Foot Massage...kind of...and No excuses Vacation Workout

Well mother nature decided to wallop us this past week with rain, ice, snow....or chaos as I like to call it.  Teachers actually had 3 snow days this week....yup....3.   I'm very fortunate as I can work from home when bad weather hits.  Unfortunately, bad weather brings shovelling and this week I spent over 5 hours outside clearing snow and ice!!

With all that snow and upper body/back work, I was very glad that I had booked a massage a few weeks back.  If you remember, I met Jamie at the Health & Wellness Expo....she massages with her feet.  The massage itself was over an hour long and felt amazing...the pressure that she can apply using her entire body.  There were a couple of times that I said...'ummm...that's a pain of 7/10' (she likes to keep it at about 6).  I also kept the chat to a minimum...almost a miracle for me...so it was also quite relaxing. 

Jamie holds onto the contraption over the bed while she massages
with her feet.

I do have to confess that when I went to go back to my car...I kind of got lost.  You see...I parked in a parkade that is accessed by an elevator that lets you go down.  But on the weekend....this same elevator will not let you go back up....I walked around the parkade until I could figure out how to get back to my car...I really felt like a mouse in one of those mazes!!!

Yesterday while I was at the gym (actually doing bootcamp...not teaching), I overhead some members saying it was their first time back in over a month.  They had been away on vacation...a popular reason people don't work out this time of year.  I'm here to tell you....it is not an excuse.  Most resorts do offer a gym on-site...but even if they don't...I'm here to offer you a few easy suggestions to keep you in workout mode while away!

1. All hotels/resorts have stairs.  You can take them instead of the elevator....but better yet...why not make a cardio workout a few days a week.  Run up one level stairs (if 12 or more) and walk back down.  Repeat 10 times.  Why not throw 10 squats in before starting each round?
2. Next...in your hotel room....you can do a quick circuit that will hit all body parts...and take you 20 minutes.  Beginners to repeat 3 times, Intermediate 5 times, Advanced 7 times.
1. 10 Push-ups
2. 20 Squats
3. 30 Bicycle crunches (straight legs for more difficulty)
3. If you want to add tubing to your suitcase, you can add a bit of resistance training with bicep curls.

There is no reason that you can't include exercise everyday while you are on vacation...making the return to the gym an easier one when you get back.  I cannot, however, ease the pain of going from warm weather to the cold of winter in Nova Scotia!  Speaking of which....spring is no where near us so I had to bring some pretty flowers into the house.  I just LOVE yellow!!

Knock on wood, it looks like we may be spared a storm this coming week!  For my readers who are from a region where it is cold...what do you do to bring some spring into your home?  How do you deal with the winter blahs??