Ideas for staying in shape on holiday
Staying in shape and maintaining your fitness over the summer can be challenging.
With enticing beaches for lounging, ice cream everywhere you look and heat making you break into a sweat just walking around, staying fit and healthy is not often top of the list.
And rightly so. A holiday for many is a time to relax, detox and forget about the hustle and bustle of 'real life' by enjoying a few weeks of relaxation and uninterrupted bliss. However, this doesn't mean that it is impossible to maintain your healthy streak whilst holidaying at this time of year should you wish too. Perhaps you have a sporting challenge after your holiday requiring you to maintain a certain fitness level, or you have got into really good eating habits that you don't wish to break and want to find a healthy balance whilst away.
If this is the case, then look no further. Here are some ideas for staying in shape on holiday...
The hotel facilities
This might seem like an obvious one but it is easily overlooked. Does the hotel you are staying in have facilities that can help you stay fit during your stay? This doesn't just mean a gym- although if it has a gym then ideal- but does it have a swimming pool, tennis courts, bike hire or Watersport activities? Doing lengths in the pool provides great overall fitness and can also be done even when its super hot outside. Many hotels offer some sort of equipment hire so it is worth looking into, and may also mean that you can explore the area from another angle, rather than in a car or on foot. Instead of driving to a neighbouring town, why don't you cycle? Instead of taking a ferry over the short stretch of water between two islands, why not see if it possible to hire kayaks instead?
Be clever with the weather
Weather is something I personally struggle with the most when trying to exercise on holiday. Living in England, I am used to exercising at whatever time of the day I wish, as let's be honest, it's most likely going to be cool with grey skies. However, if you are holidaying somewhere hot, it is likely you'll find that there are very short windows of the day when it is cool enough to exercise outside without turning into a dripping and very red mess- I think we can agree this is not the best look. Be clever about when you decide to exercise. Early morning and late evening tend to be the coolest times so plan you're schedule with this in mind.
Choose the healthy option
By this I definitely do not mean don't have any ice cream, fizzy drinks or other treats whilst you are on holiday- where would be the fun in that? However, at home, would you normally indulge in a breakfast buffet, two three course meals and a couple of ice creams in between as part of your daily routine? Probably not. Be aware of you're eating and where possible, see if there is a healthier alternative. For example, maybe some days switch an ice cream for some frozen yoghurt or a fruit salad. Or perhaps decide to skip out on the bread basket when eating out at restaurants. The cuisine available obviously varies depending on the country but even so, there is usually a healthier option should you wish to seek it out. Salads and fish are rarely not on a menu, and might make a welcome change to pizza and pasta. Just making these little changes can make a huge difference and are unlikely to detract from your holiday satisfaction.
Get creative
I am well aware that many of the ideas I have presented are not applicable to all types of holidays and that it is not always so easy. When I went sailing around rural Greek bays with my family this summer, staying on the yacht and often anchoring at night, I realised I was going to have to be rather imaginative with my workout ideas and routine. It's not every day you take a dinghy across to shore at 6am in order to find a place to do a workout and beat the sunrise. However, such ventures did make my mornings a little more exciting than my usual commute to the gym. Use your surroundings to your advantage and do the best with the space and resources you have. For example, if you have limited space, perhaps switch up your normal run for some high intensity interval training, allowing you to combine cardio with strength and giving you a great full-body workout. If you're keen on weight training, why not focus on body weight exercises and think of new ways to challenge your muscles. Adapting your usual routine for a couple of weeks is unlikely to do any harm, and you might even find that you come up with exercises that you can then go on to integrate into your usual sessions.
And finally, don't forget you are on holiday! There's no harm in taking a break from your usual healthy routine and treating yourself for a couple of weeks. Some days you might choose to devour a pizza and three scoops of chocolate ice cream whilst spending the day on the sun-bed, whilst others you might want to get up early and workout until you're hot and sweaty and very much in need of a shower and some breakfast. It's all about balance and doing what makes you happy and fulfilled. It's a holiday after all.
