Aug

Should you train while on vacation?

I don’t know how long you have been keeping up with my blog but a little while back I took my girlfriend on a cruise where I proposed to her (and she said yes). Well the time has come for us to book our honeymoon because our wedding is coming up in November. Well for me being the stingy bastard that I am I wanted to get a high bang for my buck place (kind of like my exercise programs) and checked a lot of places and what they have to offer. One thing I noticed under the amenities was that just about all of them have a “fitness facility” listed under a place that could have very easily been titled “Here are a bunch of reasons you should stay here.”

Now I have a hard time understanding a lot of people’s mindsets. For one thing is pushing yourself through a workout while you could be on a beautiful beach or an excursion really the way you want to spend your vacation? Contrary to popular belief you aren’t going to lose your results after a single week of indulgence and relaxation. Actually you could come back refreshed since back off weeks are a part of just about every strength and conditioning programs out there. Some of my clients even ask me right before they leave what they should do while on vacation. I answer “Whatever you want. Relax and we can undue whatever damage was done when you get back.” Most of the facilities don’t give me the eye of the tiger anyways.

Would you rather be here or in the gym.

One thing I have also noticed is that some people will avoid training just about every other week of the year and suddenly while they are on vacation they get the inspiration to train. Hey I guess late is better then never but the major problem here is that they spend their entire vacation limping around from delayed onset muscle soreness. Not a pleasant way to spend the vacation and you aren’t going to have any visible results from the single workout that pretty nearly ruined your trip.

So to wrap it up what I recommend is to pay your dues BEFORE your trip. Spend the vacation enjoying the fruits of your labor.