12 Ways To Stay Fit In El Nido. El Nido Gyms and Exercise. How to be healthy In El Nido
My family and I stayed in El Nido for 10 days and stayed in a couple of hotels in different areas. We found that there were a limited amount of ways to get good exercise in this beautiful location so we started to look for alternative ways of staying healthy in El Nido.
I am a mixed martial artist and my gym routines back home are daily and very active so I did not want to get too fat while I was relaxing on vacation. The first thing you will notice about the local foods in El Nido is that it is super fatty and extra salty. I was less worried about the salt content because it is really hot here and you will sweat most of it out.
The gym scene is really limited with no yoga studios or kickboxing gyms and only 2 gyms in the entire area.
It is really easy to eat bad here and to drink too much alcohol because the local foods and beer are the cheapest things on the menu. When you are in El Nido you will notice that there is a lot of air pollutants that will make you gag, and some of the locals wear masks to protect themselves from the smell of diesel, sewage and smoke.
There are way too many boats in the harbour of El Nido town and they dump the sewage from the passengers directly into the ocean, as a scuba diver I found this sad and gross at the same time as it is the same water they expect you to hang out at the beach in.
12 Ways To Stay Fit In El Nido, Palawan. El Nido Exercise Guide
To get over some of this I have created a list for you of some of the best ways to stay healthy and fit in El Nido.
Lift weights at the gym in Lio beach or downtown El Nido town.
There are a couple of small guys in El Nido, they have poor quality and old equipment but they do the job. The gym in El Nido town charges a $120 peso entry fee and has a boxing bag. While I was there there will people practicing their kickboxing on the bag.
2. Go for a daily hike
I love to hike when I travel, it will help you to see things about the local culture and places you normally would not have. El Nido is pretty safe, I take small amount of money with me to buy water and snacks and I head out jogging usually on the beach to start off with. A 2 hour hike in El Nido goes by really fast as there is a lot of cool shit to see here. On my last hike, I was on a beach watching kids fish with a net and then 30 minutes later I was in the middle of a rice patty. Where else would you see cool stuff like that.
3. Stay anywhere but El Nido town
This place is really polluted, you have to visit the area if you are going to El Nido. But you can avoid it. When you are there you can expect to inhale a lot of garbage smoke, diesel and sewage. Its really gross. Even the hotel I stayed at smelled like shit in the rooms and hallways. It is called Cuna hotel if you must know.
Swimming in El Nido, El Nido Shipwreck, Palawan, Philippines
4. Drink their fresh Juices
There are fresh juice shops around El Nido town and they are cheap. The fruits and vegetables here are some of the sweetest I have ever tasted and you can keep yourself healthy here by drinking some of these every day.
5. Avoid most Philippine foods
Filippino food is really fatty. I have a lot of Philippine friend and they all love eating fat. One of the dishes that are really popular here are Lechon which is bbq pork pieces, 70% of the meet is fat and they eat it all. I carefully at the meet portion and threw out the fat. The locals looked at me like I was crazy lol.
Filippino Foods feast in El Nido, Palawan
6. Swim
In El Nido you will be blessed to be right on the ocean. Or if you are staying at an upscale hotel, you might have a swimming pool. When we were at a beach I spend a lot of time in the water with my kids and when we are at the hotel we are usually in the pool all day. This will help keep you cool in the hot sun and give you an amazing workout.
7. Scuba Dive
Scuba diving is a strenuous activity and forces you to swim and use your lungs for buoyancy control. Each dive you can expect to be swimming and controlling your organs for around 45 minutes per dive. When you go on a dive in El Nido, you will be doing 3 dives per day so you can expect to burn a lot of calories!
Scuba Diving El Nido, Palawan Philippines
8. Drink loads of water.
You will be sweating like crazy, no matter who you are and it is really important to stay hydrated while you are in EL Nido. I recommend having at least 8-10 glasses of water per day. I was short off this a couple of times in El Nido and I got a killer headache, my bodies way of telling me to smarten up.
9. Have lots of sex with the AC off
El Nido can be a romantic place, and the most fun way to stay fit is to shut off the AC and have some hot sweaty sex.
10. Bring lots of and sanitizer and use often
There are germs in El Nido that you do not have at home and if you want to stay healthy you need to use mad hand sanitizer here. I got sick while I was in El Nido and it took 2 days out of my trip.
El Nido Beach Cabanas, Island Hopping Tour Palawan, Philippines
11. Spend more time on the beach
The air coming off the ocean is clean and there are a lot of healthy things to do on the beach. Try beach volleyball or join the locals for a game of basketball on the beach!
12. Go Dancing
There are 2 nightclubs in El Nido town and other places with live music. Even if you suck at dancing, you will burn a lot of calories doing it. And the best part, you will probably never see these people again. So let loose.
The Rampersauds at Lio Beach
