Working Out on Vacation
Whew! It's good to be back!
For those of you who are out there scratching their heads at the above remark, I spent the past three weeks adventuring around Europe; it was quite the incredible experience, to put it mildly, and I'm going to do a recap of the trip (along with some videos) early next week. Stay tuned!
In the meantime, I'm going to briefly tackle the subject of working out on vacation. I've had a number of people ask me this week, "So, what did you do for lifting whilst in Europe?"
Here's the #1 piece of advice I usually give people when they ask me what they should do while on vacation: Don't obsess over it.
It is vacation after all, right? And given that most hotels, cruise ships, and resorts are outfitted with worse equipment than your average garage gym, you simply can't expect to to increase your strength levels while out of town.
BUT, as vacation typically does lend us to partaking in less-than-desirable eating, sleeping, and exercise habits, it's certainly not a bad idea to move around more than a beached whale while traveling.
For me personally, while backpacking around Europe, these were the guidelines I adhered to:
1. Again, don't obsess over it. If I'm too busy remaining perpetually worried about when I can get in a workout, I'll miss out on everything happening around me. 2. When I did get a chance to train, here are the rules I kept: Keep it short, and don't try to be a hero. I'll have plenty of time to train when I get back home, but I'm only in Europe so many times in my life (maybe once?). 3. Fortunately, I spent the majority of my trip hiking (Switzerland has some brutally awesome trails), canyoning (more on this next week), and walking around in general. There were VERY few days, with the exception of flight and train travel time, where I sat down longer than I was out walking around and remaining active. So, I ended up only doing one dedicated workout throughout the entire trip. Big deal. (Refer to rule #1.)
For those curious, here is what I did, and is a simple plan you can use while traveling virtually anywhere.
Warm-Up: Pushup to Yoga Stretch Complex, 1x5 each
Next, repeat the following circuit for 10-20 minutes:
A1. Goblet Squat to Overhead Stepback Lunge x5 (I held the backback that's in the picture at the top of this post)
A2. Spiderman Pushup x6/leg or Tempo Pushup x10
A3. Single-Leg Hip Thrust x8/leg hold :2 @top (used a bed to elevate my back)
A4. Side Plank to Plank to Side Plank x :20each
Nothing fancy, but it took very little time, while at the same time allowed me to get the juices flowin' and briefly tackle everything ranging from mobility, core stability, posterior chain work, to shoulder stability, and provided a minor strength stimulus for the upper and lower body.
The options are virtually limitless on what you could with your bodyweight, let alone if you brought along a pair of furniture sliders or a few resistance bands.