FITNESS Exercise and travel – keeping fit on the move

MOBILE GYM A skipping rope doesn’t take up much room in your bag, and is a great way to keep fit on holidays.

Exercise and travel – keeping fit on the move


Personal Trainer
Paul O'Brien

It’s summertime … or is it? Looking up at the foreboding clouds this morning, I’m not sure. Not being guaranteed of a regular visit from the sun in Ireland at present, lots of us are thinking about a week or two away ‘in the sun’.
A beach holiday should be enjoyed as a time to relax and recharge. However, it can also toll the death bell for an exercise program. It’s easy to give yourself a break, make excuses. Maybe you tell yourself “I’ve earned a week off, I’ll get back into it next week when I get home”. A week and 6lbs later, you find yourself depressed, demoralised and back to square one. Sound familiar?

Fitting in your fitness
It doesn’t have to be that way though. A holiday break should be mostly about R&R without doubt. However, a short burst of exercise each day can easily be fitted into your sun-lounging schedule. Trust me, you’ll be glad you did it; you’ll feel better when you return home and it will also help to give your training a little more impetus.

In your suitcase
When I go abroad, I pack two items for exercise – a skipping rope and a TRX Suspension Trainer. Most of you probably don’t own one of the latter, but everyone probably has a skipping rope lying around somewhere.
A jump rope is the perfect travel accessory for exercise – it’s light, portable and can be used anywhere. Just grab it from your bag every day and do five to ten minutes skipping. If you haven’t skipped for a while, there’s no better time to get back into it. You’ll be an expert by the time you get home. Skipping is a great form of cardiovascular exercise and you’ll also get a good workout for the legs, shoulders and arms.

Explore your destination
If you’re in a new destination, take a day to explore by foot or hire a bike. Walking or cycling allows you the opportunity to experience a location more personally than from behind a car window.

Beach gym
Another way of getting some exercise in is to make the beach your gym. Rushing and diving into the water always feels a whole lot better after you’ve done a 15-20 minute walk/jog along the beach. The routine below is a novel way of exercising on the beach. You can easily involve the kids, without their even knowing that they’re exercising. Do 30-60 seconds at each ‘station’ of this beach circuit. Take a rest after all the stations have been completed and repeat as desired. Finish off with a relaxing swim – and a pina colada!

Station 1
Beach Sprints – Draw 2 lines in the sand about 20 metres apart. Sprint from one line to the other, jog back to the start and repeat for the allotted time.

Station 2
Lunges – Stand tall with feet shoulder-width apart. Step forward with one foot, at the same time dropping the knee of your back leg toward the sand. Keep your torso upright. Push back to the start position from your lunging leg and repeat on the other side.

Station 3
Sandcastle Relay – Mark 2 points about ten feet apart. Fill two buckets with sand at the first point and run as fast as possible to the second. Make two sandcastles from the sand in the buckets, then run back to the first point, fill them again and repeat.

Station 4
King Kongs – ‘Run’ along the beach between two markers on your hands and toes. Place your hands forward and quickly bring your feet to meet your hands. Continue forward in the same way.

Station 5
Push-ups – The old reliables! Perform them on your toes or knees. Rest and repeat. Two to three whole circuits can be performed in 10-15 minutes.

Exercise done for the day, put your feet up and soak in the rays – bliss!

Paul O’Brien is a Personal Trainer and Life Coach and runs his own fitness and coaching business in Westport. He is the founder of Bootcamp West, a fitness program running in Westport, Castlebar and Louisburgh. For information about fitness training, coaching, bootcamp programmes and new TRX classes, email Paul at paul@bootcampwest.com or call 086 1674515. visit www.bootcampwest.com or e-mail paul@bootcampwest.com or telephone 086 1674515.