SEVENSEAS Marine Conservation & Travel August Issue 3 | Page 31

SEVENSEAS - 31

Coach G is owner of Coach G Fitness, a Washington, DC based fitness company specializing in personal training, small group fitness, online training and corporate group seminars. He believes in a holistic fun approach to being fit and healthy! You can reach him via email at coach coachgfitness.com or on twitter at coachgfit.

NO EQUIPMENT, NO PROBLEM

I’ll be the first to say if you can find a hotel with a gym in it that is economical, then by all means double click that thing and get me a room while you’re at it. Unfortunately these days, often the best deals for lodging are private home rentals through places like Air B&B or Craigslist, which wont have a gym facility.

This should not discourage you from getting in a killer workout while on vacation because your body is the best equipment that you have. My first rule to building a good body weight workout is the K.I.S.S. rule, "Keep It Simple, Sexy." My favorite hotel workout is a simple pyramid of pushups and squats:

With this workout you will start with 10 reps of pushups and 10 reps of squats for the first set. The second set we move down to nine pushups and nine squats, then eight, seven, six, and so on until we get down to one. The key is to see how fast you can complete this to burn as many calories as possible by activating so many large muscles. This workout is everything because it’s easy to remember, you don’t need much space to perform the exercises, you don’t need any equipment and it will raise your metabolism throughout the day.

TWO FOR ONE

When you don’t want to feel like you are actually doing a workout or you're on a tight schedule on while on travel, use your environment as your gym. If I’m in the big city I strap on some cute, but comfortable shoes, save my two dollars and get walking around the city. By skipping the bus, metro, or Uber to get around, I’m able to burn a lot more calories while seeing the sights that I actually came to see. It’s a great way to trick yourself into a workout without knowing it. For my more adventurous folks out there, make sure you combine one of your sight-seeing events with a workout. If you are visiting an area where they have great hikes, research them and do a couple. You will work your body in a new way, get sweaty and build a new vacation experience without even thinking that you are working out.

Vacation can be one of the most enjoyable times for us to finally take our minds off the day-in, day-out stressors of work, but it can also be a time that sets us up to forget about our health. By adding in a little preparation to your vacation itinerary, you can easily avoid gaining weight during vacation and can actually come back home feeling refreshed and not depressed.

Keep it healthy and keep it safe!