PART TWO

Having said that I get my motivation through cheating, this deserts me during school holidays!

I have a fully equipped gym in my garage that has everything I need, from free weights to TRX bands and a power tower but I cannot get motivated in there.  I haven't found a cheat that really works.

This is not too bad during half term that lasts for a week.  A week is sometimes just what your muscles need for a complete rest and recuperation.  I often go back to the gym after a week off stronger and more motivated than before.

But during the 6 week summer break, this is a TERRIBLE thing!

So I was determined this summer not to let all my hard work recently go to waste.

We took out TRX bands with us to Spain, when we went to spend 10 days with my lovely mother-in-law.  I took the opportunity to run with my husband in the mornings when it wasn't too hot, along the beach and we did some mini workouts on the beach to keep everything ticking over.

Here are some ideas for how you can keep up your fitness levels without access to a gym while you are on holibobs!

Remember to cheat your motivation, however you can!

Body weight exercises:

Keep your hips mobilised and strengthen your outer thighs with 20 reps on each side 3 times.  Keep your foot flexed and make sure the only joint that moves is your hip.

Strengthen your tummy muscles and the difficult-to-target lower abs with this move - start with legs flat on the ground, hands under your bum, head and shoulders off the ground.  keep legs straight as you rasie them to vertical then, without moving your legs backwards, push your bum into the air then lower your legs to an inch off the ground.  Repeat for 10 reps three times.

Tone your abs some more with this. Keep your legs at right angles and lift your head and shoulders off the ground.  Keeping your arms straight, roll your shoulders back down the the ground and up again - really squeeze your tummy muscles as you come up.

Keep your bottom pert and tight and strengthen and tone your thighs with the best exercise going!  Make sure your feet are shoulder width apart, feet parallel - don't let your toes point outwards - keep your back straight - if you can go lower than thighs horizontal with keeping your back straight and not rounding your shoulders, then that is great.

Keep your core, bum and hamstrings strong with this exercise - keep your knees together and hold for a count of ten on each leg, three times.  Lift your hips as high as you can, keep your shoulders on the floor.

Develop core stability with the plank,  Keep your abs tight, squeeze your bum and don't let your back sink or stick your bottom in the air.

Strengthen your arms, shoulders and chest with this brilliant exercise - the humble press up.  If you find this too hard, start on your knees - once you have become a little stronger, try the downward movement on your toes, then come onto your knees to come back up and repeat like that.  These ecentric phase press ups will help you to strengthen your upper body better than knee press ups.

We also took TRX bands with us to Spain and so after our early morning run of around 3 or 4km, we found a great frame to attach the bands to to add some extra resistance to our workouts.

Triceps dips on the frame.  

A run along the beachfront with some plyometric jumps added in

Rows with the TRX

Russ, post-run.

High rows with the TRX

Chest press with the TRX

Chin ups on the frame

It's not impossible to workout on holiday - but honestly, I found it hard.  It was hotter than I'm used to and I missed the free weights and the squat rack.  I'm not a fan of running but I used the opportunity to run with my husband while the kids played on the beach. 

We did a lot less than we normally do but we were on holiday!  However, this was the first summer, since starting my fitness journey 3 summers ago, that I really missed the gym.  

If you want to keep it up on holiday - try some of these to keep you ticking over.

Oh, and don't forget to stretch!

Thanks to my kids for taking photos of me! xx