14 Workout Ideas While on Holiday aka How To Play on Holiday

Last weekend I went away with a few friends. My clients will be happy to know that yes I am human, alcohol and greasy food was consumed, albeit in moderate proportions. I did not drink until I passed out, nor did I eat until I was stuffed. Just for the record, I had not planned on creating this post beforehand, the photos below genuinely unfolded over the weekend.

Most people struggle to maintain their fitness level when away from home because unfortunately, most people split time into relaxing time, work time and exercise time. This model is flawed because when on holiday all you want to do is relax. Structured exercise time too often seems like work and therefore gets ditched.

I propose that exercise on holiday or even in life in general should be closely related to play (unstructured fun). As Mark Sisson mentions in his recent post, play is often cut from out lives after leaving childhood. It is however an important part of stress relief and balance in your life. You can see by the smiles that even my non-exercising friends found the activities below fun.

Even if you are one who hits the gym on your holidays, take a break. Get outside in the sun and do an unstructured workout on the beach.

Below are some ways I exercised played while away for the weekend.

1. Jump

2. Do Crunches

3. Swing

4. Do Pullups

Even Ryan can do chinups

Don’t forget to enjoy the view

5. Do Pushups

6. Climb

7a. Help a friend climb

7b. Get help climbing

8. Jump from high

9. Roll something heavy

Don’t forget to get some help

10. Roll something heavier

11. Walk

12. Chase

13a. Find a tyre

13b. Get help lifting

13c. Accept defeat

14a. Find a log

14b. Lift the log

 

Thanks to Zoe for taking photos.

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Keep Lean During Christmas With These 5 Finishing Moves

The Holiday Season is just about everyone’s favourite time. There is always plenty of socialising, dinners and Christmas parties to keep you busy.

Unfortunately this means that all the hard work you put into exercising regularly and eating well is in some serious jeopardy. Never fear, I have 4 awesome finishing moves that you can add to the end of any of your workouts to maximise your expended energy.

Tyre Tipper

For this drill you will need one large truck tyre. Pick one that you find sufficiently difficult to flip. You will also need around 30m of space to flip the tyre in.

Start at one end of your 30m space. Flip the tyre just once towards the other end. Jump into the tyre and out of the other side. Run back around to the other side and repeat until you reach the other end of your space. Rest for a minute and repeat the drill in the other direction.

The cheapest workout equipment around - FREE!

Tip: Truck tyres are surprisingly easy to get. Ask around your friends if they know someone or go check out your local car yard. Never pay money for tyres, companies have to pay money themselves to get these removed so you are doing them a favour.

Medicine Ball Madness

Grab a Medicine Ball. Pick a weight from 3-6 kgs. If you can’t find one heavy enough that’s no problem, just perform the exercises more explosively or use a dumbbell.

Run through the following exercises back to back with the Medicine Ball for 12 reps each. At the end rest for 2 minutes and then repeat the drill 2 more times.

  • Front Squats
  • Alternating Reverse Lunges
  • Woodchops Left to Right
  • Woodchops Right to Left
  • Overhead Triceps Extensions
  • Slams

4 Cone Ladders – Lower Body

Set up 4 cones in a 5m square. Start in one corner with the first exercise, run to the next corner and perform the next exercise and so on.

On the first round perform 10 reps of each exercise, on the second round perform 8 reps on each exercise, then 6 and then 4 and finally 2. Two reps doesn’t seem like a lot but trust me, it’s that last round that makes all the difference. You will feel this in your legs tomorrow.

Here are the exercises. Of course you can sub in your own too.

  1. Squats
  2. Alternating Lunges
  3. Jump Squats
  4. Bodyweight Stiff-Legged Deadlifts

Tip: Limited on space? Just perform 1 burpee between each exercise too keep that heart rate revving.

Bodyweight Blast – The 5x5x5

As it’s name suggests, this drill involves 5 reps of 5 different exercises for as many rounds as you can possibly achieve in 5 minutes. Keep going from exercise to exercise until the 5 minutes is up. Of course then you should collapse onto the ground.

If the exercise is unilateral (one sided) make sure you perform 5 reps on both sides.

  1. Mountain Climbers
  2. Full ROM Situps OR Crunches
  3. DB Side Plank Reach Throughs
  4. DB Curl To Press
  5. Burpees

Feel free to sub in your own exercises depending on your specific goals. Make sure you try this one out a few weeks later to see if you can beat your record number of rounds.

I hope you enjoy conquering your Christmas workouts with these kickass Finishing Move Drills. You now have no excuses to keep that tummy fat at bay for another month. Now finish them off!

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