Author: Serge Fitness

The holidays can wreck your training schedule. Family dinners, travel, packed days, hotel rooms with no equipment. Before you know it, you’ve gone two weeks without training and your holiday fitness routine is shot. I’ve been there. You pack your gym clothes with the best intentions, then reality hits: the hotel gym is tiny, your schedule is packed, and that workout keeps getting pushed until 11 PM and you’re too full of pie to move. Here’s the thing: you don’t need to abandon training for 2–3 weeks. You just need holiday workouts that actually fit the chaos.

What You Need to Know

These are conditioning workouts designed to keep your heart rate up and build muscular endurance. You’re training your ability to sustain work under fatigue—what keeps your fitness sharp when you can’t train normally. You’ll notice the same basic movements showing up repeatedly. Burpees again? Air squats? That’s intentional. Conditioning shouldn’t be limited by skill or require complex movements. Adding fancy movements without knowing your skill level or what equipment you have access to would do you a disservice.

If you’re advanced and want more complexity, swap in harder variations. Push-ups become handstand push-ups, air squats become pistols, or add isometric holds and animal flow between rounds. But for most people, the basic movements are more than enough.

Every workout works with just bodyweight. But if there’s a random dumbbell in the hotel gym, or you can load a backpack with books, use it. Air squats become goblet squats, burpees can turn into single-arm devil presses, and suddenly that basic movement gets a lot more interesting.

Use these workouts as a blueprint. Keep the format, modify the movements if you want. They work as written, but you know your body better than anyone else.

The Workouts

Use these seven conditioning sessions as written or swap movements based on your space, gear, and recovery.

Workout 1: The Ascending Ladder (12 minutes)

AMRAP 12 Minutes

1. 1 Air Squat · 3 Burpees · 20 Jumping Jacks
2. 2 Air Squats · 3 Burpees · 20 Jumping Jacks
3. 3 Air Squats · 3 Burpees · 20 Jumping Jacks

Keep adding 1 air squat each round; burpees stay at 3, jumping jacks at 20.

Optional: Goblet squats, single-arm devil presses.

Track your score and try to beat it next time.

Workout 2: The EMOM Grind (15–20 minutes)

For Time

Complete 200 air squats. Every minute on the minute starting at 0:00, perform 10 push-ups.

Optional: Swap in 100–150 goblet squats, reverse the format, or switch push-ups to burpees.

Cap at 20 minutes. The structure matters more than the specific movement.

Workout 3: The Pyramid (15–20 minutes)

For Time

10-20-30 reps: Burpees, Air Squats, Sit-ups

Rest 2 minutes

30-20-10 reps: Burpees, Air Squats, Sit-ups

Optional: Add a 400m run after each set.

Simple structure, 20-minute cap keeps intensity high.

Workout 4: The Wall Work (15–20 minutes)

10 Rounds

• 3 Wall Walks
• 6 Air Squats
• 9 Sit-ups

Optional: 50 jumping jacks after each round. Substitute wall walks with plank up downs (2-for-1).

Don’t skip it because of the skill—adapt and keep moving.

Workout 5: The Full Body Classic (20–25 minutes)

8 Rounds

• 5 Pull-ups
• 10 Push-ups
• 15 Air Squats
• 200m Run

Optional: Add a 30-second wall sit or tall plank after each round.

Turn it into a 20-minute AMRAP, keep it for time, or add rest for intervals.

Workout 6: The Flexible Runner (20 minutes)

AMRAP 20 Minutes

Run or walk continuously.

Every 3 minutes complete 10 push-ups and 20 air squats.

Push the pace for a PR or keep it easy while staying accountable.

Workout 7: Death By Minutes (24–30 minutes)

EMOM Ladder

1. Minute 1: 8 Burpees
2. Minute 2: 8 Air Squats
3. Minute 3: 8 Push-ups
4. Minute 4: 8 Sit-ups
5. Minute 5: 8 Lunges
6. Minute 6: Rest

Round 2 starts at 9 reps, Round 3 at 10—add 1 rep per round until failure or 30 minutes.

Adjust the starting number (5–10) based on how long 8 reps take you.

Stop when you miss the minute; keep the rest minute to decide your next push.