I know a lot of my friends think I am mental for training in the gym or on the beach whilst I am on holiday. I’ll admit I never used to think working out whilst on a sunny beach was a great idea either until I met Chris. Chris’ strategy is basically that if you workout during the day, you can enjoy anything you like during the evening- whether it is a drink or a desert you have earned it.

The first time we did this it went horribly wrong. I won’t lie I think I was close to strangling Chris after we went running in 35 degree heat in Paraty in Brazil. We hadn’t gone a mile down the road when I was chased by a dog- and I really really do not like dogs (interestingly it appears they do not like me either). Next, the beating sun practically turned me into a prune, my tongue swelled up in my mouth and I started to see huge pools of water on the path in front of me like some sort of mirage. Nope, hang on, not a mirage. Turns out there had been some serious rainfall the week before and the roads hadn’t cleared. Off came my socks, luckily I had my shorts on, and we waded through what could have been shark and crocodile infested waters (I was dizzy from dehydration, my mind started to play tricks). Anyway, something close to two hours later we made it home and I drank a Caipirinha far too quickly to remember the rest. 

Following on from that workouts on holiday seemed to improve and when everyone was sipping cocktails in Cancun whilst I was pregnant with Amber, the natural thing was to go to the gym.

Now we have Amber and Edward working out abroad is a luxury I can’t afford to miss. Chris looks after the kids for a few hours, whilst I can have a quick blast in the gym and then we trade places. I also find that if I don’t work out, I start to feel pretty sorry for myself by the end of the first week, having only walked about 100 steps from the room to the beach and not needing to scale any stairs.

So, when you are on holiday think about how you can earn your treats. Perhaps you can go for a jog on the beach, walk with the buggy to the nearest town to get supplies for the day, use the gym or take your goggles and make good use of the swimming pool.