Sometimes you need that extra motivation to get fit – some kind of goal. Rather than choosing to climb Everest, run the London Marathon, or cycle the Tour de France, there are plenty of other options.

If you quite like cycling, either on or off-road, then booking a cycling holiday could help set the goal. Whether it’s touring in Spain, or flying down offroad singletrack in Bolivia, knowing that the date of the trip is drawing near can be a great encouragement to improve your fitness.

Rather than just going out on your bike to get fit, why not downloading a training plan from the Internet (assuming you can’t afford to get a personal trainer)? Several sites offer free training plans for leisurely to demanding cycling holidays.
It’s interesting to see the pattern of light, medium and hard exercise, together with the requirement for regular non-exercise days. It’s too easy to try and get immediate results by overexercising, or crash dieting. Both can destabilise your system and actually work against increasing fitness or decreasing weight.

Along with the cycling, weights and cross-training exercise recommended, useful tips like having a snack in the time after exercising when your body is most able to start recovering (the ‘glycogen window’) can give your plan that extra boost. Taking on glucose during a ride can also help you avoid the charmingly named ‘bonk‘, which is the fatigue from low glycogen levels.

Do you get fit for a goal like this, or do you just work on your fitness for its own sake? Let us know in the comments below.