Hey guys, for those of you who follow my instagram or facebook pages, you’ll know that I recently spent celebrating my birthday in Paris. You will also know that I am deep in my contest prep for my first natural bodybuilding show in September. Holidays and health & fitness goals naturally conflict, one requires flexibility, fun, freedom and the other requires work, planning and degree of precision.
So how did I manage to enjoy myself while keeping on track? How did I not stress out? What did I do without access to a gym? How did I approach eating out and drinking alcohol? Well keep reading because you are about to find out.
Training
Why do we train? To burn energy, get fitter, stronger and for the enjoyment. When on holiday it becomes much harder to get in your usual routine. Holidays are meant to be relaxing, stress free and fun.
My simple method for identifying whether you should include formal exercise while abroad is ‘by doing exercise, does it cause stress, does it make the holiday less enjoyable and relaxing?’ if you answered yes to any of those, then forget about training completely.
However, you might be able to adapt your exercise choices, so that they are stress free and fit in with your holiday. For example, below is me using my TRX in the hotel room. For I did a quick 20 minute workout while my girlfriend was getting ready, it didn’t have any impact on the holiday and it allowed me to keep everything fresh. You don’t need a TRX, the point is you might have an opportunity where exercise just fits in, and might actually make the break more enjoyable, not less.
Another option is to use the break as a planned ‘deload’. All of my clients experience times in their training when either volume or intensity is manipulated to give their bodies a break. These periods in which you back off are essential to keep you progressing, and they are the backbone behind periodisation. So why not plan your training around your holiday, thereby overreaching prior to the holiday, so you can super-compensate once back. In simple terms, you push your body hard before you go, so it can recover and come back stronger afterwards.
And remember, when you are on holiday you’ll likely be doing more activity such as walking or swimming, and this raises your NEPA (Non Exercise Physical Activity) and this makes up the majority of your total calorie expenditure.
Nutrition
A big part of a holiday is the food, however I think many see it as a chance to go overboard and use it as an opportunity to have whatever and however much they want. For me food is a large part of my experience, however, I look at it as a chance to take a break from strict tracking and an opportunity to sample the local cuisine.
My personal approach would be to eat by appetite and desire, but not to go over the top. That means you eat until you are satisfied, making sure to choose what you want but knowing when to stop. I don’t like strict diets, and the guidelines I give my clients allow them freedom to eat anything within reason. By doing this you never get the urge to ‘cheat’ or binge on banned foods, which is a really healthy approach to eating.
This is what is referred to as a ‘diet break’ in which you are free from reigns, to consume to your appetite. It is a great tool that I recommend people implement if they have been dieting for a number of months. Much like a deload it allows your mind to recover and relax, making the whole process much easier and more enjoyable, keeping you on track.
Above is a pizza I ate on the first night of my stay, it was delicious! I personally took it upon myself to do my best to track my foods when abroad. Why? well I am currently in contest prep for a natural bodybuilding show and I have a lot of experience with tracking, making it more important I know my nutrition and making it dead easy. If you are going to try and track I recommend you hit your protein targets and total calories, don’t over-think it or stress about the details. That is exactly the approach I took.
Remember you’re completely out of your normal routine, therefore your total energy expenditure will be different to usual, so it is in fact pretty pointless to try and track your nutrition with 100% accuracy.
My Top Tips & Tricks
- Enjoy the local cuisine!
- Don’t use it as an opportunity to binge eat.
- Use it as a ‘diet break’ & or ‘deload’ and come back refreshed.
- Do a few bodyweight exercises to keep you ticking over.
- Pack some protein bars or beef jerky.
- Take protein powder and keep it in your hotel room.
- Buy fruit from local grocery stores.
- Never stress or over-think your nutrition & exercise, it’s a holiday!
I hope that goes someway to helping you keep on track while enjoying your time away to the fullest!
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