By the time you read this I’ll be 30,000 feet in the air en route to Nevada, prosecco firmly in hand, head firmly in the clouds. *excited face* I imagine I’ll be 35 episodes deep in to Stranger Things by now enjoying my 403rd bag of Haribo. Let’s face it, staying fit and healthy while travelling is hard what with different time zones and general lack of sleep and I always find myself toying between YOU DO NOT NEED THAT 10th ICE CREAM and OH Treat Yo Self. Often, we’ve tried so hard to look our best on the weeks running up to our holiday that it’s very tempting to just flop on the sunbed and leave your workout routine on the runway. As soon as I get to the airport I’m in full blown holiday mode and if there’s an unhealthy option to be found I will find it. Pancakes for breakfast anyone? Haribo for the plane? We all know that flying is one of those glorious times when calories don’t count. When it comes to excercise I’m a little more disciplined and so I thought I would share my tips with you to keeping fit while away.
Pack Your Gym Kit (or at least your trainers)
Sometimes it’s simply all about having good intentions and let’s face it, if you don’t pack your gym kit or at least some gym appropriate footwear you are never going to break a sweat. I’m not going to kid you and say I spend any time in the gym when I’m away. Why would you toddle off to the hotel gym when you could be topping up your tan, sipping on a frozen cocktail or generally having the most fun that could be had at any given time? When I was in Miami, our morning routine was to walk to Collins avenue each morning to get breakfast and those walks along the boardwalk became the highlight of my day. Even a half an hour walk in the heat is enough to get those sweat infused endorphins knocking about. But I can tell you that this daily walk wouldn’t have materialised had I only taken my flip flops. They might look pretty but I’m sure primark secretly hate feet.
See the Sights on Foot or Put on your Dancing Shoes
You don’t have to spend hours in the gym to burn some calories. I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve packed my gym kit only to bring it home unworn. EXPLORE. Set yourself a goal of 10,000 steps per day. Hell just trecking through the airport can rack up the steps (especially if like me you walk in the wrong direction constantly) and before you know it, you’ve smashed your target. Walk along the beach, go on a hike (#glutegains), do sunset yoga or explore the local mall. I’ll be taking a trip to the Neon Museum while we are in Vegas and generally wondering around the strip so I’ll report back with my step count for each day. Watch out for it on Insta Stories.
Make it a Competition
Why not turn it into a competition? Compete against your BFF at home to see who can clock up the most steps while you’re away and the winner buys cocktails when you arrive back on home soil?
Take your Trainer with You
If you aren’t a Kardashian you may be staring at the screen thinking I’ve gone stir crazy. Nope. I don’t mean Jenny from the gym. I mean the PT that lives in your phone. I mentioned a couple of weeks back in this post that I was stepping up my fitness game with Gym Cube and I don’t intend to stop while I’m away. I’ve been doing 5 half an hour workoutouts per week and you can do them anywhere. If I don’t make it to the hotel gym, I can do a quick workout in my hotel room. I usually try and do a twenty minute HIIT workout before breakfast as I’m more inclined to pick something healthy to eat post workout. All you need is your phone or your laptop. Easy peasy!
If nothing else squeezing in that workout will give you that smug feeling that you have achieved the impossible but don’t let it take over your holiday. Eat the ice cream. Drink the Pina Colada. Live your best life.
Travelling is supposed to be exhilerating, magical and memorable so don’t be too hard on yourself. After all, it’s all about balance.
In the spirit of enjoying yourself here’s a handy little glossary of situations where calories don’t count:
- Free food
- Plane food
- Any kind of leftovers
- Netflix snacks
- Birthdays
- When Instagram made you buy it
What’s your holiday fitness routine?
