Tips for Maintaining Exercise Routines during Travel

As an exercise physiologist in the health and wellness field what I have heard from my clients over the years is how traveling and staying true to their workout routines is a challenge. Staying active whether traveling for business or fun is a challenge for most. I know it has been for me over the years. Sometimes there is a time issue, the change of routine and schedule or an unfamiliar workout facility that makes exercise on the road difficult.

When I stay in a hotel it irritates me that I have to pay to use the gym. If I’m paying to stay in the hotel and eat overpriced food in the hotel restaurants, isn’t that enough? But no, the gym is often an extra charge. For me, it’s enough of an irritation that I choose to either go for a walk in a mall or outside or workout in my room.

Whether you travel by car, motor coach or fly the current technology and ingenuity can help you stay on track. Have a plan before you go and you’re more likely to stay active. Here is what I share with my clients. I hope it helps.

• Walking – Before leaving for a trip go to www.gmap-pedometer.com and map out a walking or running route. This cool tool is free and it will allow you to see the area around the hotel, campsite or any unfamiliar location. Put in your location address and you’ll be able to track and print your route. You’ll be able to map out your walk or run, see if there are sidewalks and have a route planned prior to your departure. You can even put in your weight to see how many calories you will burn if that’s of interest to you. Very neat tool!
• Call ahead - If you are staying at a hotel call ahead or check online to see if there is a fee for using their workout room. Better to know this before you go. If you are staying for more than a night call and ask to speak to the manager. Ask if they would extend you a reduced rate for using the workout facility for more than one day. If you don’t ask you don’t get, right?
• Bring a beach towel – Yes, a towel. If you want to incorporate a strength workout while traveling you can get a good workout in your room. I am not a fan of lying on dirty hotel carpet so you have a couple of options. One, take a hotel bath towel and use that or if you prefer your own bring a thin beach towel to use as your exercise mat (line your piece of luggage with the towel before you pack).
• Be creative – Once you are on the floor laying on your towel there are a whole host of exercises you can do such as; Stretches, crunches, yoga, Pilates, push ups, squats, side leg lifts, lunges, back stretches. Think about what you do when you are at home in your gym and incorporate those exercises into your routine.
• Do “something” – It’s easy to get caught up in wanting to do the same routine that you do when you’re at home. Many of my clients tell me that if they can’t do their complete workout they won’t do it at all. That’s just silly. If you only have twenty minutes to do exercises then take the twenty minutes and do something. Trust me, anything you can do to stay on track with your regular routine, the easier it will be to get back on track when you return home. So, use what I call the “something” approach. Can you do something, anything that keeps you active? Twenty minutes of some activity is better than no activity.

Last but not least, remember to have fun at whatever you do. This isn’t rocket scientist stuff. Take your shoes, your workout gear and make the most out of whatever situation you have.

If you have any creative ways that you stay active while traveling I’d love to hear about them.

Until next time . . . .

Keep moving, do “something” and have fun!

Faith (AKA “The Wind”)