Maintaining your fitness on holiday!

Just after the New Year and in the run up to the summer are probably the busiest times for the gym and fitness industry as a whole. Guys hit the weights room and the treadmill aiming for the Brad Pitt in Snatch, shredded look, and girls aim to get bikini ready and toned ready for the summer months. However, when we actually get on holiday, it’s a different story! Protein shakes are replaced by Jagerbomb trains and high intensity interval training is replaced by high intensity all you can eat buffets! Being on holiday is a time to relax and enjoy some chilled out time, but this doesn’t mean we let our fitness goals completely disintegrate into the all-inclusive cocktails by the beach. A few holiday workouts can be quick, fun and bring you back home still looking and feeling great! For those of you into running, where better to run that a place with amazing weather, amazing scenery and amazing beaches? Channelling Forest Gump and running on sand can add an increase in resistance and be a welcome change in your regular workout, adding an extra dimension and challenge as well as providing a bit of fun by running along a beach. If you are running, try to go fairly early in the morning (WHAT? NO LIE IN HEAR YOU CRY) as you’ll have more energy in the morning before the heat increases and it’s a great way to start your day. Remember to stay hydrated though! If you are tired in the afternoon, take a nap, after all you are on holiday! Limiting your workouts to half an hour or less can kick start your metabolism and get you ready for that Pina Colada on the beach and high intensity interval training is a great and easy way to give you a fantastic workout. Easiest way to do it? Find a big hill and sprint up it for 20 seconds, then walk for 1 minute and repeat for 15 minutes. 15 minutes of high intensity interval training 3 times a week was shown to achieve more progress than running on a treadmill for 1 hour and studies show that just two weeks of interval training improves your aerobic capacity  as much as 6-8 weeks of endurance training! I guarantee this will get you out of breath, be a great workout and leave you free to do as you please for the rest of the day! The same can be done on the beach, on a road, anywhere where you can run so no excuses! Finally swimming is an awesome workout that works nearly all of your muscles and if you’re going abroad chances are you’ll have access to the largest swimming pool on earth...the sea! The natural current of the sea can provide great resistance to give you both a cardiovascular and muscular workout as well as being fun and a great way to see wildlife through snorkelling or scuba diving! Yes, holidays are a time to relax and unwind, but that doesn’t mean that we have to let our fitness goals completely disappear and our holidays can provide a welcome break from the monotony of the gym and give you a new environment in which to train. High intensity interval training takes very little time but provides great results with little to no equipment as well as getting you out in the fresh air and seeing the sights of the place you are staying. If you are travelling to a hot country, don’t forget to stay hydrated while exercising, and try and exercise earlier in the morning for more energy and less heat than the middle of the day.