Travel is on the horizon!
Which means: Lack of routine for your nutrition and your workouts, right?
In with the Mohitas, Calamari and beach days, out with the barbells, vegetables and morning routine!!!
A common myth many of us fall victim to is that Vacation or Travel + a “Healthy Lifestyle” can’t happen—(or at least it can’t happen without misery). Vacation means real food and workouts have to go out the door.
For others: Vacation=STRESS! Complete lack of routine, your usual workouts, and usual control you have over your food 24/7. Vacation is anything BUT relaxing, and you spend countless brain energy stressing out over the trip you have planned 3-months from now—wondering what you will eat? How you will get your workouts in? Or if the hotel will have a mini-fridge you can stash your homemade sweet potatoes and chicken breast?
Whatever end of the spectrum you fall on (fall-off-the bandwagon of heath, OR completely stressed out about vacation), get this: You CAN have your cake and eat it too!
Meaning: Vacation does NOT mean a healthy lifestyle has to go out the door, NOR does “vacation” mean that you have to stress out about keeping up with your routine—healthy food and workouts.
We all NEED vacations: Breaks from routine help us re-charge, just like your iPhone battery that gets worn down after 5 hours of no charge (seriously, they go down fast).
Vacations help us re-set, and if you lead a healthy lifestyle, are just part of what a healthy lifestyle looks like.
Vacations allow us to incorporate some new foods and variety of nutrients from our usual ho-hum chicken breast into the routine.
Vacations allow us to experience new things that inspire us, and help us think in new ways—new books, new adventures, new memories and new ideas.
Vacations allow us to refresh and try some new workouts that mix things up and challenge your body in new ways (like the ones below).
One of my favorite examples of the power of “recharging” and taking breaks is Thomas Edison.
Thomas Edison is most famously known for inventing the lightbulb, but he had nearly 200 patents (inventions) to his name!
Edison was also known as a “bad fisherman.”
Many days, he would retreat to a dock by the water in his town to fish, but…He NEVER caught any fish.
One day, someone asked him why he was such a bad fisherman, to which he responded: “I never fish with bait. The fish don’t bother you, and (time away) allows me to do my best thinking.”
Great escapes (like vacations) bring us new insights, visions and re-sets for our own healthy lifestyles. And while you may be “out of routine” it does NOT mean that real food, moving your body and yes, even a little wine or chocolate, cannot be part of the experience.
I’ve got your back on the whole movement thing. Here are some energy boosting workouts to try the next time you find yourself hotel or vacation bound (along with a list of bodyweight movements you can mix up into your own versions of these workouts if you are without dumbbells and weights). (Youtube search any names that don’t sound familiar).
Bodyweight Movement Library
Lower Body
Squats
Jump Squats
Glute Bridges
Gute Kick Backs
Lunges
Reverse Lunges
Core
Sit-ups
Planks
Plank T-Twists
V-ups
Bicycle Crunches
Knee Tucks
Leg Lifts
Scissor Kicks
Hollow Body Holds
Supermans/Back Extensions
Upper Body
Pushups
In & Out Push-ups
Hand-release Pushups
Handstand Pushups
Pullups
Rows
Chin-ups
Pullup/Chinup Holds
Conditioning
Bear Crawls
Burpees
Sprawls
Running
High-Knees
Mountain Climbers
Jumping Jacks
Thrive Tip: One of my favorite ways to incorporate bodyweight workouts are Tabatas! 20-40 seconds of work + 10-30 seconds of rest between movements for a total of 4-8 rounds of one movement before moving on to the next. Pick 4-5 different movements to complete
21 Hotel & Bodyweight Travel Workouts
Push It
5 Rounds for Time
250-Meter Sprint (.13 sprint)
15 Push-presses
10 Burpees
Energy Booster
20-Minute AMRAP
20 Squats
20 Push-ups
20 Sit-ups
Thruster Crusher
10 Rounds
10 Thrusters (Front Squat to Press, or 10 Weighted Squats)
10 Pushups
Chest Lift
For Time
100 Pushups or Dumbbell Bench Press
(Every time you break, complete 200-Meter Sprint or Row or 10 Burpees)
Butts & Guts
5 Rounds
15 Dumbbell Deadlifts or 15 Glute Bridges/Yoga Ball Hamstring Curls
15 Wallballs or Squat Jumps
30 Sit-ups
3-2-1 GO!
30-20-10
Front Rack Weighted Lunges
Hand-release Pushups
V-ups
Functional Fusion
3 Rounds
20 Kettlebell OR Dumbbell Swings
20 Hand-release Pushups
20 Weighted Sit-ups
Get Up
4 Rounds for Time
Run 400-Meters/Row 500-Meters
21 Ground-to-Overhead (Dumbbell Snatches or Clean & Jerks)
Quad Quaker
12-Minute AMRAP
12 Step-Ups/Box Jumps
6 Thrusters (or Squat Jumps-explosive)
6 Burpees
Step-it-Up
20-Minute Running Clock (keep cycling through)
12 Dumbbell Step Ups (12 Each Leg)
24 Pushups
12 Reverse Lunges
24 Knee Tucks or Leg Raises
Fight Club
3 Rounds, Complete 1-Minute of Each Movement:
Box Jumps/Step Ups
Hang Squat Cleans (or Front Rack Squats, dumbbells on collar bone)
Push-Press (Dumbbells)
Deadlifts
Sprawls or Burpees
Tabata Time
20 seconds on, 10 seconds off x 8 Rounds (finish 8 20-second rounds of each movement before moving to the next exercise)
Glute Bridges
Thrusters (Squat Jumps)
Sumo Deadlift High-pulls
Pull-Ups or Bent Over Rows
Dumbbell Swings
Grinder
30-Minute AMRAP
400-Meter Run or 20 Burpees/Sprawls
30 Wallballs or Weighted Squat Jumps
30 Box Jumps/Step Ups (15 Each leg)
21-15-9-15-21
Deadlifts or Thrusters or Squat Jumps (Players’ choice)
Burpees
Flightpath
Run 5 flights of stairs, perform 30 air squats, repeat for 20 minutes.
Back & Forth
AMRAP 10
10 Push-Press (15 Hand-Release Push-ups if not dumbbells)
10 Goblet Squat (Hold a heavyish object if no dumbbells)
Burp
Start a clock:
Every 30 seconds: Perform: 5-6 burpees for 10 minutes. Immediately after, run a mile for time on the treadmill.
Hit It
AMRAP 5 minutes:
7 lat pull down (heavy) or 10 Bent Over Rows
10 push ups
AMRAP 5 minutes:
10 DB Snatch right arm/left arm (5 each) or Single Arm Presses (10 Each Side)
10 Weighted Sit ups
AMRAP 2 minutes:
Jumping Air Squats
Hang-20
5 rounds:
Run 400 meters (.25 Miles) or 20 Burpees/Sprawls
20 Hang Squat Cleans (or Goblet Squats)
20 Push-Ups
Uphill
30 seconds on 30 seconds off. Treadmill to high incline, speed starts at a jog for a while then at moderate for 3 minutes, more challenging for 3 minutes, very challenging for 3 minutes. Super challenging for 5 minutes. Total WORK time is 10 minutes. Then bring it back down and cool down.
Top it off with “Abs of Steel”
100 Flutter Kicks
100 Leg Lifts
100 Scissor Kicks
Just Do It
12 Rounds
8 Handstand Pushups (or Seated L-Sit Strict Press
8 Pull-Ups (or Bent Over Rows/Dumbbell Rows)
12 Goblet Squats
Time to let our hair down. Take a chill pill. And actually, do something different.