How to handle vacation

Most of us struggle to some degree with how to approach a vacation.

Whether you are hosting or traveling, any time your routine is thrown off, anxiety can slither in. Consider this your how-to guide for keeping your health and fitness a priority while keeping friends, family, and memory-making front and center.

I am going to lay it out straight. Here are some concrete ways to keep your training on track, even when you on the run or out of town.

Suggested Approaches for Moderation

Enjoy the break from your daily grind! Don’t stress out. Don’t throw in the towel.

Embrace the opportunity to prove your commitment to yourself.

1. Just have fun. If you are away for 7 days, pick 4 days that you will exercise. It doesn’t need to be within the structure of a program (which builds towards a goal); we are just talking workouts here.
   • Challenge a friend or family member to a workout; ask them to instruct a familiar-to-them-but-new-to-you move or “routine” and then return the favor!
   • Or, Google an interesting movement and decide to learn it while you are away. (Sissy squats, anyone? I mean, Jen Sinkler mentioned them at least once!)
   • Get a guest pass for a local gym and find some different equipment to play on. (Did you read about how I popped my rope trainer cherry on my trip to Cali?)
   • Try a fitness class–your audience will primarily be other vacationers you won’t ever see again! Heck, join a beach yoga class!

     The key is to NOT get caught up in all the details.

     A week off your program will not be the end of your progress,

     but a week of consistency will reinforce your developing habits.

     Plus, fitness is fun. Let’s remember that.

2.  Embrace the natural opportunities to move. Enjoy the novel activities that often present themselves during a trip! Explore on a walk, hike, or bike ride. Run and play with the kids! Enjoy the bustle of cooking and tidying and hosting. Compete in yard games! Dig in the sand! Lots of opportunities for movement pop up when we take time off from sitting at our desks for 8 hours a day.
3. Squeeze ’em in.

• Frequency sets: Whenever you can, just bust out some reps. Think 300 swings. Perhaps make a goal to rack up 100 push-ups daily. Or make that 500 bodyweight squats. Or alternate! Accumulate reps throughout the day without the need to schedule a workout.
• Fasted morning Sweaty: Upon waking, take the first minute of your day to yawn and stretch, and then the next five to break a sweat. I’ve created a beauty of a beast for you below!
• Quick, high-intensity workouts:  Nothing fancy. Just metabolism-revving, endorphin-releasing, cardiovascular-taxing workouts. Think minimal equipment, minimal time, maximal effort.
  • Sprint: Especially great on the beach, just spot a random destination in the near distance and run towards it as fast as you can. Walk it off. Repeat. Jump in the ocean. Revel in your ability to make your workout happen.
  • Jump rope: If you don’t own one, you should make the $5 investment. It could not be easier to pack and holds nearly limitless possibilities for quick, fun, and varied spurts of hard work. Not sure where to start? I’ve given you one possibility below!
  • Single-bell kettlebell workouts: Have you read Pat’s emails lately? He has been giving sneak-peaks of his new Minimalist Workouts which are all fat-obliterating, completely-exhilarating single-bell kettlebell workouts that can be done in 10 minutes or less (with a hearty dose of motivation, too!). Perhaps a little more cumbersome to pack than a jump rope, but a single bell opens the door to a world of strength-building opportunities.

You don’t have to be perfect to be better.

Will you refer to these strategies next time you head out of town? Will you give these a try and let me know your success? Will you share this post with a friend who could use such a common-sense approach? Will you comment your thoughts, experiences, and advice below?

Ideal Vacation Workouts

Here’s where I hook you up with two examples of vacation workout excellence.

5-Minute Jump Rope Challenge

Aim for 3 total rounds in 5 minutes!

20 regular hops
10 scissor hops (like a narrow split, alternating forward foot each jump)
5 single-leg hops LEFT/RIGHT
4 single-leg hops LEFT/RIGHT
3 single-leg hops LEFT/RIGHT
2 single-leg hops LEFT/RIGHT
1 single leg hop LEFT/RIGHT
*Repeat 4 times, except knock-off the highest rep set for the single-leg hop each round.

Bodyweight Sweaty

For 2 minutes, with RIGHT leg planted, complete on the LEFT side:

3 forward lunges, 3 reverse lunges, 3 side lunges;

5 regular bodyweight squats.

For 2 minutes, with LEFT leg planted, complete on the RIGHT side:

3 forward lunges, 3 reverse lunges, 3 side lunges;

5 regular bodyweight squats.

For 1 minute, complete as many push-ups as possible, resetting as needed for good form.

…

See you on the other side, with a tan and a flat belly (ya know, from all those lowered cortisol levels).

-Alyssa

P.S. With a few of my own vacation workouts done and dusted this week, it’s clear to me that “sissy squats”  are actually very aptly named despite an initially misleading connotation. I’ll let you in on a little secret: these are not squats for sissy-types–no, no, don’t be deceived–they are squats that make you–yes, even you, Quadzilla!–feel like a sissy.