Guest blog by Brandon Fischer, Flaman Fitness, Burlington, ON
I recently was on vacation, or a "staycation" as lots of people have come to call it. And trying to stay in routine (if you're in one) fitness wise, is definitely a challenge. Motivation at times sort of flies out the window, workouts start to be skipped, but worst of all, your eating habits become lack luster at best. But it's not a bad thing. It's perfectly fine to take a break every once in a while with both the eating right and performing any workouts. But of course you don't want all of your progress/gains to go right out the window either.
With me having a wife and two kids, routine is everything. My normal day consists of waking up, eating breakfast with the kids (3 whole eggs and a cup of oats), get ready, go to work, eat my 3 meals while at work (two chicken breast and sweet potato meals, and a pre workout cup of oats and banana), get home and hang out with the kids, kids go to sleep, weight train, post workout shake, chicken and sweet potato meal, tv with the wife, another meal, go to bed, wake up and repeat. This is what I've been doing, and this what I will generally always be doing give or take some different types of meals here and there.
Vacation time though, different story. I thoroughly enjoy my weight training so skipping workouts is really never something that's on my mind. Firstly, I have my gym set up in my basement, so as long as I'm home I won't be missing my scheduled workouts. But, take for example, I went to Port Dover Ontario for Canada Day weekend at my mother in-laws. No gym at her house, but, good tip right here, don't just say "Oh well, no workout for me today", head on over to the nearest gym. 9 times out of 10 if you tell them you're new to town and you'd like to try out the gym, they will give you a free pass, sometimes even a free week pass. But if you're as dedicated as I am, if I have to pay I will pay. If it's at the cottage or out in the middle of nowhere and there is no gym, bring some bands or any other fitness equipment that you can fit. Or, "Rugged train" as I like to call it. Heavy logs, rocks, buckets of lake water, pull-ups in trees, get creative and you'll be training in no time. Truly though, rest days are great for the body, so don't feel like you have to train everyday on your vacation, I just do it because I love it.
Next, is nutrition. Now, being on vacation to me is about letting loose, relaxing, and having fun, and that's exactly what my family and I did. We went to the movies, to the beach, Blue Jays game, went out for dinner dates (wife and I), Canada Day festivities, and lots of other things to keep the kids and ourselves busy. But that is definitely where (if you are in a nurtrition routine) you're eating habits will take a hit. But hey, as my wife always tells me, you only live once, as cliché as it might sound, but she's right. So I ate some garbage, some junk, had some beers (or a dozen), and didn't really stick to any real schedule eating wise. The further you go away from home I find, the more difficult sticking to a normal eating plan will become.
But good thing vacations don't last forever (wait, what the hell did I just say?). In a weird way though its true (for me anyways). As soon as the vacation was coming to an end, I could not wait to get back into my normal routine again. After ten days of eating whatever (which I certainly enjoyed), I did not enjoy seeing, or more like not seeing my abs anymore lol. It wasn't that drastic of a change really lol, but mentally I could feel it, and of course, I just wanted to get back into doing what I do, visa vie, train and eat properly.
I'm sure people may have trouble getting back into their routines, and that's ok. But what do we do when we fall off the horse? That's right. Now the way I do things may sound a little overboard, and they very well could be, but the one rule I've always lived by that has never steered me wrong, everything in moderation and you should be ok. I guess I'll leave you guys with that. Cheers and happy training/vacationing!