Taking care of your own well-being is a process that never goes on holiday
A healthy and balanced approach to nutrition and training, combined with good planning skills and correct hydration, that’s the secret for a fit physical shape even on the beach, enjoying your holidays in full lightheartedness.
Summer is the season of adventure, relaxation and fun, a perfect time to pack your bags and explore new destinations, but also relax on a crystal clear beach and make lasting memories with your friends and family. However, through the excitement and frenzy that characterize holidays, just starting from planning it first, and the hectic days spent on the beach side afterwards, what often lacks is a very essential aspect of a healthy and balanced lifestyle: a proper fitness routine to keep even on holiday.
This doesn’t mean that you should spend whole days chasing unnatural ideals of beauty that are quite impossible to achieve, exhausting your own body with hours of cardio under the sun everyday, and giving up that lightheartedness and joy that should instead be the main ingredient of your well-being on holiday. On the contrary, it’s all about adopting some simple measures that help you feel energetic and active by the seaside, without giving up those pleasures that actually help make your holiday simply unforgettable.
The key lies in balance, and in a flexible approach that allows make fitness a natural part of your daily routine even on holiday rather than a rigid program of terrifying tasks that makes you wish to give up even before actually begin. Only this way you will prioritize your well-being and return home more relaxed and regenerated than when you left. A sustainable and simple approach which will also allow you to feel satisfied and confident in your own skin, a sense of security which is all you need to overcome the swimwear try-on.
Not to mention that physical activity is one of the most powerful natural antidepressants, an action that feels even more effective surrounded by uncontaminated natural landscapes, be it a lovely beach at dawn or a lush forest populated by exotic animals, a setting which helps free your mind from anxiety and worries of everyday life, and reconnect with the present to fully embrace the experiences that await you right around the corner on your holiday!
Fitness goes on holiday: 10 tips to stay healthy and fit enjoying the pleasures of summer
If you think that maintaining a fitness routine on holiday requires a lot of commitment and discipline, then you are certainly wrong. The simplest and most effective way to stay fit even on holiday is all about redefining the way you see physical well-being, from duty to pleasure, a simple measure that will allow you to seize all the incredible opportunities offered by long hot summer days, and turn them into excellent chances to move your body and make more forward-looking food and training choices, truly in line with your own well-being goals.
Doing this, good planning is essential, which doesn’t merely mean having every single aspect of your holiday under control, rather ensuring the right conditions to keep an active healthy lifestyle even away from home. For example, make sure to choose accommodation with a gym or swimming pool, or include excursions and outdoor activities in your itinerary, such as hikes in nature, bike rides or yoga sessions on the beach. Furthermore, take a look at local restaurants and pick those with nutritious and balanced menus even before departure, where you will be able to consume at least one meal per day, and bring some good snacks with you to avoid giving in to unhealthy (and accessible) temptations while traveling.
But that’s not all. To maintain the right balance, integrate small tips in your daily holiday routine, such as choosing to walk instead of taking public transport, doing some stretching exercises in the morning, or dedicating just a few minutes to meditation to reduce stress.
Every small step counts, so why not make an effort to take a few more this summer? Following, you will find 10 tips to get started on this healthy adventure even on holiday!
1. Plan in advance
Planning is key to maintain an active and healthy lifestyle even on holiday. If for some the possibility of staying in facilities providing fitness courses, or with gym just right next to the hotel, is source of influence for choosing the final destination, generally it is not necessary to go that far to maintain a good level of fitness away from home.
With a few small precautions, in fact you can ensure to stay fit anywhere: just do a little search on Google to realize that most cities and seaside resorts include sports facility (or outdoor tools, hosted in city parks) which, although it may not be equipped as a proper gym, with a bit of adaptation and flexibility it can support your daily training routine and also stimulate your muscles in new and surprising ways.
However, if you prefer to train in the room or simply in open spaces outdoors, you can increase the intensity of free body exercises by using resistance bands brought from home, particularly useful since they’re light, take up just a little space in your bag, but still help you to complete an effective and efficient workout session. And let’s not forget that planning ahead also means making sure to have enough time to rest and recover, a crucial element for good physical and mental balance especially on holiday.
2. Set attainable goals
Planning in advance also means establishing fitness goals that are specific, achievable with serenity and adaptable to your travel program, therefore to the time and resources you will have on every single day on your holiday.
For example, if you can only dedicate 30 minutes a day to training and want to tone legs and arms, plan a short-term routine which can also be performed in room, or in the hotel gym, which alternates upper and lower body exercises including also a few minutes for pre-workout mobility and post-workout stretching, which is key to prevent annoying injuries.
You should avoid to set vague resolutions such as be fitter or start running again, instead replace them with a much more specific run for at least 30 minutes every two days, do 50 push-ups in one session or complete a total body training session. Intentions like these will feel much more attainable and won’t bring you down in the moment of put it into practice!
3. Adopt a flexible mindset
Before leaving for vacation, it’s easy to enthusiastically plan workouts and ambitious goals without considering the possibility that unexpected events may occur, like storms, heat strokes, or impromptu activities that changes your daily schedule. Unexpected events and changes of minds are very often, especially traveling with family or friends.
Even if you fail keep your commitment for one or more days, there’s no need to panic or demoralize. On the contrary, it is much more constructive to adopt a flexible mindset, adapt your original training plans to new conditions, or modify your goals to make it more in line with current needs and resources. This may mean opting for shorter or less intense training sessions, or taking advantage of good weather to go for a long walk on the shore, a long swim in the pool or even in the sea, instead of strictly following your planned routine. The final objective is to maintain a rewarding level of physical activity, but without adding further (and useless) stress to your body.
Being flexible also means understanding that holidays are made for rest and fun, so it’s important to balance your fitness commitment to your actual attainable goals and fully enjoy your new experience away from home.
4. Combine physical activity with the discovery of the territory
Often the best way to ensure you stay active and healthy on a trip is to look at movement as an integral part of your holiday, especially discovering new places.
For example, if you plan to visit an archaeological site or spend morning in a little-known cove, you can check out potential pedestrian or cycle paths to follow to reach it by hiking, a small trick that help you stay fit, yet experimenting new ways of coming in touch with the territory and observing details that could escape by using more conventional means.
At the same time, arranging a hike into nature, whether it is walking on a mountain path or exploring a lake or nature reserve, is useful to combine healthy physical exercise with that sense of adventure and discovery to explore the natural beauty around you.
Furthermore, if you are traveling to a coastal location, enjoy the magic of the sea and the incredible physical benefits of swimming, a complete exercise that involves your whole body and allows to cool off on the hottest days, or maybe play beach volley and racket tennis on the shore with your friends. Even hotel pools are good options for quick workout sessions.
5. Brief, yet intense training
Do you want to train but you only have little time available? So, high intensity workouts will soon become your best friends. In fact, this style of training alternates short periods of high intensity anaerobic exercise (during which you bring your heart rate between 80-95%) with short periods of recovery, consisting of either absolute rest or very low-intensity exercises.
For example, you can alternate 30 seconds of sprinting with 30 seconds of walking, a sequence to repeat for 10-20 minutes. This type of training help you burn calories more efficiently (several studies revealed how 15 minutes of high intensity training burn the same calories of 1 hour cardio session), improve your cardiovascular resistance, preserve muscle mass and lose fat, especially compared to other forms of anaerobic training.
The so-called Tabata method, which consists of 20 seconds of high intensity exercise (such as free body exercises like burpees, squats, push-ups or jumping jacks, or overload exercises like bicep curls or split squats with dumbbells) followed by 10 seconds of rest, a session to be repeated for 4 minutes, is an excellent form of high intensity training. The goal is to work to the maximum of your ability in periods of activity and recover quickly in short rest times.
Furthermore, these workouts can really be performed anywhere, even on the beach or local parks, without the need of specific equipment (you can also practice overload exercises replacing dumbbells with water bottles or a heavy backpack).
6. Organize fitness challenges with friends and family
To lighten training and encourage all family members to move their bodies (with all the psychophysical benefits that can derive from it), an excellent tip is organizing small and fun competitions and activities, such as a morning run along the beach, a group yoga session at sunset, or a competition at the best repeats of push-ups or burpees. This would make training more enjoyable and create a sense of mutual motivation and support that will make it easier to stick to your summer fitness goals.
Simplicity is always key and there’s no need to spend so many hours developing complicated challenges, but just find a quiet space where to spread out yoga mats and follow a guided video training, or bring some rackets or a volleyball ball with you and take advantage of the outdoor spaces dedicated to sport, usually available on Italian beaches or a timer with you with which to check out who can perform more push-ups in a minute.
7. Always be well hydrated
The hectic pace and constant changes that usually characterize the holidays often make it more difficult to keep correct hydration, which is instead key for maintaining the body fresh, promoting digestion, supporting metabolism, preventing tiredness and improving post-workout physical recovery; consequently, hydration is relevant to achieve your summer training goals and feel more energetic throughout the day.
So make sure to always carry a reusable water bottle with you (today you can buy even refined types of bottles, for example those thermally insulated to keep the water fresh for hours) and drink at least 2 liters per day, divided evenly throughout the day. A good method to remind to drink enough is to set alarms on your smartphone or use one of the specific apps designed for this purpose. Another good practice is to slowly sip a glass of water every time you sit at the table to eat.
Furthermore, it is also useful to have foods rich in water, like seasonal fruit and vegetables including watermelons, cucumbers, tomatoes, melons and peaches, also rich in antioxidants and precious minerals for replenishing the reserves lost with increased sweating (you can also add pieces of fruit or aromatic herbs to water to delicately flavor it). On the contrary, excessive consumption of alcoholic or caffeine-containing drinks should be avoided, as they contribute to dehydration if you do not compensate it by increasing your daily water intake.
8. Follow a balanced and functional diet with no restrictions
When it comes to maintaining a healthy lifestyle on summer holidays, it is important to find a balance between a functional and nutritious diet, which allows to have enough energy to enjoy your vacation by exploring the territory and doing several other activities, and the pleasure of delighting your palate with great foods by tasting the typical local delicacies.
Good advice is to follow an 80/20 approach, meaning eating healthy foods for around 80% of your meals (made of a source of complex carbohydrates to provide your body with good dose of long-term energy, such as whole grains and sweet potatoes, a source of proteins to promote post-workout muscle recovery, preferably lean and vegetable proteins such as chickpeas, lentils, eggs or tofu, and a source of healthy fats to promote a sense of long-term satiety, including avocado and dried fruit, accompanied by a generous portion of colorful vegetables and fruit), and indulge in some exceptions, such as some cake, a good ice cream, or some fried salty food, for remaining 20%. An approach like this promotes a balanced diet, but also a positive relationship with food, maintaining your health and well-being goals with no need of giving up the pleasure of your favorite foods.
Moreover, another useful practice refers to the so-called mindful eating, which consists in taking enough time to enjoy every bite of the dish appreciating all its features, thus its colors, its scent and texture, a practice that encourages to listen to your body and respond properly to hunger and satiety signals.
9. Dedicate sufficient time to relax and rest
The importance of proper relaxation and rest can’t be underestimated, especially on summer holidays (and indeed once you get back home then). Too often, in fact, the routine feels like a trap made up of frenetic and stressful paces, which undermine equally mental well-being and physical health.
Adequate rest allows body to recover and repair tissues damaged by exercise and stress, reducing the risk of over-training and improving physical performance. Furthermore, getting enough sleep is key to restore balance to the nervous system, improve emotional state and reduce levels of stress and anxiety, responsible for the production of cortisol (a hormone that makes it more difficult to maintain or lose weight), and also to improve the ability to store and remember information, therefore reinforce your decision-making process and your ability to face daily challenges successfully (including meeting your fitness goals) in full clarity, efficiency and discipline.
On holiday relaxation takes on a crucial role, allowing to achieve the silhouette of your dreams more easily, but also to unplug and recharge batteries in sight of the return to the daily routine afterwards. At the same time, resting adequately doesn’t only mean sleeping a sufficient amount of hours, but above all taking regenerating breaks during the day, for example walking slowly on the beach at dawn or sitting in silence to admire the sunset. Remember, on holiday there’s no need to speed up, slow down instead!
10. Choose a facility equipped with spaces dedicated to fitness
Finally, although with a good dose of commitment and careful planning you can move and maintain your physical shape almost anywhere, you better choose a destination including spaces dedicated to fitness, like well-equipped gyms, swimming pools, tennis courts, or the possibility of attending yoga and pilates classes: that’s a choice that can really make the difference in keeping a more active lifestyle even when traveling, even if you don’t have the time, inventiveness, or motivation to adapt your fitness routine to smaller spaces or the lack of professional machinery. Having these spaces available make it more easily to find time for a complete training session into your daily programs, maybe before going to the beach or after lunch, but also to experiment new ways of moving your body.
Palazzo Doglio stands out for its ability to integrate excellent fitness services with a privileged position right next to the beautiful sea and the main city attractions in Cagliari, plus a top gastronomic offer which combines the better of gourmet cuisine with traditional Sardinian ingredients. A five-star accessible luxury hotel located in the heart of the city, from which to explore the wonders of the Sardinian capital and its surroundings, including the picturesque Poetto beach, the mysterious archaeological park of Pranu Muttedu and the vast offer of outdoor training programs in exceptional locations, including training by the sea or in the park, bike trips, and trekking at sunset on Sella del Diavolo.
Fitness Center by Doglio Club: the training for everybody
A gym with modern and innovative Technogym equipment (including the new Skill Run, a latest generation treadmill to perform both cardio and power workouts accompanied by video lessons too; or an indoor rowing machine and latest model of Technogym bike to engage in real online indoor cycling classes under the guidance of exceptional trainers), personalized routes and personal trainers that will guide you achieving your goals of fitness: all this is possible at the exclusive Fitness Center by Palazzo Doglio, the flagship of the Doglio Club Mindfulness Spa, the area dedicated to well-being seen as a holistic union of mental peace and physical health.
A concept of health focused on harmony and balance, the common thread between multiple offers of the prestigious wellness center, which in addition to the Fitness Room also boasts an elegant SPA created mainly with natural materials and designed to guarantee privacy, silence and respect for the environment, where to enjoy a wide range of regenerating and relaxing treatments including toning massages with essential oils and purifying rhassoul.
As a matter of fact, being able to disconnect from the world and reconnect with yourself and your most intimate needs, re-establishing the lost harmony between mind and body, is the ultimate goal of who wants to improve physical fitness and health – on holiday as at home.
For further information, please phone call to the number +3907064640 or write an email to info@palazzodoglio.com.
Do you want to spend a holiday full of charm and elegance and stay fit and healthy even in summer just following a few simple tips? Book a stay at Palazzo Doglio in Cagliari
