6 Low-Stress Tips for Staying Fit on Vacation

It's getting warm (in the northern hemisphere, at least), and that means summer vacation is right around the corner. I'm going to say it: We should all take a break from work to enjoy some sunshine and outdoor time. But that doesn't mean we should take a break from fitness. In fact, some of us think summer is even more reason to head out there and get some serious movement in. Movement is the key to staying fit on vacation.

Who wants to hang out in a gym while they're on their dream vacation? Nobody, that's who.

The problem with mixing holiday time and exercise time is, well, who wants to hang out in a gym while they're on their dream vacation? Nobody, that's who. So, let's flip that thought around and focus instead on how you can incorporate movement into your vacation. It's possible to stay active without feeling like you're exercising.

A Warning About Losing Fitness

Before we go any further, you may already be thinking “Whatever, Brock. Why do I even need to worry about this.” I've got an answer for that. Let’s consider the ramifications of doing nothing during your vacation. The hard truth is that the body starts experiencing significant changes after as little as one week of inactivity.

In an older Get-Fit Guy article, How Fast Do You Lose Fitness, we found out that when we stop training, we almost immediately start to lose plasma and blood volume. This means that your heart rate for a given intensity will naturally increase.

After approximately 10-14 days, your maximum oxygen utilization drops at a rate of about 0.5 percent a day. After a two-week fitness break, your brain’s ability to recruit muscle drops by 1-5 percent. After three to four weeks off, your muscles begin to atrophy, your fatty acid utilization drops, and you become more sensitive to fluctuations in blood sugar.

When you get back from your vacation and start moving again, you can expect it to take roughly twice as long to get back into shape as the time you’ve spent being inactive. That means if you take two weeks off, it could take four weeks to build back up to your previous fitness level. But there's some good news. If you’re already fit with good training history, that time can definitely be shortened. We’ll talk about that, and a thing called supercompensation, in a moment.

Should you Move, Exercise, or Train?

OK, here's a quick refresher. The three categories of fitness are Movement, Exercise, and Training. Movement is the...

Keep reading on Quick and Dirty Tips