Exercising On Vacation

   Getting away from reality is good for the soul, and getting away from the usual workout routine is good for the body. However, a vacation can be the perfect time to exercise. By freeing yourself from your routine, you open your mind to new ways to move your body, have fun and keep your body fit while you're on vacation.

Cardio:

   If you want to maintain your cardio endurance while having fun, there are a variety of vacation activities that will give you a great workout without feeling like exercise. Some of the best workouts include:

     Walking on the beach: Walking in soft sand is a killer workout and burns more calories than walking on flat ground. Some experts suggest that you can burn twice as many calories walking in soft sand.
     Beach volleyball: You can burn more than 150 calories an hour, depending on how hard you work and it's a great way to meet other people at the beach while having fun.
     Hiking: Anytime you add elevation to your walks, you'll burn more calories.
     Golf: If you want to burn more calories, carry your clubs and walk the course. You'll burn around 200-300 calories per hour.
     Tennis: Like golf, a game of tennis can be as easy or hard as you want it to be. Chasing the ball and hitting it like you're Serena Williams or Roger Federer will give you a great workout, burning up to 400 calories for a 150-lb person.

Lifting Weights:

   Finding fun cardio activities is easy when you're on vacation. Lifting weights, however, presents more of a challenge. You usually don't have much equipment and the thought of going to the hotel fitness room isn't that appealing when you're trying to have fun.

   You don't have to do much, however, to maintain your strength and muscle while you're out of town. A quick workout with body weight exercises, resistance bands or full water bottles will keep you strong and fit until you get back home to your usual routine.

If I Don't Exercise, How Fast Will I Lose Muscle and Endurance?

   If you decide to use your vacation to rest from exercise entirely, you may wonder what happens to your body. How long can you go before you lose fitness? How fast you lose endurance and/or muscle depends mostly on your genetics, but below are some general guidelines: 

•  Aerobic power can decline 5-10% in three weeks.
•  All your gains could be gone after about 2 months of inactivity      
•  The fitter you are, the faster you lose your fitness, which doesn't seem fair, does it? You tend to lose aerobic capacity faster than muscular strength.Muscles are resilient and retain a memory of all those exercises you did.

Let us know your vacation workout routines at rackeyj@lls.org