A healthy vacation is much easier to achieve than many people realize. It doesn’t mean spending every morning at the hotel gym or hiking ten miles a day. While some may prefer vigorous daily exercise or require it for training purposes, it’s not necessary for everyone. Simple though it may be, adding small inconveniences to your day is all you need to sneak in your daily dose of exercise. Minor inconveniences add extra movement to your day, and regular movement is the key to daily exercise. Let’s look at a few simple ways you can add movement to your days so you can have a fun and healthy vacation.
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Avoid Modern Conveniences
The 20th and 21st centuries have focused on making our lives easier and more effortless. This has perpetuated an increasingly sedentary lifestyle and led to increased weight gain. Avoiding modern conveniences allows you to burn more calories and not feel guilty about treating yourself to dessert at that special restaurant.
Take The Stairs
My number one recommendation for incorporating more exercise into your trip is to take the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator. Taking the stairs is a super efficient exercise, and walking just six flights every day can be enough to offset most Americans’ average annual weight gain.
It amazes me how many people automatically step onto the escalator in airports when the stairs are right next to it. Don’t be afraid to bypass the crowds on the escalators and use the stairs instead. As with any exercise, use proper form when taking the stairs. Try not to lean forward. Keep your body upright and step straight up to the next step. This puts more weight onto your glutes and less strain on the smaller lower leg muscles.
Making a conscious effort to take the stairs at your hotel is key. It’s very tempting to use the hotel elevator, mainly because they are so convenient and it’s not always easy to find the stairs. Consider staying in a smaller inn, motel or boutique hotel without an elevator or with few floors to make it easier to remember to take the stairs. If staying at a large resort, request a room on a lower floor so you’re more likely to opt for the stairs instead of the elevator.
Walking and Cycling Tours
Skip the bus and Segway tours and use your own power to experience your vacation destination. Not only will you get a heart healthy workout, you’ll also create deeper memories because you’re more immersed in what you’re doing. Since walking is a much slower pace than driving, you are also more likely to see the unique details many people miss. The added flexibility of being on two feet allows you to explore those off-the beaten path places that many tourists skip. Sometimes all it takes is walking two to three blocks beyond the main streets to find that hidden gem of a restaurant the locals prefer.
Cycling tours range anywhere from a few hours to a few days, so there are plenty of options for all ability levels. You can easily find tour operators in most cities offering bike tours of the most popular sites. Read about my bike tour of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. I highly recommend it! If you have a passion for cycling and prefer a whole vacation dedicated to it, Backroads and Sojourn are well-known tour companies offering guided trips all over the world.
Barefoot on the Beach
Beach vacations often involve lots of lounging and little walking. The easiest way to add more exercise into your beach vacation is to walk the beach. Breathe in the early morning salt air with a walk on the beach to get your body moving. The peace and quiet will also get you into vacation mode. If you’re not vacationing at the beach, there are plenty of opportunities for barefoot walking. Look for grassy parks, the back lawn of the property you’re staying at, or the deck surrounding the hotel pool.
You don’t need to spend the whole day barefoot. Research has shown just 15-30 minutes can be beneficial. We spend most our time wearing shoes that constrict the foot’s natural movements. Allowing the 100+ muscles, tendons and ligaments in each foot to move naturally will increase balance and flexibility. You’ll also be strengthening the lower leg muscles. I must admit walking barefoot is challenging for me because I don’t like getting my feet dirty. However, I do enjoy a good walk in the sand, so I’m working on finding a good balance!
Walk to Dinner
An evening stroll to dinner or morning walk to breakfast is much more pleasant than an Uber ride, in my opinion. I walk to as many places as I can while I’m on vacation, and meals are no exception. In addition to the heart healthy benefits of walking, you will probably benefit from a better meal. Hotel restaurants and those closest to them are often overpriced with marginal food. Explore the non-touristy areas and you’ll be rewarded with authentic food the locals eat. Plus, walking after meals has been shown to help digestion and keep blood sugar levels in check.
Carry Your Luggage
How many times have you returned from vacation and said, “I packed way too much. I’m never doing that again.”? Committing to using a backpack or duffel bag instead of a large suitcase on wheels will result in packing less and you’ll be adding strength and stability training to your travel days by carrying them. Using smaller bags will also save money on checked bag fees and you won’t need to worry about losing your luggage.
I prefer using a backpack because it distributes the weight more evenly and allows my hands to be free. When shopping for a backpack, I recommend looking for bags with hip and chest streps. Using these will help shift the weight off your back and provide greater stability. Osprey is a good resource to start your search for a new backpack!
Let’s Get Moving!
For many people, taking a vacation means “taking it easy” and “doing nothing”. I urge you to “do something”. Use the time away from the hectic pace of daily life to consciounsly add more movement to your day. You’ll feel energized and won’t have to worry about skipping a trip to the gym because you’ll be getting all the exercise you need.
Bonus Tips:
The following resources provide further detail surrounding the benefits of incorporating more movement into your daily life.
Blue Zones– The longest lived people on Earth don’t go to the gym or make a concerted effort to exercise. They simply move. Learn more about how they eat, exercise and socialize. Plus, there are tips for you to incorporate their practices into your life.
Nutritious Movement– Katy Bowman is a biomechanist specializing in helping people move more naturally and showing us how introducing small inconveniences to our lives leads to longer, more productive lives (and healthy vacations).
Earthing– This concept explores human beings’ connection to nature and how walking barefoot and/or being outside reduces stress, tension and inflammation.
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Love your suggestions, especially the one for walking barefoot on the beach!
Thanks, Kelly! Barefoot on the beach is such a simple thing to do. We forget how important it is to “work” our feet and ankles, and the beach is perfect for this.