Those who know me, know that I am a glorified gym rat. Jumping on a treadmill and sweating like a mad women is something that has always kept me sane.

The entire month prior to leaving, I have been working at creating flexibility in my workout regime. I’ve been focusing on shorter more intense workouts that can be done quickly and with limited resources. Here are a couple tips I’ve come up with to help with those who want to stay fit, while on the move.

Be creative with your environment

At the beach? perfect, sand provides great resistance when running. In the forest? awesome, tons of logs to lift up, jump on, or hop over. In a park? fabulous, benches are great for dips, step ups and push ups. You don’t need a gym full of equipment to get an effective workout, just use what you have around you! Added bonus, it’s usually way more fun!

Look for active adventures

You have all heard that I want to see every volcano there is, well undoubtedly that will involve hiking! Learning to surf? That is bound to burn a calorie or two!

Walking, Walking and more Walking

Part of the bonus of being a budget trapped traveller like myself, is that walking will become my primary mode of transportation. I’m so looking forward to being able to go on daily adventures to explore my surroundings. Certainly beats the normal routine of working in front of a computer all day!

Get it done early, and get it done dirty

Costa Rica can get HOT, so, if you are trying to get a workout in mid day, you’re going to run out of gas pretty quick. Shaun and I have always been early risers, and this will certainly work to our advantage while travelling. Getting up early, and getting my workout done will be my plan of attack. As for the dirty part, I mean intense. Who wants to spend all their time working out when there are adventures to be had! The workouts I have planned will be short sweet and intense, so I have more time to play!

So with that, I thought I would share with you a couple of my favourite down and dirty workouts that I will be rocking while in Costa Rica. You can bet there will be plenty more of these to come!

The Centurion is a great challenge. 1000 total reps of various exercises. You can break them down into small sets and decide what order you complete them in. I usually find that working opposite muscle groups works well, so you have a chance for a quick rest before starting up again. However you do it, you’ll feel a huge sense of accomplishment when its done. Quick tip: keep a piece of paper or your phone handy to keep track of your progress

Strength training can be challenging when you don’t have weights available to you. I have decided to bring a set of resistance bands with me. These are small compact and are extremely versatile. The arms section of this workout uses the bands for resistance. If you didn’t have bands, you could easily use whatever you had around you: water bottles, soup cans, be creative! Check out this amazing workout from The Healthy Maven using only resistance bands!

Dear HIIT, How do I love thee, let me count the ways….

Nothing gets me more sweaty, then a HIIT workout. HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training. Sometimes referred to as “Tabata,” it is a great way to get maximum calorie burn in a very short period of time. Timing the workouts can be tricky, as you have to preform 20 seconds of an exercise at maximum exertion then a 10 second rest for 4 minutes straight. I would suggest downloading a HIIT app to do the counting for you. I use Tabata Timer, and it is fabulous

How do you stay active while on vacation? Any other tips and tricks you want to share?

Pura Vida!

Kate

(Just a quick note: I’m not a trained fitness professional, just a lover of all thing fit. Remember to ask your Doctor before trying out anything new!)