The lobby had some sweet Atlas stones

Last week I spent a great week vacation in Jamaica. While I’m on vacation I still try to keep my fitness goals somewhat in check. Maybe not the same as the bodybuilder in front of me in line at the omelet station though, who ordered an 8 egg white omelet. I mean seriously dude, you’re on vacation. And what’s up with the short shorts and shaved legs?

But back to what I was saying about keeping my fitness goals somewhat in check. What does somewhat in check even mean? Well let me explain.

Training:

The resort we stayed at was bad ass – and same goes for the gym. While most resort gyms suck, having only a few shitty machines, this one was pretty impressive. It had a whole line of some fancy looking machines (didn’t pay that much attention), but it also had a squat rack, bench press, a couple Olympic bars and 300 lbs in weight. There was a dumbbell run from 10’s-50’s. There was some cardio BS and such also.

So what did my training consist of? Since I didn’t want to spend much time in the gym and away from the pool and beach – and it was a deload week I decided to play around with some barbell/bodyweight complexes. Mainly to burn some calories and just to feel good (as training always does). I chose to train 2x’s in the gym for the week.

Day 1:

Complex 1

RDL x 10

Hang Clean x 10

Push Press x 10

Back Squat x 10

Bent Over Row x 10

Rest – The time it took for my wife to complete the same complex

Complex 2

RDL x 10

Hang Snatch x 10

Push Press x 10

Back Squat x 10

Barbell Curl x 10 (You know how it is – “Sunz Out, Gunz Out”)

Rest- Same as above

Complex 3

RDL x 10

Push Ups x 25

Chins Ups x 10

Zercher Squat x 10  

Day 2:

3 Rounds of:

Clean and Press x 15

Chin Ups x 15

Push Ups x 25

Rest as long as it took my wife to perform a similar complex

Day 3

Chose to do some fist pumping in the club. (No I don’t seriously fist pump – it was a joke, I swear)

 Besides the gym training I had a few other encounters with physical activity for the week.

1. After conversing with a 40 something year old man at the pool bar for about 3 hours he decided he wanted to race me in the pool. He was at least 50 pounds overweight. I really didn’t want to, but he insisted. So sure enough we raced.
2. A game the resort staff called “The Magic Carpet”. It consisted of a piece of about 3 inch thick foam that was rolled out across the water about 20 yards. One end was secured to the side of the pool and the other was held by people in the pool. The object is the sprint from outside of the pool all the way to the end being held, turn around and sprint back. It was fun as hell, but you had to haul ass and keep your knees up. By the end of the day and many sprints I was doing front flips down it and my wife was doing back handsprings.

 Similar to this picture above

Nutrition

I didn’t follow any plan by any means. I ate pretty much what I pleased, when I pleased. And I drank a lot of beer. It’s vacation and it’s supposed to be enjoyed. But at the same time I didn’t eat everything in site just because it was there. That’s not enjoyable for me. For example breakfast was usually a ham and cheese omelet, some bacon and fruit. Sure there where pancakes, waffles, donuts, etc. But if I ate these things I wouldn’t enjoy it – because I’d feel like crap physically after eating them.  I would enjoy desert after a nice steak and lobster dinner, or some pizza at lunch, etc. And did I mention? I drank a lot of beer.

That is my idea of keeping fitness somewhat in check while still enjoying vacation. What’s yours? What do you do while on vacation? Let me know in the comments!