Staying healthy during the Easter holidays
Monday Fitness Motivation: Personal trainer Geoff Sa Joe shares tips on how to keep the bulge off during the Easter holidays.
With so many holidays upon us, most people tend to take quite a bit of time off to recharge for the remainder of the year.
Just because you’ve planned for a decent holiday, does not mean that your regular fitness and eating regime needs to go out the window. In fact, it’s during these times that your commitment to a healthy lifestyle will be tested.
It’s scary how easy it is to develop bad habits like skipping gym sessions and eating badly. Do it for two weeks and it can easily turn into four weeks, so don’t fall into that trap.
So what can you do if you are away on holiday:
1. Utilise the hotel’s gym - should it have one, at least twice a week.
2. Body weight exercises: Squats, lunges, push-ups, planks, burpees can be done anywhere! It just needs a bit of commitment! A simple 20min bodyweight workout can do wonders as a maintenance plan during the holidays. This will keep you in shape, so that when getting back into your gym routine it will not feel like you’re starting from scratch (which can be very demotivating).
3. Get your workout done first thing in the morning: During the day you’ll have all sorts of fun activities planned after which you will not feel like going for a workout.
4. Any form of exercise is great, so make it fun: You are more likely to do it if it’s fun! Running, yoga or pilates - it does not necessarily have to be resistance training.
5. Try to stick to your regular eating regime: Three main meals with healthy snacks in-between. Healthy snacks – biltong, nuts, yoghurt, fruit. These are great to nibble on whilst out and about, keeping you fueled during the day.
6. Realistically, you are likely to eat poorly: Try to keep it down to one bad meal a day - minimize the damage!
7. Keep your alcohol in-take down to a minimum: Especially if you are not used to drinking alcohol. Go for drinks like dry white/red wine, vodka, rum, brandy and gin. The problem is what do you mix it with as sweet mixers are very high in calories. Try diet soda or tonic, light cranberry or orange juice, light lemonade, lemon or lime juice.
Basically, moderate the bad eating & alcohol in-take and maintain some form of exercise routine. By doing this, getting back into your regular fitness and eating routine will not be a problem at all AND your body will love you for it!
About the author
I started hitting the gym from a very early age, purely because I was a small kid. Exercise and sport in general came very natural to me, I loved being active, whether it was cricket, rugby or gym. Strangely enough, I opted to pursue a career in finance and worked in London as an accountant for eight years. I was miserable and my wife pushed me to make the change, well I have never looked back. I’ve been a personal trainer for six years and I have developed my own style of training that’s extremely effective, combining all aspects of exercise.
The best way to get in touch is:
WhatsApp: 0763229939
Email: [email protected]
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