The best way to get healthy while
on holiday is to book one that requires you to get in shape ahead
of time.
The participants aren't
extreme or professional athletes; this is a vacation itinerary for
the moderately to vigorously active, and the mileage and elevation
gain can be adjusted for those who want a less ambitious trip.
They'll pay more than $2,000 for the experience, meals and
lodging included.
In Depth: How To Get Fit On
Vacation
It may not sound like the ideal way to enjoy a hard-earned break
from the office, but Rich Snodsmith, sales and guest services
manager for Backroads, says that several different types of
people--with a wide range of fitness and ability--seek out active
vacations like this one because of the long-term challenge
involved.
"They book a trip in
September for March," he says, "and it becomes a goal for
them to get in shape."
That stick-and-carrot
strategy of building on and improving one's fitness not only
provides regular motivation for staying active, it also prevents
the diet-and-exercise backsliding that often happens when a
vacation consists of lounging at the beach and dining on hotel,
restaurant and airport food.
In other words, the trick
to using vacation time to get in shape is in planning a trip that
requires an already-established level of fitness.
Getting Ready
Remarkably,
preparing for a cycling trip like the one in Oregon doesn't
require months of non-stop training. Last year, for example,
Snodsmith says the participants included a young producer from
Hollywood who was in shape but hadn't done a lot of riding, a
Michigan couple who were "gym fit" and a couple from
California who biked often.
Carl Foster, director of
the human performance laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-La
Crosse, says that it's quite easy to prepare for excursions of
this intensity (the added benefit, of course, is that preparing for
a specific activity over several months can help improve
cardiovascular fitness, muscle strength and body composition).
Participants who meet the American College of Sport Medicine's
recommendation of 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity five
days of the week should be able to adapt to anything, he says.
The key is to practice the
activity you'll be doing on vacation. While lifting weights
will help strengthen the upper body in advance of a kayaking trip,
Foster says it's important to complete a few trial runs in a
boat to "get the muscles set to fire in a certain way."
This applies to other activities with very specific motions,
including cycling, backpacking and hiking.
Just remember, some active
vacations require more time for training than others. Though 30
minutes of daily moderate to vigorous exercise is a good benchmark,
those attempting to spend several hours exercising each day during
the vacation should work up to such a goal.
To prepare for a six-hour
hike, for instance, Foster recommends consecutively increasing the
mileage or duration prior to the trip. The first hike might be one
hour, a second the following week would be two hours and so on.
Even getting to 50% of the load--three hours, in this case--would
provide an excellent foundation.
Enjoying the
Benefits
While exercise performed over the course of
an active vacation may temporarily boost fitness, the effects are
minimal compared to the benefits of regular and long-term
exercise.
Trent Hargens, an associate
coordinator of clinical exercise physiology at Ball State
University, says the benefits of long-term exercise are well known.
They include helping the body control blood pressure and blood
sugar, which mitigates heart-disease risk factors.
In light of those
invaluable benefits (and the pride that accompanies completing an
arduous physical challenge), an active vacation can become an ideal
way to spend your time off.
Though the participants who
finished the Oregon cycling trip may have returned with sore legs,
they also had success stories.
"For a lot of
them," says Snodsmith, "their rides were personal
bests."
In Depth: How To Get Fit On
Vacation
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