Keep Fit On Vacation

Everybody Travels.

Whether it's for business, pleasure, vacation, world domination, or epic questing, at some point in our lives we all depart from the comfort of our personal "Shire" to visit another location. It might be a quick trip to the next town with some companions for a hangout session or a massive adventure halfway around the world for months at a time. No matter what kind of trip is it, one thing is certain:

Our normal fitness regime get completely thrown out the window when travelling:

• If you workout in the gym, suddenly you might not have access to any equipment.
• If you run/jog around a park, suddenly you no longer have a similar or familiar path to follow.
• If you usually prepare your own meals, suddenly you don't have a kitchen or fridge.
• If you usually stack your supplements, suddenly you don't have all your supplements with you.
• If you're used to a good night's sleep, suddenly you're sleeping at odd hours in different time zone.

If you're serious about your fitness regimen, you definitely ensure that you workout regularly ( based on your personal weekly routine no matter where you are. But let's be honest-- unless you're hoping to meet some locals, spending time at a gym when you're on a vacation can be a major drag.

My partner and I drove around Langkawi during our trip there and we couldn't find any local gym around, plus our budget was kinda tight so - hotel that provides gym facilities was not an option for us.

Of course, your top priorities when vacationing should be to relax and enjoy yourself as much as possible. But that doesn't mean you can't maintain your fitness regimen throughout your holiday. Working out briefly every day will not only help keeping you in shape, it will also aid in alleviating stress so you can have even more fun the other 23-plus hours of your vacation.

So, PLANNING and PREPARATION are the keys to ensure your fitness goals while travelling is successful. 

1. Reset Your Expectations

It's not likely that you'll able to follow up with your full workout regime while on vacation. So, don't set unrealistic expectations for yourself. Some of you might think that if you're unable to do that specifically workout routine, then you should just totally abandon your fitness activities.

This is the result of blindly focusing on the end result of your goal, but not the little fragments that build up your physique. Remember that accomplishing just 40 to 50 percent of what you normally do is better than nothing.

2. Do Your Homework

Before you even leave home for your vacation,investigate the workout facilities in and around your hotel. Some hotels offer fitness classes, gyms, even walking programs. Unfortunately for me, I booked a hotel (One Helang Hotel) without any fitness facilities due to financial constraint. So, I had to rely on my body weight, my partner's body weight ( confidential :p ), resistance band, luggage bag and all the furnitures in the hotel room.

3. Pack It Up

Your suitcase will easily allow room for a resistance band and a jump rope. Use the resistance band for upper and lower body strength training moves. The jump rope provides an intense cardiovascular workout in a short bout of time.

If you are consuming any supplements,rather than bringing all your supplements,  it's better for you to separate them into a few packets and the amount depends on your stay there. I packed around 8 packets ( 4 double scoops and 4 single scoop ) with some multi-vit and BCAAs.

4. Make Eating A Big Priority

You cannot outrun a bad diet, and you can't out-train it either.

 Do the best you can to eat as healthy as possible. Sometimes you're going to be in a town where you don't have many options. Sometimes you'll have no other choice but to eat at an unhealthy restaurant. Sometimes you'll be stuck in an airport that only serves $12 dollar salads. These things happen.

Sharon and I drove out at night just to get some groceries such milk and eggs because we knew that we will be out the whole day and it was kinda hard to get some good healthy food. We boiled the eggs using the water heater and a bag of nuts to make sure we were not starving throughout the trip.

5. Make Training Your Constant.

If you oversee the need to continue your workout routine without a gym or access to healthy calories, then your training will definitely suffered big time.

Your exercise needs to become your constant while traveling- make a commitment to yourself that you will find at least one hour every other day to exercise- NO EXCUSES. Add it to your reminder in your handphone which I would usually do, just do whatever it takes, but don't take 'NO' for an answer. You might need to wake up early one day to fit your exercise in. You might need to exercise at 12 a.m in the morning on another day.

Just effing do it.

Understand the importance of keeping up your routine even while traveling, and you 'll be able to come back to your regular daily routine without skipping a beat.

My workouts consisted of a push exercise ( variation of push ups ), a pull exercise ( variation of pull ups or chin ups), a leg exercise ( lunges or squats ),and a core exercise ( planks or variation of crunches ).

• Can't do pull ups (YET) or can't find something to hang on to? Do body weight rows using a desk or table, or pick up your suitcase and do dumbbell rows. Everything else you can do with just your body.

I did a full body workout with simple exercise listed above. Because I was working out my entire body in the same routine. It didn't matter if I had to push back my next workout by a day or two due to travel. Compare that to somebody who does separate body parts every day- one missed day can throw a whole schedule out of wack.

Squat using your partner's weight :D

Hammer curl using luggage bag

Variation of Push-up

Pull-up at the door

Shoulder Press and Dips

There's plenty of exercise that you could perform using your body weight and with items around your surrounding and I'm not listing all down in this post. So, be creative in planning your workout routine.

Bodybuilding is your life, but sometimes you have to enjoy the process of being a BEAST.