It is hard enough to exercise as part of your normal routine, but when you are on a holiday, your workout and exercises tend to be long forgotten. However, stopping your exercise during your holiday can make it even harder to get back into a fitness routine when you come back home. But no one wants to stress on their holiday, right? And keeping to our regular workout schedule when we are elsewhere can result in more stress. Yet, staying active even when on your holiday will ensure that you have plenty of energy, reduce the tension, help lose some extra calories you ate along the way. It can even help ease jet lag. If you’re lucky enough to stay at a hotel with a luxury day spa, your problem is pretty much solved! But if your accommodation doesn’t offer a gym, you might need to get a bit creative.
Here are a few tips to help prepare yourself and provide workouts that you can do, even on your holiday:
When you are going on a holiday, planning ahead is a good thing to do. Take your time in figuring out your options so you can be ready. Here are a few ideas to look at:
- Search for walking parks and trails nearby
- Check out hotels that have an exercise room
- If you are staying with family, ask them if they have any fitness equipment
- Talk to your family and see if they will accompany you on doing something active
- Plan very simple workouts that you don’t need much space or equipment for.
- Plan your workout schedule beforehand, even if you need to change the plan it still shows you have made a commitment to your fitness routine
- Plan to squeeze in exercises where you can
- If you have time to rest in your room before heading out to dinner, check out YouTube for some fitness workouts that don’t need any equipment, and sneak in a quick session.
- Book an activity at your hotel. For example, take a helicopter flight over wineglass bay (if in Tasmania), and do some hiking on the beach.
Be prepared
Plan for a worst-case scenario, like staying in a basement that has no equipment. Alternatively, imagine a case where you may only have 10 mins to workout.
Bring your workout plan with you and make sure you only have easy exercises, for example, 10 exercises that you do for 1 min each (like lunges and squats for example). You can even research holiday workouts online, where people from all over the world put up how they exercise and keep active during their holidays.
What to pack
- Pack your resistance bands. They are small and compact, and you can do a few quick exercises with them wherever you are
- If you have a laptop, bring it along with some workout videos or stream videos with fitness routines (without equipment) online.
- If you have any other small, compact equipment, take it with you if you can. That way you can workout in your room or sneak off to a park nearby whenever you can.
- Take your running shoes with you. They are good to have for any holiday, and you may even get a chance to slip out for 20mins and go for a jog.
Holiday workouts
If you are looking for some workout ideas, there are many options that you can have a look at. If you want to do a workout in your hotel room, you can stream it on YouTube. Some good things to search for (that usually brings up some free videos) are:
- 10-minute cardio blast
- No equipment travel exercises
- Low impact cardio blast
- Fat burning circuit
- Travel power strength circuit
- Resistance bands
Be realistic and don’t be too hard on yourself. You won’t always be in charge of your schedule during a holiday, but if you do your best, you should feel proud and happy regardless of how many times you work out. You can remind yourself about all the good your exercises will do for your body and health. That’s a great way to keep up the motivation, and make sure you get back to your normal routine as soon as you get home.
