The Epic Holiday Workout Post

Holidays are of course about unwinding and getting some downtime; that said if you want to stay on top of your physique or in my case eat more food, throwing in the odd workout can help.

Equipment can often be in short supply so here is the only post you’ll ever need to read about holiday workouts co written by my now on holiday colleague Jack.

‘Early Riser’– this is an increasing ladder workout you can get through before breakfast is served downstairs, so get that kettle in your room on, get a strong coffee and a piece of complimentary fruit down you and get going!

 

Start at 5 reps per exercise, add an extra rep each round and get through as many rounds as you can in 30 minutes:

1. Bodyweight Squats
2. Burpees
3. Reverse Lunges
4. Mountain Climbers

 

‘Simple and sinister’– you know one of those times when you really want to get a quick session in but you’ve got loads planned so time is short? This one is for you! All you need is 20 minutes, your bodyweight and the will to push yourself knowing you can relax for the rest of the day following. Your aim is to get as many reps as possible:

 

Squats x10

Chest to ground burpees x5

-Every 2 minutes perform 30 mountain climbers before carrying on where you stopped

 

‘The Pre-Dinner Special’- for this one you’ll need a resistance band, so make sure you’ve packed one in your hold luggage! This is as straight forward as it gets. All Hollywood muscles, all pump and all glory.

 

8-10 rounds, as little rest as possible

 

Press ups x10

Resistance Band Curls x12

Band Pull Aparts x15

Sit Ups x15

 

Now, off to dinner with those shirt sleeves rolled up!

 

‘Minimum space, maximum work’– you don’t always need access to a big swanky hotel room to be able to train. Quite the opposite. Here’s one you can do with just enough space for you to fully stretch out on the floor. This workout is designed to be pretty aerobic, with time blocks of work instead of reps.  You want to keep a controlled pace and tempo on all exercises.

Beginners: 30s each

Intermediate: 45s each

Advanced: 60s each

30s rest between each exercise regardless of which level you choose.

Complete all exercises and rest 60s, that’s one round done.

10 Rounds total

 

Bodyweight Squat

Press Up (hands raised on bench/edge of bed if full press ups aren’t achievable for full time)

Reverse Lunges, hands behind the head

‘The Great Outdoors’– one for all the beach holiday lovers out there, it’s especially good on sand. This is a ladder workout spaced out with running between intervals. You’re going to have 30 minutes to do this one and your score is how many rounds you get through. I hope you’ve brought your climbing chalk, because once you reach the bottom of the ladder, you’ll be climbing up again.

 

Start at 10 burpees, run between 2 set points for 2 minutes or run for a minute away from your burpee station then run back, perform 9 burpees, repeat 2-minute run, perform 8 burpees…etc. 30 minutes, as many rounds as possible down and up the ladder.

 

For those of you out there after more of a challenge, do the same but run up a sand dune and walk back down between rounds. Enjoy.

 

‘The Bear’–Here’s one of Jacks favourites from when he played rugby as a young whipper snapper.

 

“This one comes from a childhood memory of Leeds Carnegie Rugby summer camps when the legend himself John Bailey would call us over on the last day to the main pitch and announce it was time for ‘The Bear’.”

 

The format is simple, you have one marker where you begin and another a number of metres away from you. Here’s how you’re going to set it up:

 

Beginners: 20m-

Intermediate: 35m

Advanced: 50m

 

Crawl forward to the marker and back.

Crawl sideways, facing the same way each time there and back.

Crawl facing the opposite directions, sideways again, there and back.

Crawl backwards there and back.

 

Rest for as long as it took and repeat.

 

‘The sunshine 300 challenge’– I’m sure you’ve come across the movie 300 right? And probably the 300 challenge from Gym Jones? Here’s our version for a holiday workout with just your bodyweight:

 

50 Mountain Climbers

50 Lunges

50 Press Ups

50 Squats

50 Burpees

50 Sit Ups

 

Use whichever variations you need to suit you, take as many rests as you need and be prepared to push yourself through.

 

Hotel Gym Sessions

If you have access to cardio equipment, you have access to hit some intervals, and that alone should fill you with excitement!

 

You can adapt these sessions to either a rower, bike or ski erg if any hotel gyms have them. Choose one of these per session and complete no more than three in 7 days.

 

1) (20 on 40 off) x5 — 2-4 sets 3 mins between

2) 1 min max effort 3 active recovery x8

3) 1:1 work rest ratio- sprint for 10 seconds rest for 10 seconds, sprint for 20 seconds then rest for 20 seconds…you get the picture

10,20,30,40,50,40,30,20,10.

Complete 3 sets with 4 mins between

4)5×5 mins at VO2Max (70% max effort approx) with sprint finish – 5 mins rest between

5) 6×5 mins 50-60 RPM high resistance with 3 mins rest

8) 8×15 seconds sprint 45 easy pedal

10 mins active recovery

4x 1 minute sprint with 3 minutes active recovery.

9) 4x 30 seconds at 30%,20 seconds at 70%, 10 seconds at 100%

repeat 4 times (4 sets of 4 minutes splitting the minutes as above)

 

Wherever you are headed on your hols have a great time! You don’t have to complete all of these workouts but throwing a few in will mean you can eat more 😉

 

if you need a hand getting in shape please do get in touch.