The Los Angeles Fitness Guide

It’s not easy to keep fit and healthy while you’re travelling, especially when buffet breakfasts are involved. If you’re anything like me, holidays are all about letting loose, relaxing, and eating. Lots of eating. Often working out and keeping fit is the last thing on your mind. But if you’re travelling to a health conscious city that’s filled with the most ridiculously beautiful supermodels like LA, you can get a little overwhelmed at it all, and suddenly, you’re reconsidering all those breakfast bagels.

Staying in shape while travelling can be as standard as going to a local gym, but in LA you can take advantage of the glitz and glamour of the city, and work up a sweat while checking out the local sites. You just need to know some of the local secrets that’ll help you burn a few calories in true LA style.

Hiking Runyon Canyon

Hiking is a very popular pastime in Los Angeles, often due to a need to escape, albeit briefly, from the concrete jungle of the city. Runyon Canyon is located up towards the Hollywood Hills, and being the closest hike to Hollywood, West Hollywood and Beverly Hills, is one of the more popular spots for the local residents.

Now, I do need to clarify that when I say “hiking” Runyon Canyon, I don’t mean to suggest that it’s in any way an advance level all day activity. Rather, the hikes around Runyon can vary from between 45 minutes round trip to two hours, depending on your ability and route. There are three different paths to take, the shortest being on your right hand side upon entering the gates, and it’s my personal recommendation that you take the steeper path up and the gradual gradient down. While the climb up may be tougher, it’s gentler on your joints coming down, and overall, safer. I’ve seen many a stack and tumble down the often slippery steps and twisting your ankle is the last thing you want on a California vacation.

Runyon Canyon is also a hotspot for celebrity sighting. Hollywood names like Orlando Bloom, Miley Cirus and Ryan Gosling are all regular hikers of Runyon and it’s also the spot where Justin Bieber famously decided to sit down and have a chat with a random hiker not so long ago too. Runyon Canyon is also dog friendly, and hikers can take their dogs off their leash, letting their pets run and explore the area – and boy do they love the freedom too.

Most importantly, Runyon Canyon will give you one of the best views of LA. If you time it right, the sunset up there looks pretty spectacular. Just remember that despite scorching hot days, LA does get very cold once the sun goes down and tourists often get caught out without something to put on after the daylight hours.