Daily Health Workouts

ways to keep fit on holiday

06:22

Keeping fit and looking fantastic while on a weekend away or a long vacation is simple if you take your gym with you. Nikki Fogden-Moore shares her top 10 tips

10 ways to keep fit on holiday - Women's Health & Fitness

1. Be creative

Think outside the box of your normal exercise routine. Try to remember exercises, stretches and routines that you do each week in a class or with your trainer and do these on your own. Learn from your current routine at home so you can take it away and mix and match while you are travelling. Try new things!

2. Pack light

 For a weekend away, for me it’s my running shoes and an outfit or two, depending on the location. If I am going for longer I pack CrankIt straps and a skipping rope. Ask to borrow a yoga mat from your hotel or just put on your shoes and head out the door to explore the city or the countryside. Hire equipment, like a surfboard, bike or stand-up paddle board. You’ll be working out without knowing it!

3. Discover the area on foot or by bike

Swap heels for trainers and see the sites. Even if you’re on a shopping weekend, you can get up a bit earlier or take time during the afternoon to walk the city. Explore the shops before they open to know your way around. The best way to get a feel for the place you are staying is to discover it on foot or by bicycle.

4. Use core workouts

Or express sessions if you have limited time. Ninety per cent of my yearly travel is for work and I am on the road every week with early starts and late finishes. This means very limited time to train or do longer, more regular exercise sessions. I counterbalance this with daily express sessions; for example:

5. Pack some suspension straps

I always take these on trips of four days or more and it ensures I can train on the spot for just 15 minutes a day, or longer combined with cardio.

6. Skip your way fit 

Lightweight and super easy to pack, a skipping rope will roll up and fit in your shoe. I pack one with me for weekends and long trips. Skip as a warm-up and cool-down at different tempos, then add your core work and body weight exercises in between. You’ll be surprised how effective skipping is for agility and cardio condition.

7. Use nature as your gym

Embrace the surroundings. If you are on an island or beach holiday, head to the water for your workouts. In the countryside or even in a city that has amazing parks,

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Get Outside The Box

Take a new fitness class. Changing the skills you work on – for example, learning a new Zumba move this week, practicing your lotus pose next week – will improve the way your brain processes all the movements, researchers report in a recent issue of Neuroscience.
Experiment with a new vegetable, such as maca, a radish-like root vegetable. “It’s a rich source of steroid-like compounds that promote quick regeneration of fatigued muscle tissue,” explains Brendan Brazier, author of Thrive (Da Capo Lifelong Books, 2008) and formulator of the plant-based health food company Vega. “If you add maca to your diet, you’ll be able to lift more weight and recover faster.”
Train like a triathlete – even if you never plan to enter a triathlon. A new study published in Radiology has found that the combination of swimming, cycling and running is the best for heart health.
Try mornings. Set a fit tone for your whole day by performing a light cardio warm-up and just 15 minutes of body-weight exercise in your bedroom before getting on with the rest of the items on your “to do” list.

Shake Up Your Weights Routine

Start your workout with a different exercise than usual. Simply switching around the order of your regular routine can stimulate both your muscles and your mind, according the American Council on Exercise (ACE).
Save your favorite move for last. You’ll be a lot less likely to quit midway through a workout if you’re looking forward to an exercise you enjoy.
Beat boredom. Instead of relying on machines, add in a combination of dumbbell, resistance-band and body-weight moves to hit your muscles from multiple angles, using different modalities.

Make It Social

With your BFF. Try out each other’s gyms by looking into free guest passes. A change of scenery (and different equipment!) can be refreshing.
With your guy. Sign up for a calorie-blasting winter sport such as snowboarding or skiing, or check out the local skate rink or toboggan hill.
With your sister. Sign up for a 10K, join a soccer league together or make a fitness bet – who can do more pull-ups (loser makes the protein shakes). Whatever gets your competitive juices flowing.
With your coworker. Hit the treadmill together on your lunch break. Cover your display screens, set the timer for 30 minutes and see who burns more calories. Winner treats the other to a clean lunch the next day!