Vacation Workout Guide

Summer is here, and chances are that if you go to the gym or care at all about your health and fitness, then Summer is a big deal. At some point, you will probably be shirtless, or in a swim suit. You actually want to look like you care! You want to show off the muscles you spent months building. You want to show everyone how hard you work. However, the Summer is also the time for vacation. All inclusive resorts are typical, with copious amounts of food and drink at every turn. Pina coladas and bottomless nachos while lounging on the beach for 14 days in a row will wreck your physique faster than the New York Jets leak anonymous quotes.

The problem: You want to look your best, but you also want to enjoy your vacation

The solution: hotel room circuits and body weight exercises in under 20 minutes!

Nothing worth achieving is easy, but that doesn’t mean you have to spend your entire vacation working out! The good news is that it doesn’t take much to maintain your gains from the year while on vacation. All it takes is some effort. All that is necessary to maintain your level of fitness are a few 20 min sessions during the course of your vacation.

Minimal Equipment Necessary

An average vacation can run several hundred dollars easily, without even including airfare. However, the cost of maintaining your body while traveling is much much less.  You can have several pieces of equipment that easily fit into a travel bag and will be allowed in checked bags on an airplane that all cost under $15 dollars!

1. Your body – Cost – $0 – The easiest way to get a workout in on vacation is to use your body weight! Lunges, squats, jumps, pushups and dips are all possible right in your hotel room. Sprints and running intervals are easily performed outside.

2. Jump rope – Cost – $15 – This is my favorite way to burn calories quickly. Jumping rope has a learning curve, but once you get a rhythm, it can be a really fun total body exercise. Your calves, shoulders and forearms are guaranteed to burn after a solid jump rope session.

My three favorite protocols:

• Jumping rope for time – Jump as long as you can without messing up. As soon as you mess up, start jumping again. Start with a modest goal – 10 minutes is more than plenty. Each session you can add a minute to the time.
• Jump rope intervals – Alternate between going fast and slow. For example, jump as fast as you can for 15 seconds, then either take a brief rest, or jump slower for 30 seconds. Repeat the interval 5-7 times to begin. Add a round with each subsequent workout.
• Touch counts – Set a number in your head and keep going until you hit it. This is my preferred method for warming up before a lift, or as a cool down after a workout. Start with 150-200 touches. You can do regular touches, as well as one legged touches and any other trick variation too.

I also love practicing tricks such as double unders, cross overs and side swings. Traditional cardio like jogging and biking can be very boring. Jumping rope is a sneaky way to increase conditioning because you really are focusing on footwork, learning tricks and on maintaining a rhythm. You don’t even realize that your heart rate is up until you are gasping for air.

3. Resistance Bands – Cost – $10 – Your body is great for resistance…except when it comes to your back. It is really hard to workout your back unless you have access to a pull up bar, or if you find a pipe to do horizontal rows. A single rubber workout band changes all of that. Use the band for pull aparts and rowing variations. The band can also be wrapped around a pole or post for more rowing variations, face pulls, and band external rotations.

4. Furniture Sliders – Cost – $6 (per pair) – This has been a new addition to my repertoire, but I have gotten very encouraging results on my last vacation. Furniture sliders are meant to move heavy furniture without much effort. They slide heavy things, including your bodyweight on surfaces such as grass or carpet. They make body weight exercises such as pushups and lunges much harder. These are perfect for stronger people since body weight exercises are hard to overload the body in a way that is consistently challenging. External resistance is warranted to get a training effect, but the sliders are able to increase the difficulty by emphasizing the eccentric movement, and allowing you to put your body’s levers in a position of poor mechanical advantage. Your body has to work harder to stabilize and produce force. Sliders also allow you to work your core in very challenging ways.

Creating Workouts

I am a huge fan of metabolic resistance training, which uses resistance (either your body and/or weights) combined with short rest intervals to elicit positive muscular and energy system adaptations. It’s the foundation of my bootcamp philosophy. While the benefits are numerous, the best part about MRT when attempting to stay fit while traveling is the time efficiency aspect. You get a lot done in a very little amount of time, which is exactly what we need. Many people like to take jogs while on vacation. This type of training has many cardiovascular benefits. However, it is also very time consuming. Your body quickly adapts to the low intensity, and in order to keep progressing, people have to push longer and harder. This leads to way more stress on your joints, and more time consuming workouts. Both things that should be avoided at all costs while on vacation!

Below you will find a general template designed for a person with average strength and mobility. Feel free to mix and match exercises based on the available equipment, and feel free to adjust rest periods for your daily training level. Remember, what your best was on a regular day back home without drinking daiquiris all day may not match up with what you can do while on vacation. You may be hung over, stuffed with food, severely sunburned, or all three. Just push as hard as you can for that day.

Sample Body Weight Vacation Plan

Circuit Day 1

-All exercises are done in a circuit fashion

A. Squat Jump x5

B. Body weight squat x10

C. Body weight good morning x10

D. Push Up x10

E. Mountain Climber x30

F. Plank :30s

*As little rest as possible in between exercises. You can take a 1-2 minute rest between rounds

Do 3-5 rounds.

Circuit Day 2

-All exercises are done in a circuit fashion

A1. Split Squat Jump x5

A2. Reverse Lunges x10e.s.

A3. Lateral Step Ups x10e.s. (use a bed or a chair)

A4. Pike Push Up x10

A5. Groiner x30

A6. Side Plank :30s

*As little rest as possible in between exercises. You can take a 1-2 minute rest between rounds

Do 3-5 rounds.

Conditioning Day

A. Warmup

B. 10 10 yard sprints

-Jog back to the starting point each time and repeat

C. 5 20 yard sprints

-Jog back to the starting point each time and repeat

Add or subtract sprints based on conditioning level. I like to keep the sprints short in order to cut down on potential injury.

*Try to get 1-2 conditioning days in during your vacation.

Sample Minimal Equipment Vacation Plan

Circuit Day 1

-All exercises are done in a circuit fashion

A1. Squat Jump x5

A2. Overhead Squat w/ band  x10

A3. Slide Board Push Up w/side to side reach x10

A4. Slide Board Reverse Lunges x10e.s

A5. Band Pull Aparts x10

A6. Bodysaw x10

*As little rest as possible in between exercises. You can take a 1-2 minute rest between rounds

Do 3-5 rounds.

Conditioning Day 1

A. Warmup

B. Jump Rope Interval

-15 seconds as fast as possible

-30 Seconds moderate pace

Repeat 8 times

Circuit Day 2

-All exercises are done in a circuit fashion

A1. Split Squat Jump x5

A2. Push Up w/ Shoulder Flexion x5 e.s.

A3. Slide Board Lateral Lunges x10e.s.

A4. Band resisted Goodmorning x10

A5. Bent over band resisted rows x10

A6. Slide board Knee Tucks x20

*As little rest as possible in between exercises. You can take a 1-2 minute rest between rounds

Do 3-5 rounds.

Conditioning Day 2

A. Warmup

B. 10 10 yard sprints

-Jog back to the starting point each time and repeat

C. 5 20 yard sprints

-Jog back to the starting point each time and repeat

Add or subtract sprints based on conditioning level. I like to keep the sprints short in order to cut down on potential injury.

*Try to get 1-2 conditioning days in during your vacation.

Wrap Up

As you can see, with a little creativity, a productive workout is possible when away from the gym. You don’t need to spend hours maintaining your body while traveling. 20 minutes a day will allow you peace of mind and will prevent your body from becoming detrained. Try out one of the circuits outlined in this article and let me know what you think in the comments!