Vacation itineraries don’t often include time for exercise, but with a little planning and creativity, there isn’t any reason your trip has to derail your normal workout routine. Here are some helpful tips for sneaking in some exercise while you’re away.

1. Pack small, lightweight equipment in your suitcase. Resistance tubing fits easily into any suitcase or carry-on and you can use it tone and strengthen every muscle in your body (even NFL football players use this simple tool – it REALLY works!) Do your workout right in your hotel room, or wrap it around your waste and jog to the nearest park. Trees, fences, and even parking meters make great anchors to wrap the tubing around for chest presses and rows. A jump rope is another convenient, grab-and-go tool you can use for a quick, calorie-burning session.

2. For a more challenging workout, consider investing in the TRX, which is a suspension training system originally developed for the Navy Seals. The TRX made its mainstream debut several years ago and has become one of the fastest selling strength training tools for both novices and hard-core fitness buffs. It is a total body strengthening and conditioning tool that is a snap to assemble. It weighs less than 2lbs, sets up in under 1 minute and you can use it in the hotel room, outdoors, at the gym…options are nearly endless. You can purchase one from FitnessAnywhere.com and can also see instructional “how to” videos on the website.

3. Take advantage of the hotel pool and fitness room. For business travelers, the pool and fitness room are busiest during the week in the early morning and evening. For leisure travelers at a resort, these tend to be the least busy times.

4. If the thought of running on the hotel treadmill is about as exciting as watching grass grow, book a City Running Tour and see the city you’re visiting on foot! Tour guides who happen to be distance runners take you on guided tours that include all of the tourist sites (or anything else you’d like to see). Distances vary in length according to your training level too.

5. Finally, many hotels now have fitness TV, so you can order up a workout to do right in your room. Another option is to pop open your laptop and download a fitness video straight from the Internet. And let’s face it – if you’re on vacation, relaxation is surely a priority too. Check out Yoga Download – you can choose from thousands of yoga and Pilates videos and if the mood strikes you, strike a pose!

Give one of these ideas a try during your next trip, and I guarantee you’ll come home feeling fit and refreshed.

What”s your favorite fitness-related travel tip?

As you might guess from my lack of presence on this block, summer is a very busy time, and I know this is true for just about everyone (and you’re all nodding, “yes, my kids over-run my schedule too!”), so my “theme” for the week is all about making “healthy choices in a snap.”

It is super easy to slack off during the summer. C’mon, you know what I mean…the pool is more enticing than a trip to the gym, the longer days (often filled with kid-focused activities, which, less face it, suck the life right out of even the most energetic mom, and if you are like me and work from home, it is difficult to get any work done, much less a “work-out.”) Enter moi – also known as your kick in the butt.

You CAN still fit healthy activities and healthy foods into your busy days, it just takes a little more creativity.

Try these tips:

1. Include the kids. Outdoor games, family walks and bike rides,
2. Include your pet. Your dog needs a daily walk, right? Follow these tips for exercising outdoors with your dog.
3. Carve out small bits of time for exercise. You can accomplish a lot in just 10 minutes – seriously, you can!
4. Travel with fitness in mind. With a little planning, there isn’t any reason you can’t exercise while vacationing. I know, you might not want to, but it can be done.
5. Can’t get to the gym? Work out at home. Follow these tips for stocking your home gym with all of the basics.

Easy Peasy Recipes for summer

Stir Fried Chicken Tenders from Eating Well

Old-fashioned Spaghetti & Meatballs from Eating Well

The EatingWell Taco

Ravioli w/ Apples and Walnuts from Real Simple

Roasted Pork w/ Brussel Sprouts and Apricots

There, that should get you started. And also remember that you don’t have to take the “all or nothing” approach. Set out to do something that serves as exercise, and try to make healthy food choices – save the strict nutrition regimen and long, tough workouts for the fall when you have a bit more time for you! Summer is meant to be enjoyed, so go – enjoy.

Backpacker magazine recently joined forces with The Outdoor Foundation to identify the best cities in the United States to raise a child with an outdoor attitude. Not surprisingly, many of the cities are the same ones listed on “America’s Healthiest Cities.” Sunshine, moderate temperatures, beautiful scenery…yeah, yeah, yeah – we know, the weather in Ohio stinks. Who made the list?

1. Boulder, CO
2. Jackson, WY
3. Durango, CO
4. Flagstaff, AZ
5. Juneau, AK
6. Seattle, WA
7. Colorado Springs, CO
8. Burlington, VT
9. Fort Collins, CO
10. Lebanon, NH
11. Asheville, NC
12. Portland, ME
13. Hood River, OR
14. Manchester, NH
15. Harrisonburg, VA
16. Eureka-Arcata-Fortuna, CA
17. Sevierville, TN
18. Bozeman, MT
19. Rapid City, SD
20. Brevard, NC
21. Madison, WI
22. Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN
23. Glens Falls, NY
24. Duluth, MN
25. Wheeling, WV

There are plenty of ways to entice kids to go outdoors for physical activity, even if the climate you live in isn’t perfect year-round. Rock climbing, hiking, cycling, and geocaching, and kayaking are fun activities the whole family can participate in during spring, summer, and fall. In the winter, sledding, snow shoeing, ice skaing, cross-country and downhill skiing…even schlepping through the snow wearing snow boots gets their hearts pumping.

With the winter Olympics just around the corner, you might also put together a mini-Olympics in your neighborhood.

• Bobsled: Grab your sled, find the nearest hill, and time the kids as they cross a make-shift finish line.
• Snowshoe race: Even if you don’t have snow shoes, you can have the kids run a 50 yard dash throw the snow.
• Snow ball roll: Have the kids roll a snowball across the yard, or around the house. (note: the ball will get progressively harder to roll the bigger it gets, so this is a tough one.)
• Snow volleyball: String up a net and divide the kids into two teams. Encourage them to get to 8 or 10 points (more than that, and they’ll likely lose interest). Nerf balls make fun volleyballs if you need to substitute for the real thing.
• Snow ball shot put: As you might guess, this is just like the regular shot put, only the kids use a snow ball. See you can catapult it the farthest distance.

To add to the fun, award medals to every child – and don’t spend a bundle, make your own using metallic paint, cardboard, and ribbon.

Most importantly, let the kids have fun!

I was really happy to turn the calendar over to “March” today. Super happy. Then the sun made an appearance late in the day, making it seem like spring might actually be within reach. Hey, in Ohio,  these little victories matter.

But, I know that in some parts of the country, the sun actually shines in the winter, making the three months we curse here in the midwest actually tolerable, and fun – especially if you’re into winter sports. If you’re not ready to let go of winter yet and are looking for a great deal on a ski get-away, check this out:

Sunriver Resort, a AAA Four Diamond property in Oregon, is offering a free night and lift tickets to a stay if you go at the end of April. Rooms start as low as $65/night (such a great deal!), and only a 3-night minimum is required. There are taxes and other fees that apply, but still…AND, kids ski free! What a great way to spend a long weekend, or spring break!

Summer schedules are usually jam-packed with activities, from camp for the kids to vacations — it is easy to let workout schedules slide this time of year. With careful planning and simplified equipment that can be toted with you, there isn’t any reason your fitness routine has to take a back seat to all of the other activities you have planned.

Small, lightweight equipment is the key: Resistance tubing is great, packs nicely in any suitcase and you can use it to work the entire body either right in your hotel room, or wrap it around your waste and jog to the nearest park and work out there. Trees, fences…even parking meters, make great anchors to wrap the tubing around for chest presses, rows, tricep push backs, bicep curls, and lateral rotations for the obliques. And don’t feel silly doing this – boot camp classes are so popular now that seeing people working out in the park (esp in bigger cities) is very common. Jump roping is another terrific, on-the-road calorie burning tool. Again, these items fit right into your carry on or suitcase. Does it get any easier than that?

Another option is to take a TRX trainer. This suspension training system, originally developed for the Navy Seals, is becoming very popular in group fitness settings, personal training studios, and for in-home use. It is a terrific, total body strengthening and conditioning tool that weighs less than 2lbs, sets up in under 1 minute, and can be used in the hotel room or outdoors. You can purchase one from
FitnessAnywhere and can also see instructional videos on the website.

No equipment? No problem – many hotels now have fitness TV, so you can order up a workout to do right in your room. You can also take your workout to the nearest park or playground and do strength training there – no equipment needed. Park benches make great steps for step ups to strengthen the hips and glutes; you can also do tricep dips and push-ups. Find the nearest playground and do the monkey bars, pull-ups, chin-ups…get creative, and most of all, have fun!

Take advantage of the hotel pool and fitness room. For business travelers – the pool and fitness room are busiest in the early morning and evening. For leisure travelers at a resort, these tend to be the least busy times. It is hard to muster the motivation to exercise while on vacation, but keeping up with your routine will make your vacation more enjoyable, and when you come home you won’t be faced with the daunting task of working off gobs of extra calories or making up lost ground toward your fitness goals.

Need a routine to follow while your gone? There are a number of online sources you can check out before you go so that you have a resource you feel comfortable using.

1. Fitness magazines have exercise pictures, video, and descriptions that take much of the thinking out of what to do when. Check out these routines at Shape, Self, Fitness, and Women’s Health.

2. Yoga Download. For yoga enthusiasts, there are so many videos to choose from, you could do a different yoga routine every day of your vacation. Download the videos to your iPod or laptop computer in a flash.

3. Have a personal trainer design a travel workout for you! Your fitness goals, exercise experience, vacation locale and itinerary, and the time you have available to workout all factor into an effective routine, and trainers know all too well how tough it can be to stay on top of your workout when you’re on the road. Need help with your vacation fitness routine? Feel free to contact me.