Staying Active on Vacation

We took a short trip to Lake Michigan in my beautiful home state of Michigan this past weekend.  We love to travel and always stay active while away.  When I had an office job, I was always excited to have my days open to exercise.  Even though my days are much more flexible now as a trainer, we still make it a point to work out on our trips.  One big reason is because we rarely eat out when at home so eating out while on vacation tends to result in eating more then usual and eating lots of treats.  (Anyone had Sherman's Ice Cream in South Haven, MI?  Holy Moly, it is AMAZING!  I may have eaten it everyday last weekend!!)  We do bring healthy options for snacks and some light meals along with us but that is a whole other blog post topic!

Our workouts don't always look the same as they do at home when we are traveling.  This trip I brought along some resistance bands and did some quick circuits with bicep curls, shoulder presses, tricep dips, push ups and rows.  Of course I also added some squats and planks in there.  We walked on the beach everyday and ran a few times.  Plus there is a great trail from South Haven to Kalamazoo, the Kal-Haven trail, where we rode our bikes.  We were able to enjoy the outdoors, spend time together, see more of the area and balance out some of that ice cream.  

On your next trip, find ways to work some exercise in to your time.  Many cities have walking tours or running tours.  Some hotels have bikes you can use to bike around the area.  If you are going to the beach, bring lots of options like a frisbee, volleyball or a football to keep moving.  Of course there is swimming too.  You'll feel better and reduce stress by working out....isn't that the point of a vacation?