoulder blades into your back pockets to engage your lats and core.
4. Drop into a squat just below parallel. Drive your elbows out against the inside of your knees to get a deep adductor stretch.
5. Hold this position for 10 to 30 seconds while breathing and maintaining perfect spinal alignment.

Step 2: The Goblet Squat

Once your hips are stretched and active, progress to the dynamic squat:

1. From the same goblet position, lock in your core and prepare to move.
2. Key Cue: The first movement is not pushing your knees forward. The first move is driving your butt back towards the ocean.
3. Keep your weight firmly on your heels, drive your knees out, and complete a controlled set of 8 repetitions.

Part 2: Explosive Acceleration and Linear Speed

Because sand yields under pressure, there is a significantly reduced plyometric contribution from your tendons. Instead, you must rely on a massive extensor chain contribution. To accelerate on sand, you have to develop the glutes and hamstrings to powerfully extend the hip.

The "Extension Push" for Linear Speed

This drill trains your body to produce the correct horizontal force right from the first step:

The Setup: Walk up to your starting line and dig your feet into the sand to elevate your heels. This simulates a starting block and allows for greater horizontal force production.

The Load: Get into a staggered start position and load all your weight into your front glute.

The Push: Drive out with an aggressive hip extension. The cue here is to leave your hip in full extension as you push off, fully activating the glutes and hamstrings.

The #1 Acceleration Error on Sand: A common mistake coaches see is athletes driving too much into a vertical orientation. Remember: jumping is about vertical force, but sprinting is strictly about horizontal force production. When you take off, do not pop straight up. Drive out horizontally.

Integrate these progressions into your beach training, focus on your force vectors, and leave your defenders stuck in the sand!