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?
stability ball crunch
The stack of coupons and store sale fliers next to my computer is growing rather tall. I love a deal, and when I finally do my holiday shopping (90% of which I do online), I get giddy just thinking about entering the coupon codes and watching the final dollar figure shrink. Who doesn’t love to save money?
Because I train most of my clients in their homes and outdoors, I have gobs of equipment, and most of it is inexpensive. It occurred to me that my faithful followers (who also love a good deal) may not realize how easy it is to equip a home gym on a very small budget. For under $200, you can have all of the equipment you need to get fit.
5 home-gym essentials that cost less than $100
1) Jump rope
Simple to store and use, and for $10, you can have one too. They come in varying lengths, and some are even weighted – making them a touch more difficult (insert “mean trainer” grin here). If you haven’t jumped in some time, you will definitely feel your calf muscles talking back to you. Don’t listen – they’ll become accustomed to this form of cardio in no time.
Cost: $5-$20
2) Resistance tubing
I’ve lost count how many times I’ve praised resistance tubing, but no matter, my point is…tubing is versatile, portable, challenging, and cheap. I even recommend to clients that when they are purchasing tubing, buy two or three: one for home, one for the car (you never know when you’ll be at the playground with the kids and looking for something to do), and one for your suitcase. That’s right, just stick one in your suitcase and leave it there. Next time you travel, you’ll have no excuse (insert “mean trainer” raised eyebrow here.) ANY exercise you do at the gym with either dumbbells, cables, or fixed machines…you can do with tubing. I’m not pulling your leg. NFL football players use tubing, so trust me on that one.
Cost: $8 will get you a nice quality tube. Economy Exercise Tubing with Handles
3) TRX suspension trainer
This could be the best $100 you’ll ever spend. Suspension training is quickly becoming the “hot” new tool among trainers, and for good reasons: you can achieve a total body workout with one piece of equipment; it is easy to set up (in 2 minutes, you can have the contraption up and ready to go); it is lightweight; portable (great for hotel workouts); and anyone can learn how to use it with practice. Elite athletes and novice exercisers alike get a fantastic workout, using only body weight.
Cost: $100
4) Stability ball
It looks so simple, yet it can do so much. Every home needs a stability ball. Use the ball in the same way you would a weight bench. Since balls have a tendency to roll, you will be forced to engage your core and improve your balance – or fall off. Use the ball alone, or with weighted resistance (BodyBars, dumbbells, resistance tubing, cables…you get the picture.)
I recommend Resist-A-Ball for their superior quality and price
Cost: $20-$50
5) Kettlebell
You may have heard – kettlebells are all the rage. If you decide to buy one for home use, I recommend taking a few classes, or spending one-on-one time with an experienced kettlebell trainer. There is a technique to using kettlebells effectively, but once you nail that, the results will be amazing. Kettlebell training improves strength, endurance, agility, and joint stability. They’re a hoot to use too!
Cost: $20 for an 8.8lb kettlebell, up to $96for a 70lb kb. I think learning with a 10 or 12lb kb, then switching to a 16 or 18lb kb for regular use is a good place to start.
Perform Better also has a great DVD and manual to get you started. Kettlebells from the Ground Up
There you have it. For a grand total of around $200, you can have everything you need to work out at home, and enough variety that you won’t get bored – at least not right away.
Enthusiasts of the TRX Suspension Training system can now add another piece of arsenal in their fitness toolbox – the downloadable “Multisport Strength Workout” from Fitness Anywhere.
Maybe you’re training for your first marathon, or are a weekend golf or soccer warrior, or just like to mix it up on occasion and try something new, and really hard. Professional Triathlete Jessi Stensland will lead your through a core strengthening workout that will boost performance and give you an edge, no matter what your sport is.
Price: $9.95
Check it out… FITNESS ANYWHERE
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.
