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Grinding out the miles on the treadmill is no fun. To save you from the gym, we’ve rounded up the best fitness holidays around the globe – from ziplining to upside-down yoga – to start the new year as you mean to go on…

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The BodyHoliday’s Quadrathlon means 13km of cycling, a 4km run, a 335m abseil and a 2.5km sea kayak – from the beaches of Donkey Beach to Pigeon Island on St Lucia.

Some facts about husky dogs: they have double thick coats, they often have different coloured eyes, and they’re super cute. One of these isn’t a real fact.

BOOTCAMP IN THE SUN, FUERTEVENTURA

Doing squats at the crack of dawn on Clapham Common while some ex-Army dude shouts at you doesn’t work for everyone. But to pack it all up and take it to a Spanish island off the West African coast? Now that’s something we want in on. SunFit is a week-long boot camp that combines fitness sessions, seminars and relaxation (honestly) at top fitness resort Playitas on Fuerteventura. You’ll burn 2,000 calories a day, too – what better excuse for sangria?The next boot camp takes place 7-14 February. From £800pp excluding flights. sunfit.co.uk

HUSKY TRAINING, THE ARCTIC

Obviously, you like dogs. So obviously you’ll want to live like an Arctic musher (that’s husky trainer to you and me) for five days –

right? It’s a hardcore trip, as you’ll live as the musher does, training the huskies each day. But in return, you’ll get an unparalleled sledding experience across

some of the world’s most incredible terrain, and learn how to live like man’s best friend while you’re at it.Magnetic North Travel offers a five-day trip from £895pp, excluding flights. magneticnorthtravel.com

EARN YOUR LUXURY, ST LUCIA

If your brain – and body – is broken after burning the candle at both ends, check yourself into the BodyHoliday. It’s a luxury all-inclusive resort in St Lucia (brace your wallet) but it offers a DIY health and fitness break, with everything from yoga on the beach and archery to golf and scuba diving on offer. A little more high octane is the Quadrathlon, including a bike ride, a run, abseiling and sea kayaking. There’s no cheating with the food, either – everything is unashamedly good for you. Sorry…Rates at the BodyHoliday start from £413pppn, on an all-inclusive basis. thebodyholiday.com

YOGA AT THE ORANGE TREE, YORKSHIRE

Who says the only sport Yorkshire is known for is cricket? The Orange Tree retreat, in the rugged North York Moors, runs yoga weekends for stressed-out city types. You’ll have the opportunity to do yoga either in the studio, or in the grounds – and there’s NO MOBILE SIGNAL. Bliss.From £245pp, based on two sharing a room. theorangetree.com

RIDE AROUND THE WORLD (OR A BIT OF IT)

You know what they say – the best things come in 25 stages. Or at least they do when it’s Ride25: a round-the-world cycle ride in 25 stages, meaning you can join in or leave whenever you please. Most stages are between 70-100 miles, and will take around four days. Close to home, you can join the classic London to Paris route, but also the less ridden Geneva to Milan, or Paris to Geneva, taking you through the tough and scenic Alpine landscapes on the way down. It’s not all hard work, though: the atmosphere promises to be convivial, and at the end of the day, Ride25 will shout your first beer. Which almost excuses the pain they’ve put you through…From £1,100pp per stage, including accommodation and meals but excluding flights and transfers. See ride25.com

HIKING AND ZIPLINING, NORTH WALES

North Wales has everything you need for a smasher of an activity holiday – it’s got Snowdonia and myriad opportunities for walking and hiking; there are rugged beaches perfect for strapping yourself to your surfboard, and – wait for it – it also has Europe’s longest zipline. OK, so there’s little effort involved in zipping through the green hills of the region, but every adrenaline

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NEWTON BOCO AT, £110Newton’s uncompromising shoes look and perfom in a way that doesn’t inspire fence-sitting. We love the way they look and the running style they encourage, and we really love the new Boco

AT (named after the brand’s home in Boulder, Colorado),

which puts all-terrain, all-conditions performance in a typically Newtonian package.newtonrunning.co.uk

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Swap your yoga mat for the beach at St Lucia’s the BodyHoliday; cycle one of 25 stages in Ride25, which takes place all over the world; learn how to train huskies for five days in the freezing Artic

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www.grandamericanadventures.com

USA Canada & Alaska Central & South America

A wide choice of authentic travel experiences

Choose from active, discovery, walking, wildlife, family & more

Highly trained & experienced tour leaders

No single supplements

Call 0333 003 8231

Real Americas Real AdventureSmall Group Adventures from the American ExpertsJoin us on our quest to explore the real Americas. Our tours encompass the most exciting sights and highlights, visits

to off -the-beaten-path locations which you wouldn’t fi nd if travelling alone and a whole range of exciting activities.

TRAIN THE HUSKIES EACH DAY AND IN RETURN YOU’LL GET AN INCREDIBLE SLEDDING EXPERIENCE IN THE ARCTIC

Experiences FITNESS

Lemurs are indige-nous to Madagascar, and you’ll know them for their huge, wide eyes. See the primates while you can: 90% of them could be extinct in the next 25 years.

rush counts, right? There are two locations in North Wales, so take your pick.visitwales.com

KAYAKING IN MADAGASCAR

Why see a country on foot when you can paddle through it instead? The Indian Ocean island of Madagascar is home to miles of undiscovered waterways, and a trip kayaking through the untouched mangroves between Fort Dauphin and Manafiafy is the best way to explore them. The St Luce Reserve among the mangroves attracts all kinds of wildlife (expect to see lemurs, geckos, chameleons and frogs) as well as countless birds. If you’re in town from June to November, it’s whale watching season.From £1,625pp for ten days, including all accommodation, meals, kayaks and transport. Excludes flights. jenmansafaris.com

CYCLE AROUND SLOVENIA

The tiny eastern European country is a great place to wear in your two wheels – not only is it super scenic, but Slovenia is compact enough to cover off the best bits in a week. Cycling Slovenia offers self-guided tours, but its Mt Triglav trip takes you around two of the best lakes – Bled and Bohinj – and up and down some serious hills, guaranteeing beautiful alpine landscapes. It’s not for the faint-hearted, especially the bit where you ride up 2,000m over the Mangart pass on the Italian border. Good luck with that one.Helia Travel Agency offers eight days from €580pp (around £460pp), including accommodation, luggage transfers each day and ride information pack. cyclingslovenia.com

RUN TALLINN

Trade your weekend run along the South Bank (because obviously we always do that) for a jog around Estonia’s starkly beautiful

capital Tallinn. For January, hotel group Swissôtel has launched special jogging routes around the city, led by the hotel’s sports manager – and you can join either in a group, or they’re available as self-guided trips. It’s part of the hotel group’s healthy Vitality programme, so if you don’t fancy Tallinn with its spires and skyscrapers, there are plenty of other cities worldwide to pound the streets in.See swissotel.com for more details of participating hotels.

OCEANS TO OUTBACK WITH AUSTRAVEL

Experience The Ghan – Darwin to Adelaide

There are great train journeys – and then there’s The Ghan,

which runs through the heart of Australia between Darwin in the north to Adelaide in the south. Whether it’s your first visit to Australia or your 100th, this is a magnificent way to see some of the country’s wild beauty, diversity and iconic sites. Begin this 1,851 mile adventure in tropical Darwin. Take advantage of the off train excursions included in Premium and Gold Service; from the adventure town of Katherine where you can enjoy a cruise through Nitmiluk Gorge to the welcoming outback town of Alice Springs. Make sure you explore the

underground town of Coober Pedy. For the ultimate adventure, hop off at Port Augusta to take in the rugged landscape of the Flinders

Ranges before transferring to the vibrant city of Adelaide.

Start planning your Australia adventure today by speaking to Austravel’s expert Travel Designers on 0808 256 6803. They have travelled this route to bring you firsthand recommendations for planning your holiday. Plus, book early and save up to 20% in Gold Service.

Discount is subject to terms and availability and can be withdrawn at any time. Calls are free, mobile and other providers’ charges may apply. ATOL protected.

PROMOTION

ABOVE: Tropical kayaking through the waterways of Madagascar, and BELOW: drink in Swissotel’s Vitality programme

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Experiences FITNESS

The word ‘Ipanema’ comes from the Tupi language, and means ‘bad water’, probably because it wasn’t good for fishing. Bad news for Robson Green, less so for us.

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HIKE AND BIKE,

ANNAPURNA CIRCUIT,

NEPAL

It’s not often you can say that a holiday will burn 165 Mars Bars, 26 full Christmas dinners,

or 317 glasses of wine. So if you, er, ate 26 Christmas dinners over the festive season, the only polite way to work it off is to head to the highest mountains of Nepal on the gruelling Annapurna Circuit. The eastern side of the circuit is prime ground for some serious hiking, while the western side is home to a good three days’ worth of

downhill mountain biking (or, just slamming the brakes on continuously). Lost Earth Adventures runs the Hike and Bike trip, which costs £1,250pp, including accommodation, all meals and transfers. Flights are extra. lostearthadventures.co.uk

THE ISLAND EXPERIENCE, BRAZIL

It’s the best country in the world, but it’ll ruin you: late-night samba sessions in Lapa, downing caipirinhas on Ipanema Beach, and street parties in the hills. How to recover? Check yourself into the Island Experience, on beatific Ilha Grande off the coast of

Brazil. The beaches are supreme – pure white sands and cornflower

blue seas – and it’s the ideal place to purge your blood stream of all that cachaça. The Island Experience lays on a week of detoxing: yoga at the crack of dawn,

fitness activities and healthy, nutritious food. Perfect for the

week-long cocktail hangover. From $1,900pp (around £1,210pp)

for a week, based on two sharing a room. This includes six days of accommodation, meals, most activities and transfers. theislandexperience.com

PARKOUR, NEW YORK

For the unitiated, parkour basically involves running at walls (and other solid things), and launching yourself off them. There’s plenty of courses happening in London – we tried one in Archway once, to miserable effect – but New York’s Brooklyn Zoo has

SUUNTO AMBIT3 SPORT SAPPHIRE, £360The new women-specific version of Suunto’s Ambit3 Sport multisport watch is a head-turner that’s ready to go wherever you are. There’s route navigation, GPS, heart-rate and smartphone connectivity, so you can see calls, messages and push notifications on the watch, and share your adventures on the go. And, despite the sleek appearance, it’s incredibly tough. suunto.com

THE WESTERN SIDE IS HOME TO THREE DAYS’ WORTH OF DOWNHILL MOUNTAIN BIKING

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Burn off multiple Christmas dinners by hiking and biking the Annapurna Circuit; offset caipirinhas at the Island Experience in Brazil; parkour in the grafittied facility at NYC’s Brooklyn Zoo

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Chengdu is the capital of the Sichuan Province, and home to the giant panda. According to estimates, there are around 1,000 pandas left in the wild.

The local Pitjantjat-jara people call the giant red sandstone rock Uluru, but it also goes by Ayers Rock after former Chief Secretary of South Australia, Henry Ayers.

taken it one step further and opened the city’s best parkour training facility. At 4,500 sq ft, Brooklyn Zoo has a sprung floor, a wall, various structures to leap over and off and a huge dance floor. There are also ninja classes (which, obviously we don’t need).

Failing that, go rogue and jump off a rock in Central Park.brooklynzoony.com/about

SURF MOROCCO

Get the best of both worlds in Morocco

– superior surf (its Atlantic coastline is regularly voted one of the top surfing spots in the

world) and a vibrant culture in its towns and cities. It doesn’t hurt

that the temperatures are consistently warm, either. Access Trips runs a

Morocco surf camp in Agadir, which not only introduces you to the top-class breaks, but offers the chance to trek in the nearby Atlas Mountains and visit Berber settlements, as well as meandering around the souks of Marrakech.An eight-day surf camp to Morocco costs $2,140pp (around £1,365pp), excluding flights. accesstrips.com

CYCLING CHINA BACKROADS

We already knew there were nine million bicycles in Beijing, but it turns out the backroads of China are pretty decent for cycling, too. Exodus’ tour takes you through the largely undiscovered region of south-west China on two wheels to explore the cities of Chengdu and Yangshuo, as well as the rural hills, streams and communities of the region. Combine rice paddies, ancient villages and, er, giant pandas – and shed the pounds while you’re at it.

First departure 12 April 2015, priced from £2,899 per person, including flights from London, all accommodation, most meals and a tour leader throughout. exodus.com

BASE WALK, ULURU, AUSTRALIA

The base walk in Uluru – or Ayers Rock – is one of the most epic walks in the world. It’s just over 10km all the way around, and means you can escape the crowds and discover the wildlife and plants too. It’s fitness disguised as a cultural history tour. Organise your Uluru base walk through Austravel. austravel.com

ODLO LOFTONE, £150Getting the balance right between staying warm and not overheating is, as any cold-weather runner knows, a tough one to strike. Odlo’s clever Loftone jacket helps you tread that fine line, thanks to Primaloft insulation, windproof fabric and excellent breathability. There’s even a gap in the cuff so you can read a fitness watch without rolling up your sleeve. odlo.com

COMBINE RICE PADDIES, ANCIENT VILLAGES AND GIANT PANDAS – AND SHED SOME POUNDS

ABOVE: Trade the beaches of Cornwall for the surf of Agadir, Morocco. BELOW: Take your two wheels to the China backroads

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Secret Compass runs some insane expeditions all over the world, including climbing the peaks of Iraq’s Kurdistan, climbing a Siberian volcano and crossing the Sinai Desert.

PATAGONIA ASCENSIONIST PACK 25L, £90Built with climbers in mind, this streamlined pack holds enough for a day on the wall without getting in the way of your harness and gear. Every aspect has been designed for maximum practicality and minimum fuss when the last thing

you want to be worrying about is your bag, and it’s light

and good looking enough for everyday use. patagonia.com

TREKKING IN ARMENIA

If you think Armenia sounds like a faraway land, come back to earth – it’s a hot trekking destination for this year, and Secret Compass has just launched a trip to climb two of southern Armenia’s peaks (they’re both 3,200m above sea level, so brace yourself) and reach the Tatev monastery, a natural rock fortress and UNESCO world heritage site in the little-travelled Central Asian nation. But you’re here for the adventure, and there’s plenty of that too – you’ll carry your own rucksack and wild camp, which will burn a few pounds if your tent-pitching skills are anything like ours. The next trip takes place 29 August – 6 September, and costs £1,599pp. Includes transport, meals and accommodation but excludes flights. secretcompass.com

SURFING, KERALA, INDIA

Never mind the traditional surf

destinations – Varkala, in Kerala (that’s the tip of

India) is where the surf is at this year. Soul & Surf has only

been going for just over a year, but its mix of yoga sessions, hearty Keralan cuisine and surf safaris has been drawing wave hunters in (that, and the 28ºC waters all year round). New for this year are two pop-up residencies – one in nearby Sri Lanka, and one in Banda Aceh in Indonesia.A week’s stay at Soul & Surf starts from £210pp on a B&B basis. soulandsurf.com

AERIAL YOGA, ARIZONA

You could do yoga on the floor, or you could do yoga while suspended from the ceiling from a giant piece of cloth in Scottsdale, Arizona. You’ll spend a lot of time hanging upside down, and as well as a giant rush of blood to the head, it should help give a new perspective on the downward dog, anyway.See scottsdaleprincess.com for more details. e

CLIMB TWO OF ARMENIA’S HIGHEST PEAKS, PASSING MONASTERIES AND HUGE FORTRESSES

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Experiences FITNESS