Instead of stressing about finding a new gym and creating a temporary vacation workout routine, make exercise part of your vacation. Here are three ways to exercise without a gym while on vacation that will let you get your workout in while also having fun.

Workout Where You Are: Bodyweight Exercises and Online Videos

Different vacation spots provide different accommodations, which could affect how you complete your workouts. Luckily, you can exercise almost anywhere if you know basic bodyweight exercises or can access online videos.

Bodyweight Exercises

Bodyweight exercises have you use your body weight as resistance, so there’s no need for weights or other equipment. No matter if you’re camping in the middle of the woods, relaxing at a beach hotel, or staying in a hostel abroad, you can perform these exercises. Push-ups, squats, mountain climbers, and jumping jacks are popular bodyweight exercises that require little room.

Online Videos

The internet is full of workout videos that require no equipment and little room. Many of them feature bodyweight exercises as described above, but they might also guide you through yoga, high-intensity interval training, or other workouts. Find a video that you can follow in your space and start exercising.

Sightseeing and Exercising: Hiking and Running

While you can do the workouts described above in the privacy of your accommodation, exercising outside will allow you to simultaneously sightsee. If your vacation location offers safe hiking trails or beautiful places to run, why not start there?

Hiking

Hiking boots are heavy, but the extra suitcase weight is worth it. Going on a hike during your vacation allows you to explore the beautiful nature in a new place. Depending on the trail you choose, it also provides a good cardio workout and will help improve balance and coordination. If you’re vacationing alone, try to find a hiking group to practice best safety measures in a new place.

Running

With the right pair of shoes, you can run almost anywhere. No matter where you’re staying, you can likely find a park, shorefront, or city sidewalk to run on. This way, you’ll get to explore your vacation spot while getting in a great cardio workout that can lower cholesterol, build muscle strength, and provide other health benefits.

Fun in the Sun: Swimming and Stand-Up Paddleboarding

Many people choose to vacation near natural bodies of water, such as lakes and oceans. If you love vacationing on the water, incorporate watersports into your gym-free workout with swimming or stand-up paddleboarding.

Swimming

Swimsuits and goggles are easy to toss into your travel bag and slip on when you’re ready for a fun workout. Swimming is a great cardio exercise and low stress on your body, so even people with health concerns like arthritis can do it. Your body even gets a unique boost from swimming in natural bodies of water, such as decreased inflammation and a stronger immune system.

Stand-Up Paddleboarding

Some people think that stand-up paddleboarding is more about sightseeing from the water than exercise—fortunately, it’s both! While you can enjoy the view from atop your paddleboard, standing on a moving surface helps you exercise your leg and core muscles.

Paddling will also help strengthen your arm, chest, and back muscles. If you have your own board, remember to keep your stand-up paddleboard in good condition so you can use it for workouts throughout your vacation. If you’re renting a board, be sure to rinse it off before you return it.

These are just three ways to exercise without a gym while on vacation. No matter the style of exercise you prefer, you can find a way to make it work while you’re in a new location. Get creative and test your body while enjoying your vacation spot.

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When the Olympic Games were first started in Ancient Greece the competitors will have been much different from modern humans in many ways. One such way is that they won’t have spent years solely training for the competition, locked away in a gym, drinking protein shakes and using intricate equipment to improve performance.

Instead a lot of their strength, fitness and health will have been gained through a natural diet and regular day-to-day activities.

For anyone put off by gyms, expensive fitness equipment and hardcore gym routines, why not take a leaf out of the Ancient Greeks’ book and try a more natural and fun way to stay healthy?

There are so many different ways to keep fit and healthy, which are often overlooked because of certain stereotypes of society.

For instance, a common misconception of being ‘fit’ is that you need to be signed up at an expensive gym or employ a personal trainer to design a complex training regiment and detailed diet full of macronutrient numbers and specific amounts of calories. This can be quite overwhelming for the average person and in turn put them off the whole idea.

Not everybody wants to look like a bodybuilder or fitness model, or enjoys that kind of training. So it’s important to find something which you really enjoy doing, as this will make you stick with it and do it more often.

There are many really simple and fun activities, which you can do to stay in decent shape, and are not conventionally thought of as ‘exercising’ per se. So you would be working out without even knowing it!

Explore Nature

A big disadvantage of working out in a gym is that it involves even more time spent indoors, surrounded by screens. For many who work 40 hours a week while sitting indoors in front of a computer this can feel like a continuation of work with little added benefit. Keeping fit should be fun though, and there are countless outdoor activities that make it so.

Hiking in woodlands or the countryside is free and the intensity can be ramped up or lowered depending on your needs.

Find different sorts of terrains to really challenge yourself and see what you are made of.

It could be turned into a weekend activity with friends and family, by going a step further and camping. Just make sure to have the appropriate equipment beforehand, which can be found at outlets like E-Outdoor.co.uk

Take Your Dog

Everything is better with a friend, so why not take man’s best friend along when you exercise? And if you don’t have a dog there are plenty of kennels that will allow you to volunteer to take one out. Going running, fell walking or even making up a game involving a ball and a lot of running kills two birds with one stone by exercising you and your dog. Unlike some others in the gym your dog is unlikely to dish out judging glances and when they are full of energy, you can’t help but be motivated and feel energised as well.

Get On Your Bike

Cycling also allows you to exercise outdoors for relatively little (just the bike and safety gear are required).

Include a cycle trail on your weekend away or just discover exciting routes to follow that start from your own home. Cycling provides a great workout, from improving cardio to really building leg muscles.

Bikes for dogs don’t yet exist but if you have children it can be a great family activity for a few hours, a whole day or entire weekend. It beats peddling away on a static bike in the gym, watching another repeat of pointless any day!

Picture Credits:

• girlsgonesporty.com
• popsugar.com

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