Top 10 travel fitness tips

To ensure that that you don’t lose your hard-earned fitness gains on your next vacation, simply follow these realbuzz top ten travel fitness tips on how to keep fit when on vacation.

Plan ahead for vacation fitness
Usually, you’ll know where you’re going and how long for – so if you do a little research beforehand as to what activities and exercise you can do at your chosen location, you’ll be better prepared on arrival. Printing a few maps from the internet and checking out what facilities your hotel offers can help you to target what fitness opportunities you can enjoy on vacation.

Take some walking exercise
The easiest and cheapest form of exercise, fitness walking can be done anywhere and at any time. Walking burns approximately 100 calories per mile – so because you may be generally less active on vacation, use every opportunity to get your heart rate going a little and burn off a few calories. Why not try going for an evening stroll along a promenade; taking the stairs instead of lifts in hotels; or going on a brisk morning walk before breakfast?

Stretch out and exercise
Long hours by the pool or on the beach have ‘summer holiday’ stamped all over them, and are an ideal opportunity to work on flexibility without working up a sweat! Flexibility training is as valuable as any other component of fitness – so if you’re spending long hours just relaxing, try a short dip in the pool to get warmed up and then spend ten to 15 minutes on a simple stretching routine, which will ensure that you return home more supple.

Take an exercise excursion
Holiday excursions are an ideal opportunity to marry sightseeing with a workout. With a little planning and ingenuity you can get the best of both worlds and you’ll also work up an appetite for your evening meal. Try some of the following ideas to combine exploring with exercise:

• Cycling to a nearby village, beach or local point of interest. This is an excellent non-impact cardiovascular (CV) activity.

• Jogging around the locality. As well as keeping you fit, this will also enable you to quickly identify the area’s best restaurants, bars and shops!

• Horse-riding. This is far more challenging than it can appear – so if there’s a trekking opportunity while you’re on vacation, take it, as it’ll help you stay in shape.

• Rowing, punting or taking to a pedalo. These are great ways of seeing sights from a different perspective, and combine CV exercise with some resistance training as well.

Adapt your exercise
In your own country, fitness facilities such as swimming pools, safe running routes and hotel gyms may be abundant – but when you’re travelling there may be fewer amenities at your chosen location(s). The solution to this is to match your activity according to whatever facilities are available. For example, if you normally swim for exercise but there isn’t a pool for hundreds of miles, try some jogging to maintain your CV fitness. Similarly, if the gym is your favourite place to work out and your hotel doesn’t provide one, then focus on more CV training while you’re away and then put extra focus into your resistance training on your return.

Pack a portable gym
If you’re particularly keen to stay in shape when you’re travelling, then try packing a few simple items of equipment so that you can train in your hotel, on the beach, or just about anywhere you like! The following items are all you need to get an all-over body workout using a combination of bodyweight exercises and CV training:

• A stability ball (deflated!). This is good to take for core exercises and as a platform for resistance training.

• A stability ball pump. Pumping up the stability ball is an ideal CV warm-up.

• A skipping rope. This provides CV and coordination exercise in a handy compact package.

• Two empty one- or two-litre water bottles to fill with sand or water, which you can then use as a replacement for dumbbells when doing resistance training.

Do an activity every day
You don’t have to follow a rigid training schedule while you’re travelling – and in any case that would be difficult to maintain – but by simply setting out your stall and saying ‘I’m going to do some form of activity of exercise every day’ will help you to maintain your focus and stay in shape. Your exercise could be anything – from some light stretching to a day-long cycling excursion – but whatever you do, by making the commitment to do some activity every day, it’ll be easier to keep fit.

Rest and recover
Yes, rest is actually part of a well-balanced fitness programme – so you should factor in time to allow your body (and mind!) to chill out a little. Fitness improvements are not made during an actual training session; they are made during your recovery periods from earlier training sessions. The gains you see in the form of improved performances are simply the tangible results as your body has adapted to previous training loads – so, recovery will actually improve your fitness levels.

Hydrate for exercise
Similarly to rest, hydration can all too easily be neglected in your day-to-day demands when at home – so take the opportunity on vacation to focus on hydration, as your body will thank you for it. The knowledge that fluid loss of as little as 2 percent of your body mass can result in a 20 percent drop in performance – in addition to symptoms of fatigue, nausea, headaches and irritability – should be enough to make sure you drink properly! Correct hydration goes hand-in-hand with a well-balanced health and fitness programme, and a vacation can allow you to set in place some solid hydration strategies.

Keep an eye on calories
Eating rich food – and frequently plenty of it! – on vacation can be the undoing of your commitment to staying in shape on your travels. So, by all means enjoy the varied cuisine while you’re away, but make sure you also eat smart by not consuming highly calorific foods all the time such as fried produce, fatty sauces, excessive alcohol and lavish desserts. You can easily enjoy eating and drinking in foreign places without putting on too many calories.

Staying fit on your travels
Everyone enjoys a vacation and the opportunity to ‘get away from it all’, but no-one enjoys losing hard-earned fitness gains and the challenge of getting back in the saddle when they return. By simply following our ten travel fitness tips and suggestions, you can stay in shape and get more out of your holiday – as well as enjoy some well earned R&R.