Location: Costa Rica
Type of Travel: An active vacation filled with pura vida
Ages: Children to active older adults
Winter in Chicago can be dark and cold. Looking for a getaway where you can enjoy the outside, participate in a variety of activities, see beautiful sights, and experience another culture? Costa Rica might be the perfect destination for you. As an added bonus, if you are traveling from Chicago, there are direct flights, and Costa Rica is in the same time zone.
Greg and Coach Heather visited Costa Rica over new year and put their training to the test by participating in a variety of activities including ziplining, traversing hanging bridges, rappelling, swimming, surfing, walking on the beach, hiking, and cliff jumping. (Though the cliffs were small, Coach Heather admits she considered turning back!)
Want to find out more about Greg’s and Heather’s personal training programs and their experience in Costa Rica?
PREPARING FOR YOUR TRIP
A well rounded training program that includes all four components of The Monarch Method—strength, stability, flexibility and cardio—is key to a successful, active vacation filled with a variety of activities.
Read about Greg and Heather’s training programs.
Greg’s Training Program
- Independent Training:
- Cardio Training
- Hiking 4–5 times per week building to long hikes on the weekend with 14,000-foot elevation
- Daily walking with the dog
- Flexibility Training: Daily exercises to help keep joints moving well
- Active lifestyle: kayaking, paddle boarding, snow shoeing, via ferrata, and rock climbing
- Cardio Training
- Personal Training
- Stability: focusing on foot, ankle, knee, hip, core, and shoulder stability
- Strength: focusing on base movements like squats, lunges, push-ups, and pull-ups
Heather’s Training Program
- Independent Training
- Cardio Training
- Daily walking while carrying a backpack, building to an average of 12,000 steps per day
- Increased number of flights climbed per day to provide preparation for elevation changes
- Jogging three times per week focusing on low intensity while building the duration of one long run of 4+ miles per week
- SkiErg training three times per week for upper-body strength and stability
- Cycling 2–3 times a week for 20–40 minutes
- Flexibility Training: daily exercises to keep joints moving smoothly—focusing on exercises for all joints as well as pull-ups, squats, and lunges
- Cardio Training
- Group Personal Training
- Stability: focusing on the ability to stabilize the shoulders, spine, hips, knees, and ankles
- Strength: focusing on base movements like squats, lunges, carries, hanging, and push-ups
- Reaction Training: working on improving the ability to respond to stimulus in the upper body, core, and lower body
COSTA RICA
When in Costa Rica, you will often be greeted with the Spanish phrase pura vida, which translates to “pure life.” In Costa Rica, the phrase has become the mantra of some of the happiest people on earth, symbolizing gratitude, a value for the important things in life, and a respect for nature. Every year, travelers of all ages come to Costa Rica to explore a diverse and beautiful country with beaches, rainforests, cloud forests, and volcanoes.
Some activities you might want to try include the following:
Ziplining: Does soaring through the air on a cable attached by a pulley sound like fun? Ziplining in Costa Rica offers breathtaking views from a one-of-a-kind perspective. In order to fully enjoy the experience, it’s important to be able to stabilize with your core, absorb impact with your legs when stopping, and maintain moderate grip strength.
Greg and Heather enjoyed zipping in the Costa Rican rainforest with both Sky Adventures and La Roca Canyoning
Rope Bridges: Traveling across rope bridges in Costa Rica offers spectacular views and provides a sense of adventure. The bridges also allow you to cross streams, rivers, and gorges while immersing yourself in nature. Maintaining balance as the bridges swing and tilt is essential. On some bridges, you may need to step carefully across gaps between slats. While certain bridges provide handrails for stability, many do not. Rope bridges are plentiful in Costa Rica, often appearing on hiking trails as a way to cross small streams or serving as a thrilling main attraction.
Rappelling: Does descending down a rock face attached to a rope sound like fun? Enjoy getting wet? Imagine adding a waterfall. Rappelling in Costa Rica offers adrenaline-pumping adventure in a jaw-dropping landscape. Greg and Heather were very grateful for the personal training they had beforehand, which helped them make the most of this exhilarating experience. Utilizing upper body and core strength allowed them to stabilize, while strong legs helped them confidently plant their feet and push off the rock face. The additional challenge of slippery, wet surfaces in waterfall rappelling highlighted the importance of balance and stability.
Coach Heather thought La Roca Canyoning’s Waterfall Rappelling, Ziplining, Pool Jumping, Hiking and Lunch Tour was in her top three lifetime tours.
Exploring the Beaches: Costa Rica has stunning coastlines on both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, offering endless opportunities for both water adventures and relaxation. Whether you’re strolling along golden sands, horseback riding along the waterfront, swimming in the crystal-clear waters, kayaking, paddle boarding, or surfing, the country is a haven for outdoor enthusiasts. Coach Heather, an avid lover of water activities, trained using the SkiErg to prepare her upper body and core for the stability and strength needed for swimming, kayaking, and paddle boarding. Heather also ran and walked the beach, relying on the base she had developed from stability training and jogging. Core strength and stability was critical for surfing.
Hiking and Walking: Costa Rica’s rich biodiversity offers hiking and walking trails for all skill levels. Greg and Heather enjoyed moderate hikes through the rainforest, cloud forest, and volcanic landscapes. Their personal training programs proved invaluable, giving them the fitness foundation they needed to fully enjoy these adventures. Greg and Heather felt confident and prepared for every trail, thanks to the strength and stamina they had built beforehand.
One of the highlights of their trip was a sloth-watching tour in La Fortuna’s Sloth Territory reserve, which provided a unique and memorable experience.
CONCLUSION
Ready to get started on your next adventure and want to be prepared for a variety of activities? Monarch Fitness Coaching is here to help you by providing detailed, custom personal training. Schedule your initial In-depth Consultation and Training HERE. If you would like more information before scheduling, Monarch Fitness Coaching also offers a FREE 10-minute consultation? Schedule HERE.
