Tag Archives: Travel Fitness

The Bootcamp Backpack Test Run

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Some of you may know that I have been blogging as a guest “challenger” for my Bootcamp this month. Each month, one bootcamp member take on their own personal challenge, and documents it in some way. My challenge has been to take a more flexible approach to my fitness, and challenge myself to get comfortable creating effective workouts on the fly. If you’re interested in reading more about it, or learning about the best bootcamp in Victoria, feel free to check it out here!

So, last week, one of my challenges was to walk/run for an hour wearing a backpack with 15 pounds inside. Each time I got to a new street I had to do 20 jump squats, 20 step ups on a curb, and 20 fast lunges. I decided that this was the perfect opportunity to test out my backpack.

As many of you may have read previously, Tatonka is my backpack, and we are BFF’s. So I jumped at the chance to take her out for a spin. For this challenge, I decided to detach Tatonka’s day pack, and use that for my weights. I realized at that moment that I need a name for it as well. So far, I’ve come up with TinyTonka, TittyTonka, BittyTonka, but I’m open to suggestions!

Anyways, I started my challenge by loading up 15 lbs worth of barbel free weights into the pack, and I was off. The first thing I noticed was that the straps were too long. I had them adjusted as far as they would go, but found myself holding on to them to keep them taught. This is definitely a disadvantage to not buying a backpack made for a women. I felt that my torso just wasn’t long enough to have it fit right. That being said, I think a lot of that had to do with the amount of weight that was weighing it down. I doubt that I will often have 15lbs worth of weight in my daypack.

As the walk continued, Jenn, my instructor, challenged my flexibility by calling me and asking me to pick up milk for her. I then proceeded to get text messages from two other fellow bootcampers, also requesting milk. After making multiple purchases, I embarked, milk in hand, for the final leg of my trek. As I walked, I thought about how perfect this challenge was, as I’m guaranteed to be faced with lots of long walks carrying lots of weight in my not so distant future.

In the end, I made it all the way to the park where Jenn was teaching a morning class. photo 1 (2)She was kind enough to snap a photo of me, milk in hand, looking very relieved to have arrived.

She was also kind enough to take the milk off my hands for my run home. I knew at this point that I was going to have to make some sort of adjustment to the pack in order to run the 5km back to my car. So, with Jenn’s help I played around with the straps, and came up with a fabulous solution.

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You can see here that I unbuckled both straps and then re-buckled one across me. I then took the other strap and wrapped it around my waist, attaching it into the buckle on the other side.I could not believe the difference this made. The pack sat higher on my back and the weight was distributed more evenly. You can tell by my smile that I’m much happier (although I did take this picture once I had completed the 10km route, so that may have influenced my grin as well!).

Obviously those magical makers of Tatonka knew what they were doing when the designed the straps to unbuckle. I’m certainly glad I learnt this lesson now, instead of half way up the side of a volcano!

So, here is the big question…what on earth do I name my little Tatonka day pack?? Let me know in the comments!

Pura Vida!

Kate

Staying Active While Travelling

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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

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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!Centurion

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

daisies-green-backgroundStrength 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….HIIT

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!)