"Do as little as is needed, not as much as is possible"
Henk Kraaijenhof, coach of Merlene Joyce "Queen of the Track" Ottey, who won 20 combined medals at the Olympic Games and World Championships
The place was the size of Sydney Airport, and basically had one building per person. The buildings housed luxury bedrooms, a day spa and beauty treatment area, dining area, TV and entertainment room, billiards room, and a small gym.
Needless to say the place was ridiculous. In an awesome way.
So you're staying in this place, where everything is set up for you to relax and do nothing. There is a full staff of people bringing you drinks and cooking you meals, washing your clothes, making up your room and generally making sure you remain lazy and inactive. This is lovely thing to be able to experience, and definitely something i feel lucky to have access to, thought there is a point where your evolutionary conscience comes into play and you start to feel like a slob.
Your muscles start to feel loose and a little weaker, your back hunches over as your posture becomes less like the hunter-gatherer you aspire to be and more like the dude up the street who spends all day in the internet cafe. Not to mention, the walk up the stairs to order some more fried rice and a beer becomes really challenging for your cardiovascular system..
Of course, these changes sound extreme and really are only perceived changes. Your muscles are not actually breaking down and cannibalising, and your CV system has not actually dropped back to the level of a lifetime cigarette addict. This is just the mental and physical change in perception we experience when we perform day-to-day at a certain level of fitness due to our regular stimulus, and then all of a sudden that level of stimulus is drastically reduced.
The mind-body connection is a powerful thing and how this feeling or perception affects our whole being can be dramatic My point, however, is not to discuss this connection, but more to discuss how one can avoid this problem and continue enjoying the poolside recliners, cold beers, delicious foods, and big comfy king-size beds. All the things that were the reason for coming to this magical place.
In comes the idea of incidental training - which is to capitalise on small pockets of free time and use them in a way that your body and mind will thank you for.
To quote my cousin Anthony (two kids, a wife, heaps of work and generally busy as hell):
"I will smash out 25 dips on the kitchen bench while im waiting for the kettle to boil at work. If i dont take those chances, i wont get any training done"
Or my mate Eric (Web Designer - stuck in an office at a desk all day long):
"When i feel myself getting tired at work from sitting on the computer all day, i jump onto the floor in my cubicle and do 30 pushups. Bro, thats better than any cup of coffee for energising my mind and body!"
Both of these guys are taking advantage of what they have, without cutting into time they could be using elsewhere (playing with kids, being really prodcutive at work, etc.). As a result they are energising their bodies and minds and making themselves more productive, more motivated, fitter, stronger and happier.
We all know how the hormonal response associated with doing a short, intense bout of exercise can make us feel - so why not tap into that at any chance you can?
Use your time effectively. Dont think that every effort in training needs to be planned according to the routine on your workout card, or started with a short black and finished with 20 minutes of stretching and a post workout shake. These things are great and i am all for structure as a way of measuring progress, though sometimes life is structureless, and we need to be able to take advantage of this in order to become better humans.
To analyse what cousin Anthony quoted - if he had no time for training in a five day period because life was just too hectic, he may have at the least completed 250 dips in that period through incidental training. (2 cups of tea per day = 50 dips/day, x 5 days = 250 dips!) The numbers dont lie...
To bring us back to the magical Villa, here is Reido and Gordo who were both feeling the holiday-relaxing-slouch setting in, and wanted to beat it in as short a time as possible so that we could get back to the good times in our awesome Bali villa.
Total workout time for these guys was in the range of 14-17 minutes. I can guarantee you, that those 14-17 minutes provided these guys with at least a few days worth of being stoked on themselves. They earned the holiday good-times (in their perception)
Good job boys..
For those who are interested, i threw this makeshift 300 worout together using whats available everywhere - except for the cable machine rows. (They could easily be replaced with a weighted row using something heavy - a baby or small human, a case of beer, a sack of rice etc. or they could be omitted altogether)
I kept this one basic:
- rows
- pushups
- squat
- step jump
- leg raise
- burpees
*Reido's shadow boxing was for free.
50 of each to make a total of 300 in the shortest time possible, and you are done. Good work Reido and Gordo!
Enjoy..
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