Setting Summer Goals That Stick and Healthy Travel Hacks From Jorge Cruise
Summer is our favorite time of year because it means longer days, more sunshine, warm weather and, best of all, vacation!
But for many people, summer brings with it a sense of dread. Vacation means stepping away from a normal health routine, like meal prepping and workout classes at your gym, and travel can wreak havoc on your body and goals.
Instead of giving up on your goals this summer, recommit to the goals you set at the beginning of the year or set some new, realistic and achievable goals that leave you feeling healthy and happy while you’re on vacation or hanging out with friends on those long summer nights.
24Life asked celebrity trainer and wellness expert Jorge Cruise to share his tips for setting summer goals, keeping those goals and staying healthy, active and happy on vacation this summer.
JC: My biggest piece of advice for staying motivated is understanding the difference between push and pull. True motivation comes when you’re pulled toward something—for example, setting a goal so compelling and clear, maybe even creating a vision board so you can see what you want. For some people, it can be wearing a bikini or being a better parent. Put an image of you with your kids at their wedding or graduation or a photo of yourself in a swimsuit on your phone to help pull you toward your goal and keep you motivated rather than having someone push you.
24Life: My goals seem so large and unachievable—what are some daily tools I can employ to help me reach those larger, loftier goals?
JC: All goals start with one step at a time. A lot of times my clients expect to lose so much weight quickly, and I remind them everyone is different and every ounce counts. Appreciate the smaller things. You don’t have to lose 1 pound a day, it can be non-scale victories. You have to have a variety of goals. Give yourself credit for a small achievement; everything builds off each other. People overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in 10. Like the tattoo on my arm says, We must have patience.
24Life: How have you changed your environment to help you be successful in reaching your goals?
JC: The most important thing that changes your environment are the people you surround yourself with. Who you are with is who you become, so choose wisely. That can also be isolation. Research has shown you will be three times more successful if you have a community. I have an online fitness community at jorgecruise.com or facebook.com/jorgecruise and a community in real life. Find your community—this will help give you accountability and drive.
24Life: I want to stay healthy, fit and active this summer, but I’m constantly on the go or on vacation—any tips for helping me stay on track?
JC: Keep things simple. The more complicated you make something, whether you’re traveling or on vacation, the harder it is. Make time to move wherever you are, get enough sleep, and if you have the energy, then do a workout. But I believe fitness begins in the kitchen. Be aware of your nutrition, stay hydrated to remove false hunger, and what I tell all my celebrity clients who do Cruise Control Fasting is to add sea salt, which has magnesium, potassium and sodium, to their water to super hydrate. This will help keep you from overeating, since that’s what we usually do on vacation, especially at night.
24Life: Do you have a go-to body-weight workout that you do when you’re traveling or on the go?
JC: I love burpees, which work your abs, arms and legs. They are simple and can be low-impact as a lot of my baby-boomer clients like. So you can modify and do push-ups on your knees and a toe-up instead of a jump. In this case, you don’t need any weights, just body weight.
Photo credit: Louis Hansel, Unsplash; Todd Cribari, inspirostudios.com