Training Destination, The Bahamas: when there's no bar

Recently, I went to the Bahamas for a long time friend's wedding.  Going to the Carribean is a foreign idea to me.  My idea of a trip is spending a week in a Sportzentrum in East Germany, or training with the greats in Bulgaria.  Seriously, what's the appeal of laying on a pristine beach if I can't lift weights on it.

So, after spending a few days in the Bahamas, my perception has changed a bit. Yes, pristine, crystal clear, warm water, in 90 degree weather, somehow compells you to jump into it.  I never had so much fun just laying in the sea, and I love going to the beach in Maine.  I think it was the complete lack of current. Swimming against waves in 60 degree Maine water is tiring; you only want to do it for 30 min or so.

Ok, so onto the real topic of this post.... How to train when there is no training facility. 

Here is what I call the death of a platform:

What used to be Olympic Weightlifting in the Bahamas

As you can see, a weightlifting platform once resided here...we even travelled to this gym in Shirley Plaza  in Nassau, with the understanding that there was weightlifting at one time. Sadly, we only found a sole pair of green, Werksan 1kg plates. Alas, the platform was replaced by cardio equipment, blasphemy!

We coped by sticking to keeping our muscles in shape , so we'd be ready for training when we could get to an Olympic weight set.  This means we did lots of squats (on a power bar), abs, and physical conditioning. Yes, it is ok to do curls and triceps exercises. It helps keep the upper body  joints conditioned for the overhead lifts. We kept the "bodybuilding" exercises rather light with sets of 10's, and we did high volume in the squat with 4's up to 80%.

After workout, we did recovery exercises in the sea!  Yes, salt water is excellent for recovery. Even better, doing a little swimming can serve as post workout cardio. And-- think of all the vitamin D you will generate being out in the sun!  I, personally, like to do light stretches and some yoga in the water; it really loosens you up.

Another thing to consider is to take the lack of weightlifting equipment as an opportunity to reconnect with nature while exercising. Us lifters can get so holed up in the gym... that doing active rest outside is not a bad idea. Not to mention, doing active rest around large animals, like dolphins or horses, has its own therapeutic qualities.

In summary, yeah, I didn't quite get as much out of lifting this week as I would have liked to-- but, did I help my body recover? Mend old wounds? Get rejuvenated?  I guess so. Was it fun? Ohh yeahh.