I have been very fortunate to spend 3 weeks on vacation in Mauritius. It’s the fifth time in my life I’ve managed to get a full 3 week vacation and it’s something that I’m now making an annual goal for me and my family.
There’s something that happens in my mind and body when I’m away for 3 weeks which I believe is called relaxing. It becomes less like a holiday and more like just living somewhere else without going to work.
Now, I realize you’re living within a bubble when you’re on holiday. No work (even when you love what you do) frees up a huge amount of time – in my case probably 60+ hours a week and that allows lots of things that aren’t always practical in a normal working week. Nevertheless, there are certain things that I’ve been doing over these 3 weeks that I am going to endeavor to continue on my return back into ‘normal’ life.
These things may be scaled back slightly but some of them will be fairly easy to continue. It is universally accepted that it takes 21-28 days to form a habit. Some of these things I have been doing daily for 21 days so am well into habit-forming territory already.
I write these 7 lessons as a note and commitment to myself and also with the hope that maybe 1 or 2 of them may resonate with you and your life and they are of use to you or someone close to you. None of them are groundbreaking, none are revolutionary, and all could be considered ‘common sense’, but, as I have said many times before. Common sense isn’t that common. Also, just because we’ve been told something 100 times doesn’t mean that we do it consistently. That’s the word here ‘consistently’.
Topics we cover in this blog
⦁ Family
⦁ Sleep
⦁ Water
⦁ Training
⦁ Reading
⦁ Food
⦁ Activity
Family
The biggest change in my daily routine while being away has been the amount of time I have spent with my wife Steph and our 3-month-old daughter Bella. I have spent time with Bella in the mornings, taken her to the beach in the afternoon, helped with bath times, taken her for walks, and generally appreciated what a beautiful little girl she is.
I think this is quite a common challenge new fathers have, to spend quality time with their children while working full time. I know this may sound outdated and possibly sexist as times have changed and continue to change but I have friends who leave for work before their children get up and get back from work after they’ve gone to bed and end up only really seeing them at weekends (this applies to many men and women as well where both parents work long hours).
I am committed to spending more time with my family when I return home and go back to work. I will be making sure that I have two full days each week where I do not need to go to work at all to make this happen and an additional couple of evenings where I don’t need to stay late at the studio.
Sleep
While I have been away I have been getting some serious sleep in! This also ties into point 5. Without TV, I have been in bed before 9 pm each evening (on some days before 8 pm). I have not been laying in late in the mornings and usually have woken up naturally at about 7 am.
When I am working I will usually start at 6 am so to get more sleep will mean getting to bed earlier. I regularly get just 5 hours of sleep per night at home and manage to cope but have been reading a lot lately about the importance of sleep on hormones and fat loss as well as recovery, muscle growth, and long-term mental and physical health.
I just feel better when I get more sleep (too much can have a negative effect and I end up feeling sluggish) I train better, I’m in a better mood, and I seem to be less hungry and prone to snacking on sugary treats.
I am committed to getting at least 7 hours of sleep each night when I return home and get back into a working routine. This will mean sleeping by 10 pm to be up at 5 am.
Water
It’s been warm here, not much warmer than in the UK due to the recent heat wave but usually mid 20s and very pleasant indeed. I’ve started each day with a pre-training black coffee (Organo of course) and during training each morning (more about that in point 4) I have had 1 litre of water.
Throughout the rest of the day, I drank at least another 1 to 2 liters of water meaning that each day an average of 3 liters of water (not including coffee or ‘other’ beverages). Water helps me feel healthy, suppresses unnecessary cravings, helps training, and just lets the body function as it should.
I am already pretty good with drinking water but I am committed to drinking at least 2 litres of fresh water every day when I return to my routine.
Training
On my first day here I found the local gym in the neighbouring town of Grande Baie. I paid up for 3 weeks of use (about £60) which I worked out if I trained every day I was here was about £3 per day. I committed to train every morning for the 3 weeks.
Some would say, and have said ‘that doesn’t sound like a relaxing holiday’ but for me to train for 1 hour in the morning sets me up for the day and I’m in the habit of training so 3 weeks without would feel very unnatural to me.
The gym is nice here with a good selection of free weights, benches, a squat rack, and a good pull-up bar. It also has a lovely outdoor 25m pool which I use each day for a short swim to cool off and stretch before drying off in the sun. The only minus point is they only have 2 kettlebells (8kg and 12kg) but this has been good in a way as I’ve trained some exercises I’ve neglected and enjoyed the variety.
Each day I’ve taken 2 or 3 big exercises – squats, deadlifts, bench presses, overhead presses, chin-ups, and then added maybe a bicep or tricep exercise at the end. Each workout has been no longer than 1 hour but it’s been great to do some front squats and overhead squats again and some incline bench press and to continue working on my chin-ups.
Training is already a habitual part of my life but as a result of my training out here and some reading I’ve done (more in point 5) I am committed to following set programs for the next 6 months to get me to specific goals. The first was Dan John & Pavel’s ‘Easy Strength’ 40 workout program then Dan John’s 10,000 Swing Challenge for the 5 weeks leading up to the end of the year.
I hope these first 4 points may help in some way or help you to refocus on some simple changes you could try to implement in your own life if needed or maybe for someone close to you.
Reading
One of the beautiful things about being out here is we have hardly turned the TV on. There are a few foreign language channels and CNN for English-speaking news.
I had already committed before coming away to read as much as possible on holiday (which I always do). I brought away with me about 7 books, not with the expectation of reading them all but so I had a selection and could see which ones jumped out at me to read depending on mood, focus, and interest at the time.
I’ve managed to read 4 very different books out here; ‘The Millionaire Clown’ by James Sinclair, ‘Before We Go’ by Dan John, ‘Shut the Duck Up’ by Pete Cohen and Bobby Cappuccio, and ‘The Starbucks Experience’ by Joseph A. Michelli. I’ve found them to be a great mix of Personal Development, Business, and Fitness, and have made lots of notes as I’ve read. I personally rarely read fiction as I prefer to read for information so business books, personal development books, fitness and training books, and autobiographies. I enjoy watching movies for entertainment and escapism.
I don’t know about you, I can waste hours sitting in front of a TV watching mindless crap or whatever happens to be on. Granted, this has improved with SKY+ as I rarely watch live TV and record what I want to watch and fast forward the adverts BUT I don’t read nearly enough at home.
I’m committing to reading daily when I get back to my ‘normal’ routine. A minimum of 30 minutes per day and am much more selective with what I choose to watch on TV.
Food
This has been a big one for me. When at home I work very long hours with little breaks so usually end up going for very long periods without eating a proper meal. I have also been prone to snacking in the past on things that aren’t good for me such as chocolate, flapjacks, coated raisins, etc for quick, short-term boosts of energy.
Again, the word here is consistency and I have come to realize it’s probably the most important word there is when trying to maintain a healthy, balanced, active life.
My daily routine out here has been to wake up in the morning at about 7 am and have an Organo Gold black coffee. Cycle to the gym and train for an hour. Cycle back home and have a proper lunch at about 12.30. Then have a proper dinner at about 6.30 pm and go to bed at about 9 pm. I haven’t been snacking in between meals. This coupled with a good amount of water (2-3 liters per day) has left me feeling satisfied without being stuffed, energized throughout the day, has given me a good level of energy for training each day, and has maintained the same body weight as when I came away (maybe 1kg lighter on my return). I also feel stronger and in better shape than when I left England.
The food we have been eating has been simple but delicious. Mauritius is very Indian in culture so we have been having lots of rice, vegetables, chicken, fish, curries (and a few ribeye steaks at a local South African restaurant).
My commitment when I get back is to develop a routine that I can stick to. To avoid sweet snacks, keep my water up, fire up my Nespresso machine at home in the mornings take ‘real’ food to work, and enjoy proper meals at home that are high in protein, and vegetables and with a moderate level of carbohydrates. This will probably be the most challenging commitment for me as food is very often an afterthought for me (or has been in the past.)
Activity
The final point I am bringing home is the importance of daily activity (not training). There have been a number of studies done in recent years that show that even an hour of daily exercise in a gym or outdoor setting is not enough to counteract 23 hours of inactivity each day – no matter how intense that hour is. This is becoming more and more important with more of the population engaged in desk-based work, sitting down for large portions of the day.
I borrowed a bike from one of Steph’s family for the duration of my stay which was stuck at the back of a shed with flat tyres. We cleaned it up and pumped up the tyres and it was perfectly useable for me to get around. I used it every day to cycle to the gym and back – 25 minutes each way, so that was another 50 minutes of activity each day. I have also swam each day in the ocean and walked with Bella for about half an hour (while she had an afternoon nap).
Now, when I get back home into my ‘normal’ routine I realize I won’t have the luxury of the ocean a stone’s throw away but I am committing myself to cycling to and from work throughout the Autumn and Winter (as I was throughout the Spring and Summer). This adds up to about an hour of additional cycling each day. I will also be taking Bella out for walks in her pushchair at weekends and at times throughout the day when I’m not working.
So that’s it then, my 7 Life Lessons from Mauritius that I will be endeavoring to bring home and implement consistently into my daily routine.