You’ve worked hard all year. Your training has become part of your routine, you’re seeing real progress… and then the holidays arrive. Two weeks away from your smart trainer, your training plan and your usual routine.
And suddenly, two voices start arguing in your head:
- “Forget it, I’m on holiday. I’ll start again when I get back.”
- “No way I’m losing all my fitness. I’ll stick to my training no matter what.”
The good news? Neither one is right. The truth is much simpler, much more enjoyable, and far less restrictive.
In this article, you’ll learn how to stay active during your holidays without turning your trip into a training camp—and without coming home feeling like you’ve lost weeks of progress. Spoiler: it’s much easier than you think.
What Do You Really Lose During a Holiday Break?
First of all: relax. Your fitness doesn’t disappear after ten days off.
Here’s what actually happens if you stop exercising completely for two weeks:
- VO₂ max: decreases by only 3–5%.
- Muscular endurance: drops by around 5–10%.
- Maximum strength: remains almost unchanged.
- Flexibility, coordination and technique: virtually unaffected.
It’s only after more than three weeks of complete inactivity that fitness losses become much more significant.
In fact, one or two weeks of rest can actually be beneficial, allowing your body to recover from accumulated fatigue and come back stronger.
The real mistake isn’t taking a week off. The real mistakes are:
- Stopping all physical activity for more than three weeks, making your return much harder.
- Trying to follow your normal training plan despite impossible conditions (heat, family commitments or no equipment), leading to frustration and giving up after just a few days.
Your goal during the holidays isn’t to maintain your usual training load. It’s simply to keep your body moving, in a way that fits your holiday—not your training schedule.
The “Fun First” Approach: Your Best Summer Training Strategy
During your holidays, forget about the idea of a structured training session. Forget about heart rate zones, interval sessions and rigid training plans.
Instead, focus on movement you genuinely enjoy—activities that keep you active because they’re fun, not because you’re chasing performance.
Why does it work?
- You’re still moving three or four times a week.
- Your cardiovascular system stays active and your muscles continue to work.
- You maintain your identity as an active person, which is incredibly important psychologically.
- It never feels like a chore, so you’re much more likely to keep doing it.
The goal isn’t to squeeze your usual workout into a less-than-ideal setting. The goal is to change the activity, change the environment and change your mindset.
5 Simple Ways to Stay Active during your Holidays (No Equipment, No Training Plan Required)
1. Explore Through Running
Instead of chasing your usual pace, use running as a way to discover your surroundings. Head out for a 30 to 45-minute easy run in the morning to explore a new town, a coastal trail or the narrow streets of a picturesque village.
Forget about pace. Forget about distance. Just run, look around and enjoy the experience. You might find it even more motivating than your usual workouts.
2. Rent a Bike
Most holiday destinations offer bike rentals by the day or week. Take advantage of it. Whether it’s a two-hour mountain bike ride, cycling to the local market or an evening ride at sunset, it all counts.
You won’t have your power meter or clipless pedals.Perfect. That’s exactly what makes it a different—and refreshing—experience.
3. Enjoy Water Sports
Stand-up paddleboarding, kayaking, sea swimming or snorkeling…These activities are fantastic for your overall fitness while engaging muscles that cycling or running often neglect, including your core, back and shoulders.
Just 30 minutes of paddleboarding provides an excellent core workout and gentle cardiovascular exercise—without it ever feeling like a training session.
4. Go Hiking
Many endurance athletes underestimate hiking. Yet a two-hour brisk hike in the mountains can burn 800 to 1,200 calories while providing an excellent workout for your quadriceps, glutes and calves.
Even better, it’s low impact, making it ideal if you arrive on holiday feeling physically tired.
5. Count the Activities You Normally Ignore
A game of beach volleyball. Throwing a Frisbee with your children. Climbing the stairs of a castle. Swimming twenty proper lengths instead of simply relaxing in the pool. These “non-workouts” often add up to a surprisingly high level of physical activity. Count them.
Your overall goal? Aim for three to five active sessions per week, without any of them looking like your normal training routine.
Staying Home This Summer? Here’s Where Kinomap Comes In
Not everyone spends the holidays by the sea or in the mountains. Many people stay home—because of work, home projects, family commitments or simply the desire to relax.
That’s where Kinomap really shines during July and August.
Instead of sticking rigidly to your normal training schedule, use the summer to change your routine.
- Ride scenic routes you’ve never had time to explore while training seriously.
- Discover new countries, legendary climbs and spectacular landscapes that you may never experience in real life.
- Hop on your smart trainer early in the morning before the heat builds—or later in the evening once your home has cooled down. And don’t forget a good fan.
- Enjoy relaxed 30-minute sessions with no pressure to improve your performance.
Summer is the perfect opportunity to reconnect with the pleasure of exercising—without worrying about pace or personal bests.
👉 If you’d like more ideas for short sessions, check out our article: No Time to Exercise? Five 30-Minute Workouts on Kinomap to Stay Fit. These workouts are perfect for summer when you want to stay active without spending hours training.
👉 Summer also changes your daily routine. Between hot weather and family commitments, your usual training time may no longer be ideal. Our article: The Best Time to Exercise: Morning or Evening? will help you find the schedule that works best during the summer.
Common Holiday Training Mistakes
- Trying to maintain 100% of your normal training plan, only to give up after a few frustrating days.
- Doing absolutely no physical activity for three weeks or longer, making your return much harder.
- Feeling guilty about spending a day relaxing on the sofa. One rest day during your holidays won’t affect your fitness.
- Comparing your holiday activity level to your normal training routine. They’re two completely different things with different goals.
- Returning to full training intensity immediately after your holidays—a common mistake that often leads to injury or excessive fatigue.
How to Return to Training After Your Holidays?
If you’ve stayed reasonably active during your holidays, getting back into training will feel surprisingly easy. But even if you’ve barely exercised, here’s the golden rule: Cut your usual training volume in half during your first week back.
If you normally completed four one-hour workouts each week, start with two or three sessions lasting 30 to 40 minutes, with no high intensity. The goal is simply to wake your body up again.
During the second week, increase your training to around 75% of your usual volume.
By the third week, you’ll be ready to return to your normal schedule. Stick to this three-week progression.
You won’t lose fitness—and you’ll dramatically reduce your risk of injury or the kind of accumulated fatigue that could disrupt your training for months.
Conclusion
Staying active during your holidays doesn’t mean sticking to your training plan at all costs. It simply means keeping your body moving, in a way that fits your holiday and lets you enjoy yourself.
A few exploratory runs, a couple of bike rides, some swimming or hiking—and that’s all it takes. Your fitness won’t disappear, you’ll keep your athletic mindset, and you’ll return motivated to train again.
And if you’re staying home, Kinomap can turn an ordinary afternoon into a virtual ride through Norway or an Italian mountain pass. Not bad for a staycation.
The best sporting seasons begin with real holidays. Not three weeks of forcing yourself to maintain everything. Not three weeks of doing nothing. But three weeks of moving differently.
By Fanny Marre
Cycling, running and triathlon coach
fannymarre99@gmail.com
See previous coaching articles:
INCREASE YOUR CYCLING POWER : 5 EFFECTIVE WORKOUTS
HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR RACE: NUTRITION, PACING, TIPS
IMPROVE YOUR CYCLING EXPLOSIVENESS: 4 EFFECTIVE WORKOUTS