Despite the prevalence of workforce that telecommutes, the travel industry is growing. We travel today more than ever. Reason being, nothing will ever replace belly-to-belly sales or a good hug from someone from far away. Not only that but the ability to perform our jobs from anywhere has more people on the go than ever. Case in point, this author is working on the go this week.
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The hardest part about travel is keeping up your exercise program. At a glance, it seems you have two options. You can go pay for a gym guest pass, in some cases, shelling out $20 for one visit, or you can bring equipment with you. Neither sound awesome.
Alternatively, you can pack some clothes for your workout, then use what’s there when you arrive at your destination. This is what I do.
Sometimes just taking one or two small things can close the gap, giving you rigorous workout. In fact, in many cases, the change up in your routine is welcome, to you and your body.
Preparation
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Potential Tools: Floor, Towel, Rug.
Depending on how you divide your time, your health routine pulls together many aspects.
For this guy, when I travel, my meditation and mobilization aspects of my program pull tight the more rigorous parts. I allot two hours of time for health.
There’s a twenty-minute meditation section with an additional fifteen minutes of mobilization, what you may call “Stretching.”
Whether you’re performing traditional stretching or applying pressure to your fascia, don’t drop this aspect of your practice. You may boil it down to the essentials, hitting only your problem areas, but don’t skip it.
Injuries can happen anywhere, especially in unfamiliar places. In most cases, you can do it with a just a rug or towel on the floor, so no excuses.
Cardio
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Potential Tools: Stairs, Jump Rope, Open Space.
For runners, this is a no-brainer, but not everybody can run. There’s more than one way to increase your heart rate.
Consider that you may be better off performing intervals, instead of steady-state cardio. Perform five-minute sections of cardio mixed with five-minute intervals of resistance of explosive moves.
If you keep moving, it won’t take a rigorous cardio to get your heart rate up. Instead of running, find a staircase to climb and ascend for five minutes.
Packing a bicycle is impossible, but a jump rope tucked into your luggage can go far. You also could just walk at a fast pace.
Make it fun. Find a bench or anything about 18-inches high, to perform split jumps. Facing the bench, put one foot on it, one on the ground. Push slightly off the top foot, switching your stance then do the same on the other foot. These are more of an explosive move, so they will wipe you out fast.
Pace yourself.
Resistance
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Potential Tools: Water Bottle, Tree Limb, Anything Sturdy or Heavy.
Everybody knows you can do push-ups and squats, but did you ever consider performing isometrics? A floor plank engages every muscle in your body.
Bored with them? Do side planks instead.
Work your glutes by lying on your back to perform floor bridges. Put your feet flat, then drive your hips up to the sky. Mix those with walking lunges, good mornings, and standing calf raises to kill your legs.
For chest, do your push-ups, but do seated dips too. Find a step or sturdy chair. Slide your booty off the edge, lowering yourself as far as you can.
Shoulders can be tough to target, but a good handstand against the wall will develop them like nothing else. Perform shoulder raises with a full water-bottle in each hand.
Back is the toughest thing to train without a gym. Find a sturdy tree branch to perform pull-ups, but be careful what you pick. The rod in the closet or shower will likely break off if you hang from it. If you have access to a beach, go dig holes in the sand like a dog, moving the sand back and forth.
When working with bodyweight only, keep your repetitions high, like 30 or more.
Explosive
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Potential Tools: Chair, Solid Ground.
One of the most skipped parts of your everyday workout is the explosive part. Working explosively is easy to forget. It’s not always fun, especially if you’ve aged without keeping active.
The good news is, you don’t have to jump like an olympian to derive benefits. Keep it simple. Stand on two feet, then perform a two-foot jump forward as far as you can without falling forward.
The first one will feel silly. Keep going. Do up to twenty, then see how silly they feel.
If that’s too easy, split your stance like scissors. Jump in the air, then switch your stance mid-air. Repeat until you puke.
Add in chairs or short walls to give these moves complexity, but when you travel don’t skip the explosive. You could go home more athletic than before you left.
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The most important aspect your travel workout is that you do it. Keep your habit.
You can always get more creative, but the more you drop your exercise when you travel, the harder it is to see yourself as the dedicated exerciser that you are.
This perception is the foundation of your healthy lifestyle. Don’t compromise yourself just because you’re on the road.