South America: the exercise

As my butt melts into the sofa and a small cheeky cat sits on my lap, I realize that I am often more inclined to train hard while on a trip than at home. First of all, I am incredibly well-fueled. Secondly, I enjoy the novelty of new training venues and the challenge to come up with workouts on the fly with limited resources.

This past trip, I did not feel the need to prioritize cardio training although I still did manage to get some in. In the olden days, I would have made cardio non-negotiable on most days, but not any more.  Here were some activities I was able to incorporate on this past (3+week) trip:


Hiking:

Hiking: cardio that's too fun to feel like work (sort of...this was a lung-buster)

Hydration is a must!

I wasn't being lazy, honest. I was avoiding being knocked over by 150 km winds.

Biking: Years ago, I got really into biking: mountain biking and long-distance road riding (centuries etc). So much that we HAD to find bikes anywhere we went on vacation. I guess I got my fill of it, so we don't routinely ride on vacations anymore.  But sometimes, we will seek out rental-shops and have a go as in the good ole days. Easter island was the perfect place for this. We only cycled 40km, but many of those kms were on rocky dirt roads and were much harder than road kms.

This was a sweet hill.

Magical to cycle next to the ancient moai

Sandwiches for a mid-ride refueling stop

Post-ride...Replenishing glycogen stores with fast-digesting carbs: very very important.

Stair-climbing. I love to use stairs as a workout. Depending on my energy levels, I'll either walk or jog up. Then walk down. (Repeat) I've been known to use cruise-ship stair-cases as my workout on the last day of a cruise when they so thoughtlessly close the gym to people who have been hitting the midnight chocolate buffet and would really like to burn some calories. So I keep my eyes peeled for staircases when we travel...

Fancy? No, but it'll do the trick. You just need to ignore the people staring at you like you're insane

Swoon.

Come to mama

This was a stairway to heaven

Resistance Training:

Thanks to Santa Claus bringing me a new suspension trainer, the majority of my training this trip was centered around resistance training.  Basically, with a suspension trainer, you perform simple resistance moves using your body weight and a couple of straps with handles that hang from somewhere above you (tree, door jamb).  You make the exercises easier or harder based on the angle of your body. The caveat: you must find a door frame in which the door closes toward you.

After some research and a chat or two with Girl Hero Jenn, I decided to go with the Jungle Gym XT ($99) rather than the TRX ($160) mainly because the Jungle Gym has the two straps separately and you can make them as wide or narrow as you like (and it's cheaper!)  Also, it seemed easier to use in a door frame, which was to be key in little hotels and B&B bathrooms.

In my hand is the Jungle Gym XT. My 'gym' this day was the world's tiniest bathroom

For a bunch of beginner exercises (but by no means easy), check out this video from the company. There are so many moves that you can do, but honestly I would never attempt some of the advanced exercises where they suggest jumping with your feet in the strap! No, just no!


Some of the moves I do with the Jungle Gym facing the door/straps:

• Deep squat to a "Y" (extend your arms into a "Y" at the top of the move: surprisingly, this can get your heart rate up: great warm up)
• Deep single leg squat
• Double arm Row
• Wide double arm row (push the straps further apart on the door frame)
• Double arm reverse flye
• Bicep curls
• Hamstring curls (lying on floor)
• Glute bridges (lying on floor: bring glutes off floor then release)

Some moves facing away from the door:

• Pushups
• Flyes
• Overhead triceps extension (bend arms each rep)
• Overhead extension (keep arms straight as you bring them down: works your back muscles)
• Knee tucks: straight and to each elbow (for abs, obliques- done with hands on floor)

Facing sideways:

• Side bendy thingies

If I didn't have a suitable door frame (that closed toward me), and to mix things up, I did my hotel room lunge&squat routine (with or without the 'sliding component') as well as some other body-weight strength training moves.


Walking:

Finally, there were many, many days where I just was not in the mood for a 'real' workout, so I stuck to 'incidental' walking as we explored our destinations.

Sometimes, just getting to the hotel was a workout

Rest:

Finally, I probably should officially schedule in more rest to my week, but I usually just go go go until my body says 'enough already'.  Then I'm sure to listen. Quite happily actually:



And speaking of rest, this brings me right back to that cheeky cat on my lap and my inability to get off this couch.  Today is most definitely a rest-day.

Some days there is just zero chance of a workout.

If you missed the food portion of this trip, click here.
 
Q: Do you train during vacations? If so, what is a typical workout?