A holiday may seem like a hurdle when it comes to staying on track with your exercise, but this could actually be the perfect time to add some variety with types of training and work on your technique. Planning your workouts based on your location and type of training you are going to be doing is simple and quite the opposite of the perceived obstacle a trip can present. Follow these steps to holiday workout success!

1. Plan and Diarise

Sit down before you leave home to plan your sessions. This is very important! By making them part of your schedule just like at home, you’re less likely to be distracted or persuaded to skip them.

Tackle your objections before you even leave home, too! A valuable task to perform before your journey begins is to jot down ALL possible links to sabotage/potential red flag days and with each, find a way to work past them with an alternative. How can you fail with your list prepared, right?

2. Explore Your Options

Regardless of what type of training you are doing, there is always a way to keep moving with some form of activity, and by changing things up a bit, you can have heaps of fun and possibly explore new avenues to get your fitness fix!

Some ideas:

Outdoor training/parks/nature trails/hiking
Beach – sand training/jogs/walks
City walking – what a cool way to check out where you are and absorb the fresh air!
Sports – skiing/tennis/water sports/skating
Swimming – aqua aerobics is amazing even if you’re not a great swimmer!
Yoga – yes this is important and if your holiday is relaxation focused, this is perfect!

Also read: Easy Ways to Workout at Home

3. Pack Your Equipment

Not all locations are kitted out with a gym, so pop one in your bag! Having a few things on standby arms you with options for many different types of workouts, and not only are they inexpensive to buy, they take up virtually no room!

Resistance bands (three different levels covers all bases!)
Skipping rope
Running shoes
Backpack

4. Set Up Your Area

If you’re performing a ‘hotel room’ blast, get an area sectioned off, have your equipment (if any) and your favourite playlist ready to go! Check out your surroundings for things to incorporate into the workout such as a chair for tricep dips, or even a stretch of clear space to do walking lunges.

If your activity is an outdoor based session, have your route in mind with perhaps a destination to get to, or check out the area see if there are objects to use.

Also read: The Best Ways to Stay on Track on Holidays

5. Have Plans/DVDs/Circuits

Compile a collection of workouts to take with you and if you can play DVDs, brilliant! Why not mix this up and do a DVD workout one day, an outdoor adventure another day, a hotel room circuit the next, and another session in a gym.

6.Get ‘Appy

There are loads of cool apps giving you directions and addresses of gyms or fitness centres. Tap into the local information to locate the resources near you and you might be amazed by how many great places there are close by!

7. Make It a Group Thing!

Promote yourself to ‘Team Leader’ of the pack and get everyone in on the action. Are there group social activities, nature walks, and adventure missions to do? Perhaps a café crawl with fun mini fitness challenges at each stop.

Holiday Workout Ideas

Circuits

Using basic equipment and body weight exercises can be excellent to bust out a circuit very easily wherever you are. Express Workouts are so simple, and by packing a few things, you’re all set at your destination by using furniture and so on. Shuttle runs and burpees (yes – burpees!) are a fantastic way to add some intervals into your circuits.

Walking/Cycling

Check out your local area by footing it around or hiring a bike to spin through the nearby sights and keep your cardio ticking over. Check out attractions, walking tracks or cycling routes in your area.

Cardio Sessions

No rules, just get that heart pumping!

Skipping
Running/jogging on the spot
Power walking/walking in place
Stairs
Swimming
Any sports/water sports

Core Workouts

Simple and requires NO equipment, space or even a lengthy period of time to perform! Using a towel or mat either in your room or outdoors (weather permitting), you can punch out a quick core conditioning session by using some ideas from the Express Workouts, the 12WBT Exercise Index or even your very own favourite exercises. Hit play on your workout playlist to get yourself feeling great and train along to tunes.

Also read: How to Go From Gym to Glam With Ease

Lou’s Top Tips

Assess what you have access to at your destination and plan ahead what type of training you will do.
Pack light gear to train with.
Print off your Exercise Plans to take with you, so that there is NO excuse for you not having something to follow. Having these locked into your schedule is awesome for staying on track.
Make yourself accountable to staying consistent.
Be creative. No gym? No problem! Just because you may be somewhere more remote or unfamiliar doesn’t mean that you CAN’T be active. Any active movement is always a win.
Keep things light hearted, and let yourself enjoy other ways to include exercise.
If it is going to be hot where you are, consider do something earlier in the day.
Set the amount of time that you have for the session, and then mix things up!
Don’t worry about tracking exact numbers or calories burnt. Even throwing a ball at a park or beach with your friends or family gets the heart rate going!
Pop some water bottles in a backpack if you want to intensify a walk and keep well hydrated en route.