A vacation can be a great time …
… to let your body get the rest and recovery it needs from more traditional strength training workouts. However, we also understand that taking a full week or two off from structured exercise can be a challenge for those of us who love being active.
There are many ways to get in some movement while still giving your body a bit of rest from the usual intensity of a regular strength workout.
If you do not have access to a gym where you are staying, there are still plenty of bodyweight exercises you can do in the room or outdoors.
And remember, building and maintaining strength doesn’t require nearly as much volume or effort as we once thought. Sure, working hard is important. But lighter vacation workouts might do more than just burn some energy while we’re away from the gym.
Pushups (or maybe handstand pushups if you’re daring), squats, squat jumps, lateral lunges, walking or forward lunges, bulgarian split squats, skater squats, and hollow body, bear, and plank variations are all great choices.
An example of a program using these exercises could be a long circuit of 10 pushups (eccentric or elevated on maybe a chair or counter area if needed), 10 squats, 10 single leg deadlifts on each side and 10 deadbugs or leg lowers on each side. Repeat 3 or 4 times.
Another option could be some sort of timed circuit.
Using the clock or a stopwatch app on your phone, you could do 30 seconds of pushups, squats, deadlifts, and deadbugs or leg lowers, with 30 seconds of rest between each set.
You could also mix up the exercise variations and do plank shoulder taps instead of pushups or squat pulses instead of regular squats, etc.
If you don’t mind bringing some equipment with you, a light band, like the orange ones we have at the gym, would be a great lightweight item to pack so you can add some pullaparts to your circuit.
Remember, you are on vacation, so have some fun with it. Do the exercises you like the best in your programs at the gym and/or format it in a way you find most interesting.
If you hate counting reps, go for the timed option, if you want to see how many squats or pushups you can do in a row, test it out!
There’s really no wrong answer.