READ MORE ABOUT VACATION FITNESS:
Few things can throw a monkey wrench into your fitness progress like a trip or vacation. When you travel, everything changes. Your energy level, schedule, resources and even time zone. Because of these shifts, both your fitness and your vacation can become severely compromised leaving you wondering why you left home to begin with. Here are the essential tricks to having your cake and eating it too while on a trip.
PLAN AHEAD
The first thing to realize is that it’s going to be almost impossible to stick to a super strict and time consuming workout routine. The more time and effort your exercise required while at home, the more it will require on the road. Most of the time, you’re simply not going to have those resources, especially if you are trying to cram as many plans into your trip as possible. Even if you do have a lot of time and energy, you’re probably not going to want to spend it all in a gym and plunk your bottom on an exercise bike.
So go easy on your super strict routine. Plan the trip so it coincides with a few rest days or the de-loading phase of a macro cycle. Don’t beat yourself up if you can’t stick to your normal routine. That's just anti-productive and drags your mood, fitness and vacation through the mud. So make a plan and dedicate some time each day (once you're settled in), to your fitness and your body.
PUT ON FITNESS CLOTHES AND WALK FAST OR JOG SLOWLY
Walking to get from place to place should not count as a workout. Putting the time aside to get your "workout" in means that during that time you are dressed for it, scheduled for it, and will reap the benefits from it. 20 minutes is enough to show your body and your mind the respect that you give to your fitness commitment. Taking it for granted, and not making it a priority make it harder to come back when you return home.
BRING AND/OR BE CREATIVE WITH EQUIPMENT
It’s only right to start thinking about bringing or make-shifting equipment on the road. There are many advantages to doing this.You don’t have to make the time to get to a gym, freeing up precious vacation time. Since you can workout anywhere, you can still enjoy the view from your beach house and not settle for the walls of a basement hotel gym. You can exercise while still in the company of those you came to see. Maybe you can talk a friend or relative into working out with you.
PANTYHOSE AS ELASTIC BANDS & WATER BOTTLES AS WEIGHTS
Elastic exercise bands are a very popular choice. They are pretty inexpensive, easy to set up and a synch to use. Since the resistance of elastic bands or pantyhose increases as it stretches, there are many ways to get a good workout with them. Some might see this as a plus, saying that it forces your muscles to work harder as they stretch.
While the bands are a great option, you can also use water bottles, canned foods or even books to mimic free weights. Making small circles with weighted items in various different ways, angles and positions can give you a full upper body workout.
THE TIME INVOLVED
Sometimes we simply don’t have much time to get any exercise at all while traveling. There might be only a few minutes here and there and that’s about it. In this situation, using a technique called chunking is an option. Chunking is when you use a little bit of exercise multiple times a day for an accumulative result.
For example, a simple 10 minute elastic exercise band/canned goods routine might not do or feel like much, but if you can do that 3-4 times in a day it will add up to be quite a lot. The advantage is that chunking won’t require you to shoe-horn a massive amount of time into your schedule. You can have a little here and a little there when you can afford the time and still get your reps in without pushing your vacation out the window.
The last piece of advice is to plan your workouts early in the day. We all know how the daily schedule can take over and impede on workout plans while at home. While on vacation it’s even more difficult to stick to a late day workout schedule due to the freestyle nature of vacation planning.
For this reason alone, getting your workout in during the morning usually makes it easier to be successful with your travel fitness. It might seem like a sin against vacation to get up early, but getting in a workout early in the day will leave you feeling refreshed and energized thus adding some value to your trip. You don't have to get up 2 hours early, just 20-30 minutes can do wonders. Once your workout is finished you can enjoy the rest of the day without worrying about getting it done.
Above all, remember that both your workout and vacation plans can coexist with one another. You don’t have to give one up for the other as long as you stay flexible and plan ahead. Just like you brush your teeth, shower, and put on deodorant, get your workout... YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT!
No comments:
Post a Comment