First Posted: 8/12/2013
Hola from Mexico.
While on vacation I can think of several reasons to skip my workouts – the sol is too hot, the océano is too blue, the cervezas are too cold – but before leaving for vacation I decided to still be active without becoming obsessed with continuing my regular routine.
I love quality training sessions. To me, that means there is nothing like a good workout in the gym lifting weights or using my body weight as resistance. Keeping the staple exercises in place such as pull-ups, push-ups, dumbbell bench presses, squats and alike are important for maintaining and increasing strength.
However, I also recognize the importance of “switching things up” while away without the use of my traditional workout equipment so that I can still get in my daily activity.
While in Mexico the last two days I’ve been logging in some miles walking the beach and swimming laps in the pools. I also plan to hit the resort gym once or twice and will be scheduling a massage or two before I leave just to be sure I’m totally relaxed and refreshed for when I return home, haha.
Today I plan on going to the resort gym to do a quick but intense routine. It’s just about noon here and I already reserved my spot at the pool so, to be sure no one steals it, I will do a short 15-minute routine that I grabbed from the Leverage Big Book of Workouts (also know as the “playbook”) so that I am prepared and can quickly execute and accomplish what I’m after.
To save time I will grab only one set of dumbbells and use them for the entire workout. Be sure to challenge yourself with the weight but don’t get overconfident and choose a weight that’s too heavy. With the chosen weight, some exercises will be easier than others, but that’s okay because I will be doing each exercise for 20 seconds.
Here’s exactly what I plan to do.
Without resting (or resting briefly between exercises) I will do six exercises straight then rest for one minute after the last one. I will repeat the process four times. The exercises are:
• Chin-up
• Push-up
• Jump squats
• Inverted row
• Dumbell squat with an overhead press
Be sure to keep good form while performing these exercises, utilizing full range of motion and, remember: a quality workout doesn’t need to take all day.
Adios mis amigos, voy al gimnasio.
-Tim Hlivia is the owner of Leverage Fitness Studio in Forty Fort.
