Renowned international performance coach, Artur Zolkiewicz, will be hosting a weeklong residency at NIZUC Resort & Spa on the Mexican Caribbean coast from 19-25 September 2019. Ahead of his trip, which will coincide with World Wellness Weekend, Artur has shared his top five tips on how we can all stay healthy and adapt our fitness regimes while on holiday this summer.
Artur says, “Ever more travellers want to keep fit during their holiday. For some, going away is no longer all about indulging and being horizontal 24/7. It’s often a time to concentrate on ourselves – time to get in better shape and think about health and diet. Travelling can negatively impact your health and fitness routines, be it your diet, exercise regime or sleep. The temptation to indulge is greater than ever and it’s always easy to justify another drink by the pool. However, taking care of your health and fitness while on holiday will make you feel better, allow you to relax more and set you up for a better start when you get back home.”
Here are Artur’s five tips for enjoying your holiday while staying on top of your health and training.
There are so many things you can do to keep active on holiday. Say you’re going on holiday for a week and you’re staying at a beautiful hotel. I’m more than certain that there is going to be a nice gym, too. If you want to stay on top of your fitness, get into the habit of doing some work in the morning before hitting the nice breakfast buffet.
Even if you don’t have access to a gym, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. You can still do a wide variety of body weight exercises elsewhere. It’s a good excuse to mix up your training and try something different. If you’re close to the beach, go and train barefoot in the sand. Not only will it give you a tough and different workout, it will also add new stimulus to your training and keep your body guessing. Surprising your body by moving differently is a good way to induce new adaptations.
Starting your day with a workout will hopefully help you to set your mind right and guide you towards better choices for breakfast. Also by completing your workout first thing in the morning, you will have a whole day free to do whatever you want to do – tan, sightsee or whatever else it is that you fancy doing on holiday! Even lying by the pool is topping up your vital Vitamin D!
2) Nail your breakfast
I can’t stress this one enough. Making the right choices for breakfast will have a physical and mental effect on your body. They will save you from overeating for the rest of the day and help you to avoid the temptation of not-so-wise nutritional choices.
If you wake up early to work out, have an espresso or a green tea before you train. Save the breakfast for after your workout, you won’t feel too heavy when working out and your body will be able to use the nutrients more efficiently. If you need to eat before working out, make sure it’s something light. I recommend training on an empty stomach unless you intend to go really hard and really long!
Generally speaking a good breakfast would consist of a good serving of protein and some healthy fats. Starting your day with a meal consisting of protein and fat will fill you up for longer and make sure that you won’t want to snack. Eggs, avocado and smoked salmon is a great breakfast option rich in protein and good fats.
Another good option is to go with a balanced breakfast that consists of a serving of protein, healthy fats and some slow releasing carbohydrates. My go-to is often porridge with some berries and nuts or nut butter and scrambled eggs. Or if I’m staying at a hotel on vacation, my particular breakfast pleasure is the freshly prepared omelette station – much less boring than simple scrambled eggs.
3) Move
I don’t know about you, but I love exploring new places by foot. I’ve been lucky enough to have lived in 16 cities and the first thing I do when I arrive at a new destination is to get walking and exploring the neighbourhood. You get to meet local people, find amazing restaurants serving local cuisine and most importantly, you get a lot of movement in whilst enjoying all the good bits of travelling. Walking is a very underestimated form of exercise. It’s a low impact, fun and healthy way to get your cardiovascular activity done when on holiday.
Try and utilise other forms of movement which are normally not accessible to you back at home – work out on the beach (the sand will make it so much harder!) or get a pre-breakfast swim in!
4) Leave the stress at home!
This is your time. Focus on sleeping better, eating more mindfully, practicing meditation and other relaxation techniques, or have a massage. De-stressing can have a huge impact on how your body stores and processes fat. The less stress hormone (cortisol) your body produces, the more likely you’re going to come back from holiday looking better than before! Cortisol promotes body fat and makes it harder to lose weight, especially around your stomach.
We get better quality sleep when we’re away and sleep is one of the most fundamental factors for fat-loss and muscle building. Good quality sleep will help your body to secrete less of the hunger hormone, ghrelin, which is the primary hunger hormone and causes you to feel hungry even when you don’t need to eat. So relax!
5) Choose places that allow you to stay fit
Many hotels now do an amazing job offering their guests great gym facilities and access to some amazing performance coaches. If you’re planning to go on holiday in September and didn’t decide where to go yet, I have an idea for you – come and see me in Cancun at the amazing NIZUC Resort & Spa. In addition to a class a day, you’ll get the chance to enjoy two private beaches overseeing the Caribbean Sea and you will also be able to book me for personal training sessions. See you there!