Let’s face it, a lot can go wrong on holiday! Rest and relaxation can quickly turn to boredom and arguing, as you wrestle with your new environment. Your routine is completely out of whack, which upsets the rhythm you have gradually built up over the year. The one week you have been looking forward to for 12 months can leave you a broken wreck, as you drag yourself back to your everyday life at home.
It’s inevitable that things change while on holiday. You get up and go to bed later, you eat different types of food, and the average holiday goer consumes a lot of alcohol. You also don’t move very much! Lounging by the pool or popping around to the local bars may be all the movement your body gets.
All these adjustments to your regular schedule can leave your body exhausted, which transfers to you being that little bit more irritable and cranky as the days pass by. Who could blame you? You’re moving differently, fuelling differently, and thinking differently.
When in the last six months did you ever think that an 10am glass of champagne was OK??
The balance to all this mayhem is exercise. Before you run for the hills and think I’m subscribing one-hour gym sessions, bare with me! I can hear the screams of “But I’m on holiday!”. Yes, you are on holiday, which is a fantastic break from your normal routine. It doesn’t, however, mean you abandon all structure and progress in your day.
A simple, fast bodyweight session is all you need, but there are some guidelines! (I was going to call them rules, but hey you’re on holiday!)
Stay Sane and In Shape
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Do it first thing!
Once you leave your hotel room it’s game over for your workout. Everything and anything can and will pop up to steer you away from that scheduled fitness session. A drink by the beach…sure! A trip to a nearby town…of course! A meet-up with friends…absolutely!
Opportunities will come up and time will fly by once your day begins. Also, exercising after a round of lunchtime drinks is only asking for trouble. A few fast Jumping Jacks can lead to plummeting face first into that lovely old oak table you’ve been admiring!
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The Bathroom is your Gym
To have a great workout takes concentration. It also needs you to physically and mentally connect with your body. You need to feel the movements and adjust if needed. When your partner/wife/husband/child is staring at you, or watching TV with the volume up, you can be out of sync.
This is why I recommend using the bathroom as your gym! It is the only place in a hotel room that you still have a little privacy. Get in there, put your earphones in, and get your workout done.
With my 12 minute workouts on the Properly Built YouTube Channel, you’ll be finished before anyone even notices. All that will be left to do is shower the sweat off, and get ready for a great day of holiday activity.
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A pint every night!
Being on holidays can be quite a dehydrating experience! The sun is usually belting down all day, and alcohol is being consumed. Both factors rid your body of water and can make you feel lethargic, and not your usual high energy self. Add a full night’s sleep to this mix and you’ll wake up with your tongue glued to the roof of your mouth each morning!
This is why drinking a pint of water thirty or so minutes before you go to bed each night will do wonders for your energy levels. It will also have you in much better shape to tackle that morning’s fast bodyweight workout.
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Pop that Music in
As mentioned in guideline number 2, take some time for yourself and your body by putting your earphones in. Once you’ve cut off the outside world (kids screaming, TV blaring etc.), you are free to just work on yourself.
Get your favourite tunes going and celebrate the fact that you’re exercising while squeezed into a tiny hotel bathroom…you’re making memories!!
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Big Time Breakfast
You’ve already had a big morning! Now’s your chance to fuel your body for the day ahead. You’ll be surprised at your choices. Having that workout fresh under your belt will have you thinking a little differently about what you put into your mouth.
I certainly still want you to taste and experience all the delights that place has to offer, but not in the frenzied way that some people find themselves eating. It’s stronger and more controlled, which sends a ripple effect throughout your entire holiday.
Think about the day you left for your most recent holiday, and then think about the day you returned. Quite often we have much more energy going than coming back. Our aim is to come back equally as energetic as we left, or even fresher!
Working out is the energy level miracle drug you’ve been looking for. Yes, it’s counter intuitive to spend energy to make energy, but isn’t that what they say about money too??
Having tried both ways of spending my holiday, I’ll never again go back to doing nothing while away. Now, when I enter a hotel room, I immediately check out the bathroom before the room!
That becomes my little workout station where I keep everything on track physically and emotionally while seeing new and exciting places.
It can be the difference between a good holiday and an amazing one. You’ve paid the money and took those days off work. Now’s the time to get the most out of every new adventure by staying in shape and sane, and sweating before that morning shower!
To choose from over forty 12 minute bodyweight workouts you can do anywhere, check out the Properly Built YouTube Channel!
I am a big travel geek. Your blog is the best way to chase the fitness goals while traveling. Keep writing such exciting stuff.
I really enjoyed this blog. Such a smart way to keep urself fit and fine. The part Bathroom is your Gym takes this writing to another level. Keep writing such enjoyable thoughts and tips. Thumbs up from my side.
Hi Rihanna, thank you very much! I’m delighted you got some tips from the article. It’s a constant battle to stay in shape but if we use what’s around us we’ll be OK. Thanks again! Colin
Hey Colin, I would really appreciate if you have some natural remedies in terms of back pain that is consistent.