A few weeks back, when I spent seven days at sea with friends in Croatia, I knew I was going to be going out each night, drinking, and staying up far too late. Sure, I could have “opted out” of those nights, gone to bed early, and dutifully got up to exercise each morning at 6 AM. Instead, I chose to go to BED at 6 AM, stay up with new friends, and watch the sun rise.

So, instead of being forced to choose between skipping the fun stuff or skipping the workouts, I devised a game to allow me to have both. This didn’t allow me to have workouts the same as when I was home, but as a result of doing SOME exercise, I maintained some momentum and got back on track easily when vacation was over.

Here’s the Vacation Workout Game. The guiding principle is that every “bad” action must be accompanied by a “good” reaction:

For every adult beverage consumed, complete 10 push ups. These push-ups can be done as you consume your drinks, before you drink, or the morning after. It’s a rough morning when you have to do 100 push ups (in my case, on the deck of a wobbly boat) as a result of the night before, so be strategic!
For every unhealthy meal consumed, complete 50 bodyweight squats. My recommendation for this is to actually do your 50 squats BEFORE your meal, so your calories are at least partly going towards rebuilding muscle and replenishing glycogen stores. You can break this into however many sets or reps you need.
Every time you walk past a low-hanging structure, complete five pull ups. If you can’t do five pull ups, then do inverted rows whenever you have the chance to do so, other strategy you can use is to carry with you an URBNFIT pilates ball, which is perfect for training anywhere even if you have little space.
Elevators don’t exist. Whenever possible, use the stairs. Skip the elevator.
If it’s within a mile, walk. I love traveling to new cities, as its a chance to explore and get a ton of miles on my legs without it really feeling like exercise.
That’s it. Seriously.

My advice: GET EVERYBODY THAT’S TRAVELING WITH YOU IN ON IT. They certainly don’t need to exercise with you (though they can), but tell them that you want their help in keeping you accountable. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, friends love to help make their friends “suffer” with exercise. Trust me, this can add to the fun of the vacation.

At first, my friends thought I was crazy, but by the end of the week they got really into it and were excited to make sure I completed my reps. “Steve, how many push ups are you behind now?” “Steve, don’t you owe us squats?”

Not only that, but I had people on other boats noticing my crazy morning (somewhat hungover) workout routine and ask me about it. When I told them the reasoning, they couldn’t help but chuckle and some even joined in!

No matter what, here’s the important thing: DO SOMETHING