Should you lift or relax on vaction
I have been traveling abroad for the past 4 years. And I would use this time to do very little to almost no training, just enjoying my relaxation time. Many people would think that taking that much time off negatively affects their gains. But I’ll be the one to tell you it’s okay you’ll be fine. Your body may need the rest you can treat this time as recovery days or weeks. I promise you won’t lose that much progress. As soon as you start training, it will magically come back.
It takes at least 2 – 3 weeks for any muscle loss to occur. Being completely inactive is the fastest way to lose all your muscle. That’s why you see someone who has had a long hospital stay look smaller than before because most of the weight they may have lost is probably muscle. This is from being bedridden. With that being said, maintaining your current muscle is easy even laughable. All you need to do is do at least 4 sets per muscle group a week. You just need to do a tiny amount of activity, and it goes a long way.
Maintenance Glute Exercise Program
Monday:
[Good Morning] 2 sets x 6,5 reps
Wednesday:
[Barbell Glute Bridge] 2 sets x 8,5 reps
That’s it!
This is about all you need to keep your muscle the same size during your time away from home. Of course these sets should be at a high intensity either at a heavy to moderate amount of weight or performing enough reps to fatigue. You should be feeling your reps slowing down. Where they are progressively getting slower each time. This means you are getting close to muscular failure.
How do you know you hit failure?
When you can’t perform another rep!
Training this way will prevent or lessen any strength or muscle loss during your vacation.
So you decided you want to stay in shape while traveling
Well to maintain your progress as mentioned, you just have to stick to doing exercises that train multiple muscle groups.
Focus on heavy compound exercises
Back Squat
Deadlift
Bench Press
Leg Press
Hip thrust
Glute Bridges
By doing heavy compound exercises, you save time that you could be using to explore the city or relax on the beach. We’ve seen in research that 4 sets is enough to maintain muscle size as I said before. Stick to 0-4 reps away from failure. This will ensure that you are doing enough weight to maintain your current strength and size, plus it may even cause you to gain a little with all the extra calories you may be eating. I know I like to try all kinds of food when I travel.
Where are you supposed to train?
The majority of people travel to capital cities with city centers surrounded by 1000 of gyms. So you’ll have no problem finding a gym. What I like to do is go to a different gym each time I go train if they offer day passes. Usually day passes cost around $20 but some can be free. Depends on the gym they may offer weekly passes or even monthly passes for tourists. They are very convenient if you are planning a long trip.
Different gyms have different equipment even if the machines are the same as the ones you are used to but they will probably feel completely different. So always be adaptive and flexible when you are training. Your muscles can’t differentiate between different equipment anyway. They alone feel stimulus and activation. You don’t have to be in the perfect environment that mimics your home gym to still make gains or maintain them.
Screw training I want to relax
Just take a break you’ve been working all year training. I have had my ups and downs with fitness while traveling. I would go from training only one a day week to none at all. But once I got back to my routine. The gains came back! Your body never forgets your hard work. When you come back you’ll make the fastest progress of your life returning to your normal routine.
Getting back on track after your trip
After you get back home and jump back into my normal routine.. I know people will tell you to ease back in and start very light. I am not saying jump back into a 200kg squat. But you need to put some weight on the bar and assess your strength. See how much you lose or maintain. At this point, I would look at the program and see what exercises you would keep or change. I use this time to get a fresh start and return even stronger than when I left for my trip.
It doesn’t take a long time for your body to get its strength back. You just have to get your neurons firing and get your brain to shoot stronger signals. Whether you decide to train or relax on your trip the gym will always be there waiting for you. If you decide you don’t have to really train as hard you can do the bare minimum and retain your muscle.