Vacation Workout Report

Cozumel. Yep, it was just that pretty. Credit: Kristen Seymour

Do you know how much I love that a bunch of you who echoed my thoughts about working out on vacation? It was really great to come home to your lovely comments.

It was also lovely to wake up at my leisure and fit in a good, long workout between first and second breakfast while I was gone.

I’m happy to say that I did a decent job of getting my workouts in, although I didn’t get them in quite daily as I’d planned. One of my favorite workouts was running outside on the ship, which presented a few special challenges—the seas, they were rough, so even though I was on the jogging track, there was a bit of balancing involved, along with dodging fellow passengers with boat-drinks in hand. Also, it took six laps to equal a mile, and even though I didn’t get bored as quickly as I feared I would, keeping track wasn’t all that easy.

My husband and my fit bottom after a bit of snorkeling, which is *like* working out, right? Credit: Jenna Seymour

I also hit the bike in the gym (which, I have to say, was beautiful and had a great variety of equipment), and made good use of the BOSU and hand weights. Plus, my husband and I took a salsa dancing class taught by my favorite dancer from the cruise-ship shows, which was amazingly fun, even if I can still hear Eduardo’s voice saying, “Use those heeeps, girl!” All in all, I probably mixed it up better on the ship than I tend to do at home.

I also slept better than I normally do at home. We had an interior room, which is pitch black, and between that, the ship rocking me like a baby and a few glasses of wine each night, I slept in too late on the days we were at port to workout before heading ashore to snorkel. So, can I count snorkeling and lifting margaritas as my workout? Hey, it was my vacation, and I think I’ll say yes. Normally I tend toward more active shore days, but since this was a family trip, we kept our activities to things everyone could enjoy, and I don’t have an ounce of regret.

The workouts and snorkeling were great and all, but do you know what I loved even more? Unplugging. I didn’t check my phone or email once while we were gone, and boy, did that ever do wonders. Emotional fitness is important, too, you know, and this was just what I needed to truly relax and recharge my mental batteries.

After spending a few hours in the ship’s gym, I was ready to get outside for some long workouts, and it got me wondering—what are your favorite vacation spots for working out? You can give me specifics (running the Rocky stairs in Philly) or something more general (yoga on the beach—any beach), but please share! Or, if you love making use of a really great hotel fitness center, I want to hear all about that, too. —Kristen