Take Your Healthy Habits (and Pilates!) On Vacation!
Do you find that your vacation workout resolve dissolves into lifting the morning paper and a cup of Joe instead of weights? Yeah, me too —and I am a Pilates teacher!! Even the most dedicated fitness buffs may have a hard time keeping up with core exercises and strength training when away from home. There are a few small, lightweight, and inexpensive props tucked into your suitcase that can help you keep up your excellent work, even when away from home.
Tips to Keep Your Body Healthy and Happy on Vacation:
Preparation
1. If you can't throw a foam roller in your trunk, or are traveling by air, roll up a couple of beach towels or blankets to approximately 36" x 6" and use that as you would a foam roller.
2. Tuck a Magic Circle, Fletcher Towel, resistance bands, Franklin Balls, or a small inflatable ball into your suitcase.
They do not weigh much or take up much space. And they just might be the gentle nudge you need to do something nice for yourself.
3. Plan accordingly: can you walk out of your hotel, rental, campsite, and access a trail or walking path close by? That inexpensive hotel on the outskirts of town may be less of a bargain when you figure in the cost of gas and time to drive to a destination. Perhaps you could stay closer and just walk. Some hotels and rentals have bikes, kayaks, SUPs. That makes it less hassle to rent elsewhere, but it is also one more nudge in the activity direction. No excuses.
4. I am a firm believer in Murphy's Law: take anything you might need in case you overdo it. I always keep some Dr. Hoy's Arnica Pain relief gel in my toiletries kit. The gel helps relieve sore muscles. It also comes in handy if you get a stiff neck from the hotel pillows. 2 new and large Ziploc bags (one inside the other) can function as an ice pack. And ice is usually easy to come by. For a hot pack, slip a washcloth, or a couple of paper towels soaked in hot water inside your Ziplock bags. They are easily filled, easily dumped, and cost nothing in weight or space. Having a little bottle of acetaminophen or ibuprofen is never a bad idea. Bring a sweater or sweatshirt that you can make into a lumbar support for the plane or rental car.
Get Started
5. Just begin. Sometimes, I tell myself that I have time to do the Hundred and Swan, and that is it. But, once I start, it is easy to remember how quickly you can do a sequence of exercises on the mat. Before you know it, you have done the basic series of 10 in just a few minutes.
6. Use your foam roller or makeshift one. Lying on your back with head to tail fully supported by the faux roller, stretch your arms out to the side, overhead, opposite arms reaching overhead. In other words, do all the stuff you do on your roller to help re-align your spine and re-set your brain's perception of what is normal. You can also prop your hips up on the fake roller, hold one knee to your chest and stretch the other leg out straight to stretch your hip flexors.
If you are driving, these are quick fixes for postural fatigue!
7. Play around, get creative and make stuff up! If you brought a prop, mess around with using it for each exercise: "how can I use the _____ to do this exercise?" You might be pleasantly surprised at what you come up with, and if it does not work, just move on. It is just healthy movement; no one is watching you!
Flexibility
8. We are all teachers, in some respect, so maybe teach an exercise or two to someone you are traveling with, or alternate teaching each other. Perhaps you practice Pilates, and they practice Yoga – what can you share with each other?
9. Be open to a flexible schedule. If you usually do Pilates, run, walk, etc. in the morning but cannot because of your travel plans for the day, do it later. Your window for healthy movement is different while on vacation, so be flexible and try something different!
10. Weights do not just live at the gym. Some live in the kitchen: grab some canned goods (from light to heavier: tomato paste, tomato sauce, tomato juice - you get the idea). There are also many variations of exercises that use body weight instead of free weights: triceps dips, push-ups, planks (with good form). And let us be real: nobody needs to do a 7-minute plank challenge (and likely can't do it with good form!), wall sits, calf raises... I have even done the Pilates exercise called Upside Down Pushup, aka Pull-up / Hamstring 3, using a kitchen counter. Impress yourself and your friends!
11. Be honest about what you need for activity with your travel partners. Some in your party may not have the same wants or needs, and it is their vacation as well. When we travel with our now-adult kids (and when they were teens), my husband and I would get up early and go out for a run or walk and explore the terrain while they were still sleeping.
Final Words
Lastly, do not beat yourself up if you do not do any of these things! Maybe just take some deep breaths every day. Maybe just walk. It is all good.
Sincerely,
Kathleen McDonough, PT, MA, MCPT
Contact Us