Fitness tours are a new trend in domestic travel, which is still in its infancy. This is a great opportunity to combine outdoor recreation with sports, yoga, swimming, trekking and other types of physical activity. What are the benefits of fitness tours and how much do they cost?

Goals and types of fitness tours

A distinctive feature of the fitness tour is that its program is led by an experienced trainer or instructor. He helps travel participants build an individual training system and advises them on all issues that arise. An individual approach is very important. There are no universal recipes for physical improvement, and each of us has our own capabilities and motivations for training.

During fitness tours, theoretical and practical classes are organized in groups. This means that such trips are perfect for everyone who likes to relax with like-minded people.

Experienced trainers know that a combination of restrictions and comfort helps achieve the desired shape. Fitness tours do not involve a strict rejection of the benefits of civilization. On the contrary, many wellness travel programs offer participants comfortable accommodations and services. Tourists can expect cozy hotels, qualified staff and good food. In addition to classes and exercises, the program of most fitness tours includes excursions to local attractions, because vivid positive impressions are hardly half of health!

Fitness tours are organized for beginners, experienced athletes and those who like to spend their holidays in an unconventional way. Wellness trips are extremely varied. Some fitness tours are created for those who want to lose weight, others include anti-stress programs. Wellness trips include trekking, cycling and yoga tours. In addition, there are combined fitness journeys, during which different means of transportation and types of health practices are used.

The cost of active recreation depends on accommodation options, methods of access to the starting point of the trip and, of course, the program. Those fitness tours that are sold through tour operators are subject to the same rules as regular tourist packages. At any time of the year, the organizers are ready to offer last-minute fitness tours, the cost of which is significantly lower than standard trips. So, if you wish, you can always find more budget options.

Fitness for weight loss

Most travelers go on tours, during which they can lose weight, improve their physical fitness and relax. As a rule, such trips include daily training in the fresh air and in gyms, outdoor games in nature, yoga classes, as well as regular walking and cycling trips. Fitness tours for weight loss necessarily include a stage of restorative relaxation on the river, sea or in the pool.

When you need to get your weight in order, an individual approach is important. The fitness tour program is tailored strictly to each participant, based on his age, level of physical development and capabilities. Some tourists spend more time in the gym, while others help lose weight by walking.

Nutrition is an important element of any weight loss fitness journey. For health travel, low-calorie foods and dishes are selected, and the number of meals is usually increased. This approach allows the body to quickly get rid of toxins, and the tour participants do not experience hunger or inconvenience.

Trekking

Russian trekking grew out of the system of sports tourism, which has been developing in our country for more than a hundred years. But if amateur sports hikes involve completing a route as part of a trained team, then anyone can go on a trekking route. True, for active movement in nature you still need to have a certain physical fitness.

Trekking tours in Russia and the CIS countries have different durations - from several days to several weeks. The most popular areas for active travel are the mountains of the Caucasus, Crimea, the Urals, the Khibiny tundra of the Kola Peninsula, as well as the mountain ranges around Lake Baikal.

Tracking programs are built in different ways. This can be a linear hike with backpacks for 1-2 weeks or radial outings into nature with overnight stays in a comfortable hotel. Fitness tours include excursions to local attractions.

The hiking season begins in April and lasts until October. In winter, fitness tours on skis and snowmobiles are popular. Most of them are carried out in Seliger, Karelia and Adygea.

Let's take a look at this year's offerings as approximate prices. Tour operators sell weekly trekking tours in Altai for 29,400 rubles, 6-day mountain camps in Crimea - 20,400 rubles, 8-day trekking through the picturesque canyons of Crimea - 20,000 rubles, 11-day walking and horseback riding tours in Kyrgyzstan - 39 000 rub., 16-day trip around Chukotka - 160,000 rub. and 12-day trekking in the Commander Islands - 139,800 rubles.

Yoga tours

Yoga is a special health practice that involves working not only with the body, but also with the mind. Such trips are usually chosen by those who have already tried different types of yoga. Yoga tours allow you to see new things, meet like-minded people and try a variety of meditative practices.

The key role in a yoga tour is played by the figure of the teacher-trainer. Tourists go on a regular trip without having any idea about guides, but they go on a yoga tour having met the master in advance, sharing his approaches and worldview. Trips are usually preceded by a series of joint theoretical and practical classes, during which all participants in the yoga tour can get to know each other better and establish pleasant communication.

Yoga trips are organized for both beginners and those with extensive experience in self-development. In addition to daily breathing practices and asanas, such trips involve training in anti-stress breathing and healing massages. All this helps travelers relax, take a break from city worries, establish normal sleep and get a great boost of energy.

Many yoga tours are organized in Sochi and other resorts on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus. In these picturesque places, in addition to the warm sea, there are beautiful mountain valleys and waterfalls, and in the foothills there are many ancient megaliths-dolmens, which are often called “places of power”. To accommodate tourists, they usually choose special yoga hotels, where they have everything necessary for yoga and provide vegetarian meals, for example, the Indra yoga camp in Abkhazia.

Trips to Altai, Georgia, Crimea and Baikal are popular in yoga groups. The cost of a yoga tour to Adygea for 7 days costs an average of 23,000 rubles. This price includes accommodation in a comfortable hotel, two meals a day and a training program. A ten-day yoga tour to Crimea costs 19,900 rubles, including accommodation, meals, yoga classes and excursions.

Bike tours

Traveling by bicycle has many fans, mainly because using a two-wheeled vehicle you can cover a much greater distance than walking. Bike tours are a great way to improve your health, admire natural beauty and have a good time in the company of friends.

Participants can use their own or rental bicycles. On the way, it’s always easy to agree on what speed to go and where to stop. An experienced guide accompanies the group along the entire route. In addition, the organizers provide tourists with a bicycle repair kit and a group first aid kit.

Please keep in mind that bike tours have certain restrictions. According to the “Rules of the Road”, under 14 years of age cannot ride independently on highways, so often only participants who have already reached this age are allowed on bicycle trips.

To get an idea of ​​the cost of bike tours, let’s look at the options offered by Russian tour operators. A bicycle tour along the beautiful Chuysky tract in Altai lasting 7 days and covering 260 km costs 27,000 rubles. This price includes everything except the road to Gorno-Altaisk. A three-day cycling trip around Meshchera will cost 8,500 rubles, an 8-day cycling expedition to the Rybachy Peninsula - 32,600 rubles, a week-long cycling trip around Karelia - 15,500 rubles, and the same cycling tour around Ladoga - at 18,200 rub.

A lot of bicycle trips are organized along the mountain roads of Crimea. The cost of seven-day tours to the sights of the sunny peninsula starts from 21,000 rubles.

Fitness tourism is a new direction in the travel industry, which can quite logically be classified as a type of eco-tourism, since the main goal of fitness tours is to improve health, lose weight, increase body tone, stimulate the respiratory system and circulatory system, restore mental balance, and introduce healthy lifestyle, playing sports in nature.
Today there are already many companies that provide a selection of fitness tours, for example, the company ze-travel.ru in Russia. You can go on such a tour both in Russia and abroad. In any case, a fitness tour involves parallel fitness classes every day, several times a day, according to the chosen program. Such a program may include morning exercises, cycling, running along the embankment, along a forest path or in the park, aqua aerobics classes in water (sea or pool), exercises on exercise equipment in the gym, and more.
In addition to pampering your body with physical activity, you also need to indulge in breaks. For this purpose, fitness tour programs include wellness therapy, Pilates and yoga, relaxing aroma baths, SPA, massages, and beauty treatments.
This also includes active recreation, which includes any dancing, discos, parties, games and competitions. Fitness tours include sightseeing tours, as well as visits to various places and establishments in the chosen city.
One of the most important points of any fitness program is, of course, diet. Thanks to proper nutrition during a fitness tour, you will not only be able to lose extra pounds, but also get an excellent example of a healthy diet for the future.
Today there is a trend towards the emergence of fitness resorts all over the world, which means that over time the choice of destinations for fitness tourism will increase. Trips on such tours usually last 2-3 weeks. It would seem that it would be impossible to get in shape in such a period of time. This belief is wrong! In fact, fitness tours follow a very rich program, thanks to which the trips exceed all tourists’ expectations.

In recent years, health tourism has not only been gaining momentum - it is rushing forward at full speed. European culture has finally moved from the era of cigarette holders and whiskey to oxygen cocktails and morning runs. Therefore, health and therapeutic centers are springing up like mushrooms after rain - most actively in Europe, but Asia is not far behind. And if earlier our tourists traveled for health purposes to the Czech Karlovy Vary, to Berlin and Bavaria, to the mountains of Austria and Switzerland, now more and more of them are flocking to the east, to India, Thailand, Singapore and China, to the wisdom of oriental medicine and Ayurvedic practices .

In big cities, huge SPA and WELLNESS centers are springing up, attracting a stream of people thirsting for peace and health, and balneological boarding houses and holiday homes are being built on thermal and mud springs. So - the choice is huge. There would be time. And time, as you know, is money. So if you have found a couple of weeks in your busy work schedule (and this is exactly how long it takes to notice a healthy result), then this article is for you.

So, what do you have to consider when choosing a place for a wellness holiday?

Firstly, from your ailments or chronic diseases. If you suffer from allergies, resorts in Germany and Israel, as well as Swiss Locarno, are best suited for you; if the problem lies in the heart muscle, go to the Czech Republic, Austria or southern Italy. If you simply feel the need for preventive health, getting rid of the consequences of the toxic effects of a big city, SPA and WELLNESS centers, of which there are many in any country with a developed infrastructure, are more suitable for you. Here everything depends on your sympathies - you can visit India or Indonesia, or you can relax in France or Spain. But more about this below. Now it’s important to simply determine the reason. Have you decided? Let's move on.

The third step is the type of resort. Today, health tourism has three main directions:

• Treatment with water and mud.

This refers to balneo- and thalassotherapy. Balneological resorts are resorts whose main specialization is treatment with mineral waters. People swim in them, do water aerobics, and use them for drinking and steam treatments. Mineral springs have different chemical compositions and what suits one may be harmful to another. Therefore, before going to a medical balneological resort, be sure to consult a doctor. The same applies to resorts practicing thalassotherapy. Thalassotherapy resorts specialize in mud treatment - closed, open, massage and wraps.

• Eastern practices.

To be more specific, Ayurveda and Tibetan healing systems, including exotic massages, acupuncture, and spiritual practices.

• Supportive SPA therapy.

If everything is clear with water and mud baths, as well as non-traditional methods of treatment, then the word “SPA” still deceives some. What is a real SPA resort?

SPA resorts

A SPA resort is, simply put, a beauty resort center. Cosmetologists, massage therapists and hairdressers of the highest qualifications. Plus wellness treatments. Plus a swimming pool or hammam. In different variations.

Some SPA centers are built next to sanatorium areas with thermal springs or therapeutic mud. And then these centers are no longer only therapeutic and cosmetic establishments, but also provide health services. Often balneological thalassotherapy treatment areas are combined in one health complex.

But be careful and always remember: not all spas are created equal. For different purposes - therapeutic or general health - different resorts will suit you.

The second important factor is the list of services provided. If you are going to undergo certain procedures, before departure, again, consult - but this time with the tour operator.

Another important factor when choosing a SPA resort is the price category and the presence or absence of opportunities for active pastime. The most budget resorts are in Turkey, Thailand, Egypt, the more expensive European ones are in Switzerland, Germany, Italy, France.

And finally, think about what you would like to do besides getting healthy - relaxing on the beach, in the sea waves, skiing, maybe cycling or fishing. This is also an important component of a healthy holiday.

As for the Vs themselves, they come in two types - urban and non-urban. City hotels are huge hotels with developed infrastructure and are usually located in big cities - Beijing, Berlin, Singapore. Non-urban resorts are usually sea camps or hospitals located in ecologically clean corners of the world with a decent hotel area and also with a full range of services.

P Fitness weight loss program in frameThe tour, whether in October, November, December or March, is rich and varied. We work all year round! At the beginning of the day - morning warm-up and jogging along the sandy seashore under the rising rays of the sun. After a nutritious and healthy breakfast, go on a hike or do strength training in the gym. After the lunch break - aerobics, water aerobics, strength training, cycling or dynamic dance class (depending on the weather). After dinner we conduct classes that harmonize consciousness, such as Pilates and yoga. The camp actively hosts collective sports such as football, volleyball, tennis, and water polo. Sunday is a day of rest and recuperation, cultural events: visiting museums or other attractions of resort towns. Incendiary parties in the evening.

As already mentioned, the training program of the fitness tour for weight loss includes walking routes around the Crimea, and it is worth noting that these routes are unique and developed by the specialists of the “Be in Shape” camp and differ from the traditional ones offered by travel companies. Hiking trips usually last three hours and take place in the first half of the day. We also organize multi-hour routes that include stops in secluded corners of the stunning Crimean landscape.

You will be pleasantly surprised that the program of the Crimean fitness tour for weight loss includes massages, a visit to the Russian bath, beauty treatments and much more. Great importance is paid to organizing meals for tour participants; the menu is written within the framework of fitness nutrition.During the time spent in tour in Crimea, participants are inspired and intend to lead a sporty and healthy lifestyle from now on!

A fitness tour to Crimea is a good choice for people who want to bring something new into their lives, who are improving and do not stand still!

A few days spent in an atmosphere of natural fitness, in the company of like-minded people, in an atmosphere of sports and a healthy lifestyle awaken youthful excitement even in the most avid couch potatoes, lift your spirits, charge you with vigor and set you up to lead a healthy lifestyle in the future!

“For me, staying with you was like a fairy tale, because an old dream came true: to lose a few kilograms and visit interesting places. The dream came true - I'm glad. I received even more than I expected. Beautiful landscapes, magical sea, all day long - taking care of yourself: physical activity, proper healthy nutrition. You teach people to love themselves and take proper care of their health. Thank you for teaching us proper physical activity. Special thanks for the gym. I had no idea that lifting weights could bring such joy to the body. Now at home, I continued my workouts with pleasure, including in the gym. I used to think that me and the gym were incompatible things. It’s great that now I know that this is not so.”

Larisa, Penza

Active tourism works wonders! Sign up for 2019 groups!

• A rich sports program in the “Be in Shape” weight loss tour.
• Alternate strength and cardio training. How do you know? It is this combination that is most effective in losing weight.
• Organization and planning of each day of the program;
• Losing weight through physical activity and proper nutrition, motivation to adhere to a healthy lifestyle in the future;
• Developing “healthy” skills, eradicating bad habits, restructuring the body’s functioning in a positive direction, theoretical and practical knowledge in the field of sports and proper nutrition, exposing popular myths about losing weight in practice;
• Relaxation by the sea, a boost of energy, vivid impressions and emotions, new acquaintances;
• Savings: through simple mathematical manipulations and comparison of the cost of purchasing services, paying for accommodation, food and entertainment, as well as the efficiency of independently planning a leisure program and choosing a comprehensive vacation in the program, the amount of the difference in costs will surprise you;
• Efficiency in terms of physical recovery and emotional and psychological rehabilitation.

During the time spent in fitness program of the tour, people are inspired, and leave with the firm intention of making serious changes to their usual lifestyle. That is, in a broad sense, fitness tourism is a good option for combining traditional recreation with improving the health of the body. In recent years, more and more people are choosing fitness tourism to Crimea as a vacation rather than to Thailand or another exotic country, since the Crimean temperate climate is ideally suited for active fitness activities.

The very atmosphere of Crimea inspires results!

By maintaining and enriching your psycho-emotional state, you are in a harmonious state. After all, you don’t need to starve, exhaust yourself with diets, that is, do anything unnatural. In the Fitness tour for weight loss "Be in Shape" there is only movement and healthy eating!