7 Effective Exercises You Can Do By The Pool

Going away on holiday or travelling for work doesn't mean you need to stop exercising. A lot of my clients enjoy de-stressing with a quick hotel room workout. So what if your hotel doesn't have a gym? You need exercises that are simple, require minimal equipment and maintains all the hard work you put in before your trip.

By the end of this article, you will have a series of effective exercises for the poolside or hotel room plus a sexy workout routine to follow. Sounds epic, right?

Stay In shape Whilst Travelling Does't Need To Be Difficult.

Despite popular belief staying in shape whilst travelling doesn't have to be difficult. By all means enjoy yourself, you've earned it!! However, by keeping things simple you should be able to go away and come back without the fear of losing ground on your goals.

READ: 9 Tips For Staying In Shape While Travelling

Whether you are going to the beach to soak up some of the mediterranean sun or head to the city for those all important meetings you know where you are going to stay, so why not plan ahead. That's really what is comes down to.

7 Effective Exercises You Can Do By The Pool & Workout Plan

All the exercises I have picked for you require one resistance band, see image below or no equipment what so ever, making these perfect to do in your hotel room or by the pool.

I have included a video for each exercises to show you how to complete the exercises. There are exercise cues underneath for the full coaching experience. The exercises have been chosen to target all the muscles groups giving you one kick ass workout. 

This workout routine, is designed to help you maintain all the hard work you put in before your trip whilst keeping you energised throughout the days/weeks you are away. The best part of the workout is that it should not take you any longer than 45 minutes.

​Exercise 1 - Banded Deadlifts

Muscle Areas Worked:

• Hamstrings
• Bum
• Shoulders
• Core

Coaching Points:

1. Starting point - Band Under feet and holding each end in your hands
2. Hinge back (push bum to the back of the room) with a soft bend in the knee
3. Keep your back straight
4. Squeeze your bum hard whilst returning to the starting position

Exercise 2 - Banded Push Ups

Muscle Areas Worked:

• Triceps
• Chest
• Shoulders
• Core

Coaching Points:

1. Inhale and bend the elbows bringing the rib cage close to the ground.
2. Do not arch your lower back
3. Push back up and complete arm extension.
4. Keep the core and bum engaged for extra support.
5. This exercise can also be preformed without the band and on your knees.

Exercise 3 - Walking Plank

 Muscle Areas Worked:

• Triceps
• Chest
• Shoulders
• Core

Coaching Points:

1. Inhale and bend the elbows bringing the rib cage close to the ground finishing the movement on your forearms
2. Do not arch your lower back
3. Push back up to your hands and complete arm extension.
4. Keep the core and bum engaged for extra support. The key to the exercises is to minimise the amount of swing in the hips and keep the back as parallel to the floor as possible.
5. This exercise can also be preformed with your knees the ground.

Exercise 4 - Frog Squats

Muscle Areas Worked:

• Quads
• Hamstrings
• Glutes
• Calves

Coaching Points:

1. Stand with your feet apart like you are going to do a squat
2. Kneel down and place your elbows on the inside of your knees
3. Make sure your elbows stay there and lift your bum into the air hands point to the floor.
4. Repeat this movement for the desired time or reps.
5. Embrace the burn - See video for a visual walk through.

Exercise 5 - Split Squats

Muscle Areas Worked:

• Quads
• Hamstrings
• Glutes
• Calves

Coaching Points:

1. Stand with your feet apart in a staggered position (see video)
2. Using your back leg to lead the exercise, descend and flex your knee and hip to lower your body down. Maintain good positioning throughout the movement. 
3. Keep the front knee in line with the foot as your perform the exercise.
4. At the bottom of the movement, drive through the heel and extend the knee.

Exercise 6 - Tricep Dips

Muscle Areas Worked:

• Triceps
• shoulders
• Chest​

Coaching Points.

• Position your hands shoulder width apart on your deck chair.
• Putt your legs out in front of you.
• Straighten your arms, keeping a little bend in your elbows to keep tension on your triceps
• Slowly bend your elbows to lower your body toward the floor until your elbows are at about a 90-degree angle. Be sure to keep your back close to the bench.
• Once you reach the bottom of the movement, press down into the bench to straighten your elbows, returning to the starting position. This completes one rep.

Exercise 7 - Banded Squats

Muscle Areas Worked:

• Quads
• Glutes​

Coaching Points.

• Position the band around your shoulders and under your feet
• Your foot position should be in your standard squat position
• Take a deep breath and engage your core
• Lower down keeping you chest up and pushing your knees out to the side.
• When your hip crease is lower than your knee, exhale and stand back up nice and strong.

The Workout

You've watched the exercises, read the coaching points, now all you have to do if put it all together. You can breathe a sigh of relief. I have taken care of that for you in an easy to follow workout. Every exercise should be completed in the following order for a minimum of 45 seconds per exercise, with no rest in between each exercises until all are completed.  You'll have 60 seconds rest after each round.

Here's the workout:

1. Banded Deadlifts (45 seconds)
2. Banded Push Ups (45 seconds)
3. Walking Plank (45 seconds)
4. Frog Squats (45 seconds each arm)
5. Split Squats (45 seconds)
6. Tricep Dips
7. Banded Squats
8. Rest for 60 seconds

REPEAT 5 TIMES

A quick recap:

• Each exercise to be performed for 45 seconds
• No rest until every exercise is complete
• Rest time is 60 seconds
• Repeat 5 times​

Summary

Travelling can be a great excuse to fall off the wagon. By doing this workout out not only will you keep in shape whilst travelling you will maintain good habits and be raring to get back into your workout when you get back. This workouts is designed to get the most out of you, with limited space and time you'll be able to blast through without any issues.  Keep yourself accountable, focused and set yourself a goal of getting at least one workout a day whilst travelling.  

Bonus Tip:

Why not get yourself into the pool before or after your workout, not only great fun, this will help you warm-up and cool down respectively after your workout. 

PS- Whenever you’re ready, here's the best way I can help you;

1 - You can work with me in my world renowned Online Transformation Academy. This is for you if you are ready to make the leap of faith and truly get into the best shape both physically and mentally in your life.

ONLINE TRANSFORMATION ACADEMY

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Written by Calumn Duthie - Personal Trainer In Edinburgh