Simple and Effective Holiday Workout Ideas

One of the questions we’ve always been asked over the years is “I’m going on holiday, there isn’t a gym, what should I do?”

The good news is that nature has blessed us all with an amazing tool called “our body” and it can be used to great effect with simple movements… so unfortunately for you, no gym is no excuse 😉

The first thing that comes to mind, and something we like to do on holiday in the absence of a gym, is running.

See if you can find a good local route or beach and start the day with a 30-60 minute run. Not only will this help maintain your fitness levels, it’s a great way to see more of your holiday destination.

Chances are you will have a much better holiday experience if you start the day this way and you’ll earn that buffet breakfast. You won’t feel as guilty or lethargic either so we highly recommend it.

If you don’t enjoy running, you can always do a 30-60 minute walk a day, again to get out and see the local sites, or even just up and down the beach instead of laying back all day (which of course if fine too!)

Here are four holiday workout favourites:

1. 30/30 protocol

I am a big fan of the 30/30 protocol. Simply pick a bodyweight movement from the list below:

Squat
Lunge
Push Up
Sit Up
Burpee
Jump Squat
Mountain Climber

Perform the exercise as many time as you can in 30 seconds. Then take 30 seconds Rest. Repeat this 6 times for a total of 6 minutes. It’s simple, fast and effective. You can do as many of the movements as you can handle but you probably won’t want to do more than four.

2. Tabata Protocol

This protocol is slightly more challenging than the one above as less time is available for recovery.

Again pick a movement from the list above and do as many reps as you can in 20 seconds. Take 10 seconds rest. Repeat eight times for a total of 4 minutes.

This is particularly fun with movements like burpees because of the big oxygen demand and low rest.

To make it more fun, count your reps, keep score and try to beat it next time.

Again as many movements as you can handle.

3. Progressions

Progressions are sequences of movements performed back to back with as little rest as possible for a total time (the clock starts at the beginning and doesn’t finish until the end).

Here’s an example of a good progression workout to follow:

10 x Push Up
20x Jump Squat
30x Walking Lunge
40 x Air Squat
50x Sit-Up
60x Burpee

4. AMRAP (as many round as possible)

Choose a finite time, lets say 12 minutes. Then choose 3 movements, let’s use push ups, squats and burpees.

Choose a realistic rep scheme (harder movements have lower reps) put them together in a circuit and do as many rounds as possible in the time given.

So it looks something like this:

5x Push Up
10x Squat
15x Burpee

As many rounds as possible in 12 minutes. Note how many rounds you did and try to make progress next time.

There’s a whole wealth of holiday workouts and programmes you can do but it’s best to keep it simple which is why we’ve given you 4 variations. If it’s simple, you’re more like to commit to it and stay consistent throughout your holiday.

So if you’re lucky enough to be going somewhere nice this summer, or even if you’re unable to get to the gym as much but want to keep your holiday workouts consistent, then give these a try.

If you have any questions on the above or would like some advice on how we could help you with your fitness goal, don’t hesitate, visit our gym and try one of our personal fitness training programmes.

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