Now, I talked in a previous blog about knowing your goal and periodization. Which means that, if you listened to me, you should know what your doing for a workout a couple weeks in advance. So, if your real good you would plan your vacation week to be your "deload" or "recovery" week. However, some people still just do the same thing every day, or just wing the workout based on what they feel like doing that day.
So, your in Florida, or Cali, or Cancun, or where ever, and you want to workout. Notice, I said want. I actually recommend, if you haven't given your body a solid week off of exercise is over a few months, your body will greatly appreciate the rest. However, the issue with that is when you do that you usually lower your caloric intake. Unfortunately, on vacations our caloric intake is typically doubled or tripled. So don't be shocked to see some weight gain after a week in Cancun of just beer and burritos with no exercise in between.
If you do choose to workout, you have a few options depending on where you are. If your in a nice hotel, you probably have some sort of gym access. Usually all machines due to liability, but if your lucky some hotels do staff their gyms and will have dumbbells. So, in that case you can pretty much do the same thing you were doing before you went on vacation.
If you don't have a gym or not a good gym, then you may be forced to make some changes. I highly recommend bodylastics. They are rubber band resistance training bands that come in package with all different kinds of handles, attachments, and even instructional DVDs that are not actually that bad. They have the ability to put up to 234lbs of resistance, and you can over 134 exercises with them. The kit runs about $90, but if you spend a lot of time in a hotel room, it is definitely worth the investment.
When all else fails, just use your own body. Your body is Heavy. How many pull-ups can you do? Most of you can't do any, and some may be able to get single digits. Now, that's fine, but it just shows you how heavy your body is and how it can be used for weight training.
Here is a sample body weight workout:
20 Prisoner Squats
15 Push-ups
Pull-ups to failure
15 dips
Chin-ups
Plank
10 burpees
Now, you notice that is full-body. With minimal time and options, you are best to do full-body workouts in a situation like this. You can do this 2-6 times, depending on your level of fitness, but it will definitely get you sweating.
As far as cardio goes, there are a few options. My personal favorite would be swimming. Most hotels nowadays have pools, if not, sorry. People are constantly doing cardio on hard pavement, hard treadmills, etc. and it puts a lot of pressure on their ankles, knees, hips, and lower back. Swimming is a great full-body cardio workout that will burn calories like no tomorrow. The best part is, it is non-weight bearing so it gives your joints a break from the pavement and hard treadmills.
My other personal favorite is beach running. If you ever tried running on the beach you know what I'm talking about, it sucks. It is 10x harder then regular running, but burns a ton of calories. This obviously takes some good endurance and some good coordination, but if you are at the appropriate level, it can be great cardio.
So, next time you go on vacation, although you deserve to sit on the beach and sip martinis, try to get even 30 minutes a day in for a good workout. Note, these exercises typically are not high weight, if any weight at all, so your rest periods should be short. With 20-30 minutes you can get an incredible workout.
With loads of laundry and some major packing to do, ill have to cut this short. I will try my best to get a blog or two in while down in Florida, but can't make any promises. I hope you all have a wonderful week and half, and enjoy the cold :)
Best,
Doug Spurling, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
dspurling@une.edu
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