How Can You Work Exercise Into Your Travel Schedule?
Author: Kai Fusser, MS
Many of my clients ask me “How can I stay fit while I’m on the road?” If you are traveling for work or leisure, traveling and working out can be a challenge, finding a gym, time, convenience and more gets in the way. For my athletes exercise is a must and getting it done is part of their job even though they have the same challenges. But also for us non-athletes, we want to stay fit even during travel, it also makes us feel better and can help with jet lag and combat the effects of “travel” food.
Travel Exercise Tips;
Now we should realize that we don’t need a gym to get a good workout in, a hotel room or some outdoor space can be sufficient. We also don’t necessarily need any equipment although bringing along a jump rope and a rubber band can add to the variety of on the road exercises.
So here are some ideas for simple ways to exercise, feel free to be inventive, our body can move in many ways and we need to take advantage of that.
- The power of walking: walking is one of the most natural and healthiest movements for us, it uses our whole body, stimulates the circulatory and nervous system, massages our organs and is relaxing. Take a 30-60 min. walk in a park, neighborhood or city, if done in the evening it will help you sleep better as well.
- Use your own body: here we can take advantage of our own body weight and gravity, there are countless exercises that can be done in a tight space, try to do 3 sets of 8-15 reps for each exercise, alternating between different exercises will save time. Here are some good ones: pushups with different arm widths, lunges in all different directions, squats, crunches with different leg positions, dips on a chair, regular and side planks, wood chop up, shot put etc.
- Use bands: attach it to the door or stand on it, curls, overhead extensions, pushing and pulling, straight rotations, shoulder rotations, pull downs, wood chops
- Cardio: here I recommend the burst training as it is the most efficient in time and effect, 4-6 minutes alternating between slow and sprint pace at 20 sec. slow and 10-20 sec. sprint ratio. This can be done by running in place with use of arms, rope jumping, hotel stairways, shadow boxing (no worries you are alone in the room).
- The ultimate way: if you really want a challenge and get things done quick do 3-5 sets of either Turkish get ups or pushups to jump (also called burpees) at high speed.
- In the hotel gym: hotel gyms are often “compromise gyms” but most have a treadmill (turn the motor off and push the belt while holding on) or a bike where the burst training can be done which I recommend over the long slow cardio for its effectiveness and its much easier to convince yourself of doing a short 4-6 min. workout verses a 45-60 min. long haul.
It is best to keep the workout short in time but high in intensity according to your fitness level.
Also remember your nutrition during travel, I know it is very challenging as we get out of our routine, but making the right choices (why not stopping at the super market for some healthy snacks before checking in) and eating in moderation will go a long ways towards still feeling good when you get back home.
Remember to keep it simple and fun so traveling doesn’t have to be a threat to your health.
For some great exercise tips and ideas for different exercises please visit my website; www.kaifitnessforgolf.com
The Bottom Line:
1) Don’t neglect your health just because you’re on the road.
2) Even if the hotels where you are staying don’t have fancy workout facilities, you have plenty of options. Just choose the ones that fit you best.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.