You don’t need to be fit to go on a Neilson holiday, but you could go home fitter and healthier after a week or two in the sun. With so many inclusive activities on offer, all day, every day you’ll be moving and using your body without even realising it. Improving your strength, fitness, and co-ordination along the way.
Fitness classes and bootcamps
If you love fitness you’ll love what’s on offer on a beachclub holiday. There’s a huge timetable of classes each and every week, with up to six workouts a day to choose from. And the best bit? It’s all included; you can go to all classes or cherry pick those that suit you. Either way you’ll be working on your strength, cardio fitness and balance. Typical classes include bootcamp, Zumba, aerobics, circuits, HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training), ab attack, body conditioning, Tabata, Pilates and yoga.
Tennis
Playing tennis boosts your aerobic endurance. Once you get into a match scenario you could be playing for some time and that means you’ll be burning calories too. The fast paced nature of the game boosts your flexibility and sprint speed not to mention your hand-eye co-ordination. The constant running and hitting of the ball helps to develop the strength and power of your leg and arm muscles and also your core.
Tennis is a great way to get fit and with our inclusive coachingsessions, you’ll be having so much fun, you won’t even realise you’re having a work out. Check out our tennis hub for more fitness tips from Mark Petchey, Andy Murray’s former coach and Neilson tennis ambassador.
Stand up paddle boarding
Stand up paddle boarding is a fun and relaxing activity for people of all ages and fitness levels. It also happens to be one of the best workouts out there and is freely available to try at any of our beachclubs in Sardinia, Croatia and Greece.
Stand up paddle boarding is a low impact exercise that works on your core strength, cardio fitness, balance, flexibility and endurance. Not only that, it’s so much fun and a great way to see the local area that it hardly feels like exercise. What’s not to like?
Windsurfing
You don’t need to be an expert to get the fitness benefits from windsurfing, it’s open to all abilities and fitness levels. If you’ve never windsurfed before, lessons are included on a beachclub holiday; just sign up for the relevant session and you’ll be on the water before you know it.
It’s a great way to get fit, windsurfing is an effective full body workout. The main muscle groups used are the forearms, core, upper and lower back, quads and hamstrings. The constant adjustment to the sail and board to keep balanced ensures your core muscles are constantly engaged and working hard. It’s also a great way to develop your aerobic endurance. Expert windsurfers can burn up to 1000 calories an hour, for us mere mortals it’s more like 500 calories.
Mountain biking and road cycling
Cycling contributes to a great body workout as well as improving fitness, stamina and endurance. Pretty much anybody can enjoy the health benefits of cycling; it’s that accessible. With guided rides for all levels, there’s no reason why you can’t get out on two wheels and enjoy the feel good factor and sense of freedom that comes from a bike ride on your beachclub holiday. Cycling is easier on the joints than other sports, gets your legs moving and your heart pumping. Regular cycling improves balance and stability, and riding at a steady pace for around 90 minutes will start to burn fat. So, get out there and ride.
Rock climbing
Both Alana and MessiniBeachlcubs have climbing walls with inclusive tuition and you can pay extra to experience rock climbing on limestone rock faces. The good news is that you don’t have to be a good climber or super fit to get started, good technique is more important than brute strength.
Climbing uses lots of muscle groups, both in the upper and lower body. Your back, abdominal and leg muscles all get exercised as well as your fingers, shoulders and arms. Regular climbing can improve stamina as well as muscle strength. In addition, all the reaching and stretching for holds improves flexibility and agility.
Swimming
Swimming has to be one of the most popular activities on any holiday. Whether in the sea or pool, it’s a great way to cool off and burn a few calories at the same time. All beachclubs have swimming pools, although a handful have pools that are approx. 50m long, great for smashing out those laps.
Swimming is a sport that supports and strengthens muscles, as well as developing stamina. It’s also one of the best forms of exercise to do whilst injured or after injury; the water relieves stress on the joints, allowing you to exercise without aggravating your injury. Start with a few laps and build up your endurance gradually, your body will thank you for it.
And relax as hard as you like...
All that exercise and fitness means you deserve a bit of pampering, that’s why most of our beachclubs have a spa and wellness centre. There’s a range of massage treatments and beauty therapies, but after a day of activity you may want to try a deep tissue or sports massage.
Both are the perfect remedy for post activity recovery, working to loosen muscle tissue, ease away tension and tightness and increase the circulation of blood and oxygen. Be warned though, it’s not for the faint hearted!