Fit on vacation: How to stay motivated!

Many people associate vacation with relaxation, rest, sleeping in and enjoyment. But with a little personal discipline and willpower, you can still manage to do your usual workouts, albeit not of the same length and intensity. Workouts and a balanced diet are balm for body, mind and soul even during your well-deserved vacation time.

Movements usually follow predictable patterns, both in sports and in everyday life. In functional fitness training, functional workouts and strength training, you are able to perform complex multi-joint exercises, dead weight exercises, and circuit training exercises or "high-intensity interval training" (HIIT for short).

Even in the summer under the sun, you have the opportunity to maintain a sufficient range of motion with certain exercises. Limited range of motion is not good for any Beachbody. With the help of exercises in the field of functional fitness training, you will maintain adequate functional mobility of your ankles, muscles and fibers even on vacation. You can complete a full-body workout with the help of functional training, which in recent years has proven to be a cross-sport and equally relevant form of training for everyday life.

So many hard weeks of work lie behind you. Now you finally want to switch off completely and leave the city walls of your home behind you. But why would you want to do without your training exercises during what is supposed to be the most beautiful time of the year? In your vacation destination you also sleep. You take care of your body and you try to spoil yourself with all kinds of culinary delights. So why not take a short fitness time in the morning and in the evening? With one jump you are at the seashore or in the mountains. There you will find the perfect location to keep your body fit and healthy. You know it for sure, sports or fitness units in general often require a little effort even in familiar surroundings. It's the same at your vacation destination. With regard to your motivation, the well-known saying applies: Where there's a will, there's a way.

In many cases, concepts such as dieting, proper food intake or losing weight are very closely related to the topic of "functional training". During your vacation it is important not to neglect your sport. For many people, conditioning or strength training during their free time may not really have anything to do with a typical recreational program. And yet, you can achieve a similar status during the vacation season through a holistic fitness concept. Athleticism and relaxation are parts of your training success.

The following exercises in Functional Fitness allow you to keep your body in shape even when you are away from home, pleasantly and without much effort. Functional training allows you to work several muscle groups and joints at the same time. In doing so, you prevent injuries and also improve the quality of your movements.

The goal of the exercises is to develop functional strength during your sports activity. This way you can get the most out of your sport. Not every sport requires the same training methods. Thus, the preferred exercises may differ. Some exercises in the functional fitness program are more suitable for women, others are more useful for the male sex. However, with all exercises you train very well your coordination, your condition, your speed, your strength and also your mobility.

You can start a workout early in the morning or during sunset at the beach with the functional exercise "Toe-Touch-Pushups". In this exercise you train the backs of your thighs, your shoulders as well as your torso. You can vary the number of repetitions of the exercise as you wish. Start in a comfortable push-up position. Then stand on your toes, point your buttocks upwards and at the same moment touch your opposite foot with one hand at the toes. Alternating five to ten repetitions should be enough to get started on both sides.

Find a nice, quiet place on the beach and continue with your training session. The fitness exercise "Squat Jumps" would be suitable. Your squat jumps on the damp and cold sand may seem bizarre to passers-by, who may think that sports exercises are something exotic. For you, however, this exercise is ideal to give your torso, buttocks and thighs the necessary strength and energy.

This exercise is simple and can be done almost anywhere on the planet. Keep your back straight. Make sure that your toes and knees are pointing a little bit outwards. And then jump up. It is important to make sure that you always land on both of your feet at the same time, as gently as possible. If you are in the fall and are way down in the squat jump, keep your clenched fists close to your torso. As you jump off, throw your arms away from your body a little, like a bird soaring high. As if you want to fly towards the sky.

Another exercise in the field of functional training is the "swimmer". This exercise is much more suitable for you if you want to experience your summer retreat in the Alps. If you find a flat surface on the alpine meadows, then grab a yoga mat or a thick towel and mutate into a swimmer. For this exercise, you go with your front side on the mat. Consciously stretch both your arms and legs straight out. This way you get the necessary tension. Keep both feet and both legs from the knees down just above the surface of the floor and paddle through the entire exercise as if you were crawling in the water. With your two arms you make very simple forward and backward movements, just as you normally do when swimming in the water. With this exercise you train primarily the shoulders and the torso.

With the exercise "Sideplank Dip" you strengthen your entire lateral musculature. This is a stability exercise. You can choose to support yourself on the floor with one of your forearms. Keep your shoulder directly above your elbow. Extend your legs as far as they will go, supporting yourself off the floor with just the tips of your toes. Tighten your buttocks and abdomen, lifting your hips a little. Bring your hips down vertically, but do not let them touch the floor. Raise the hips again. Pay special attention to avoid a hollow back and actively tense the buttocks. Repeat the sequence five to ten times per session on both sides.

"Push-ups" support your entire body muscles. To ensure that you perform them correctly, you should ask a training partner to correct you at the beginning. Incorrectly performed functional exercises will harm you in functional training just as in any other sport.

The last urlaubsideale (without training equipment such as dumbbells, exercise ball, kettle bells and sling trainer) functional exercise "Burpee" is one of the perfect complex multi-joint exercises. In Burpee you have an ideal full body workout in a single exercise. You improve your coordination and you train the complete cardiovascular system. This is a combination of push-ups and squat jumps. In functional circuit training, the rapid alternation between cardio and strength ensures fat burning at full speed.