Tips For Exercising On Vacation Without The Pressure

When you're someone who has a solid workout routine, a holiday can be a well-deserved break from regular programming.

But for some of us, there's a particular kind of guilt that turns up around day three of a holiday. You're having a lovely time, you haven't trained since you left, and somewhere in the back of your mind a small voice is worrying about how much progress you're losing.

We want to shut down that voice straight away.

You do not have to work out on vacation. If your idea of a perfect holiday is sleeping in, eating delicious food and not thinking about a single set or rep, amazing. You won't lose your progress, and you won't be starting over when you get home.

But some of us just feel better when we move. Not because we're chasing anything, but because we need movement to clear our heads or feel happier and more energised. If that's you, this one's for you. No set plan, no big targets, no guilt if it doesn't happen.

No, a week or two off won't undo your training

Let's start with getting rid of that worry about losing progress.

In a 2024 study published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, researchers followed two groups of previously untrained adults over 30 weeks. Both completed 20 weeks of supervised resistance training in total. One group did theirs in a single block. The other split theirs either side of a full 10-week break. By the end, both groups had made comparable gains in strength and muscle size, and the break group recovered their pre-break strength, size and jump height within five weeks of returning.

A break won't undo much, and unless you're heading on a huge round-the-world adventure, your holiday probably isn't 10 weeks long anyway. Over breaks shorter than about three weeks, strength and muscle size are largely maintained. Relax. You're all good.

So if you want to trade your sweat towel for a beach towel, just do it. Recovery is where your body adapts, and plenty of people come back from a proper break feeling stronger and far keener to train.

Take the pressure off before you even pack

If you do want to move while you're away, the most useful thing you can do is lower the bar.

A holiday isn't the time for personal bests, a rigid workout schedule, or anything that makes you feel pressured.

You can keep moving; just swap the goal. Weekly workout targets can easily become commitments you'll feel bad about breaking, and guilt has no place on holiday. Instead, reframe it by aiming to move your body most days, in whatever way suits where you are, or just to move in a way that feels fun. That's pretty hard to fail.

The World Health Organization puts it plainly: any amount of physical activity is better than none, and all physical activity counts.

How to stay active on vacation without planning a single workout

If you love trying out new gyms or classes on your holiday - power to you. But the easiest holiday movement is often the kind you don't have to schedule, because it's already built into what you were going to do anyway.

• Walk everywhere you reasonably can. Walking is the most underrated thing on this list. It's such an amazing way to explore a new place, and getting outside in daylight helps with jet lag.

• Take the stairs. As Sweat Trainer Britany Williams pointed out while travelling through Italy, stairs are great for your glutes and completely unavoidable in most old cities.

• Do something active as a fun activity. Snorkelling, swimming, a hike, surfing, kayaking, paddleboarding, a bike hire for the afternoon. It doesn't feel like a workout, which is precisely why it works.

Research on shorter, scattered bouts of activity suggests they carry real health benefits and tend to be easier to stick with than one long block. Ten minutes here and there genuinely adds up.

Hotel room workouts: what to do with no gym and no equipment

Some days you'll want something more structured, usually when it's raining or you've been sitting on a plane for nine hours. In that case, a hotel gym is great, but you don't even need one.

A hotel room workout only really needs the floor space of a yoga mat. Stick to bodyweight exercises that don't need a jump or a crash: squats, lunges, glute bridges, push-ups, planks, dead bugs. Two or three rounds and you're done.

If your body feels stiff rather than under-trained, we love a quick Yoga or Pilates flow.

The Sweat app's On Demand section is useful here, because you can filter for short, equipment-free options and just pick something.

The two pieces of equipment actually worth packing

If you want portable options, only two things are really worth the space (and sacrificing weight in your luggage).

A resistance band weighs almost nothing and opens up glute work, upper-body pulling, and warm-ups. A skipping rope is the fastest way to raise your heart rate, though we recommend doing it outdoors instead of jumping directly above someone else's bedroom.

If the gym is your happy place, keep going

For some people, the gym isn't a chore they're escaping; it's what makes them feel like themselves.

If that's you, look for accommodation with a gym or one nearby, and go when you feel like it. A holiday can also be a good time to try a fun class or two in your new city. And if you'd rather skip it entirely this trip, skip it with zero guilt.

Always go for what feels good

If there's one thing to take from this, it's that doing something is always better than doing nothing, and doing nothing is completely fine too.

A ten-minute walk counts. Swimming in the sea counts. Carrying your own bag up four flights because the lift is broken definitely counts. None of it has to look like a workout to be good for you.

Go and enjoy your holiday! Your program will still be there when you get back.