How to Work Out While Traveling
By: Keith
My Bed Head This Morning! 
Traveling excludes the ability to bring along your weights. However, the real reason it screws up your exercise routine doesn’t have anything to do with space or facilities. Traveling messes with your workouts because it also messes with your schedule. Exercise is something people do as a routine. Fit people, in general, incorporate fitness into their daily schedules in the same way the plan meals or and check off items at the grocery store. It’s just another thing on the list to be picked up in the correct isle and placed neatly, without disturbance, into the cart. People who travel or who otherwise have irregular schedules aren’t usually the ones who are exercise enthusiasts. Therefore, get it out of your mind that you need space saving, luggage ready equipment to make working out easy. It won’t help. What will help is making a few crucial promises to yourself.
1. Promise to exercise before you go on the Road:
Do not, under any circumstances, tell yourself you’re going to workout when you arrive at your destination. You won’t. When you pull into the driveway or open that hotel room, all you’re going to want to do is either hit the jacuzzi or veg in front of the crappy TV. Exercising while tired isn’t productive anyway. Instead you have to promise yourself to wake up in the morning and do something.
2. Do Something Even if It’s not Much:
I’ll be honest. When I’m on the road, my exercises change. I don’t do the gut busting, sweat inducing exercises that I would normally do at home. When I’m preparing for a long road trip I do a lot of stretching and core exercises. I don’t work my legs, arms or chest much. I stretch and work my back and my abs, and that helps prevent stiffness after a long drive. The same holds true for air travel. If you’re already at a hotel and you’ll be there for a few days, then you can get to doing some more all round fitness routines.
3. Be Prepared to be uncomfortable:
Working out in the space between a bed and the TV isn’t super comfy, but if prisoners can do it and get ripped then so can you. There are a million ways to get a good workout in only a 7×3 foot space. Chair dips, push-ups (all varieties), mountain climbers, most abs exercises. In fact, there’s more things you can do in that space than can’t. The problem is just that you have to get over being a little uncomfortable in that space. Most workouts you can do in just 15 minutes so it’s not really an enduring issue.
4. Ditch the Family:
Well, what if the family is sprawled all over the place like a pack of dogs? In that case, go find a patch of grass outside or the exercise room. Again, it’s not ideal, but neither is prison. It could be worse, you could be a truck driver.
So what qualifies as exercise while traveling? The answer is whatever makes you feel good after you’re done. Whatever gets you going for your journey; that’s it. I’m on the road to California now and this is what I did this morning. I tried to fix the bed-head, but there was nothing I could do about the pajamas.
A Slow Vinyasa Combination:
All Exercises 30 seconds unless otherwise stated.
1. Mountain Pose
2. Standing Forward Bend
3. Plank with Plange: Bow your back just a little to engage your abs
4. Up Dog
5. Down Dog
6. Right Leg Forward Warrior 1
7. Right Leg Forward Warrior 2
8. Right Leg Forward Triangle Pose: Go back to plank for a second or two after triangle to get back to down dog.
9. Down Dog
10. Left Leg Forward Warrior 1
11. Left Leg Forward Warrior 2
12. Left Leg Forward Triangle Pose
13. Down Dog
14. Chair Pose: Feet and knees together. Legs as close to 90 degrees as possible and lift your arm by your ears
15. Standing Chest Lift: Clasp your hands in back of you and lift your chest.
16. Bridge Pose: clasp your hands under you and bring yourself to your shoulders
17. Wheel: Great back bend
18. Superman
19. Touch the Sky
20. Scissor (right and left): Spend 30 seconds on each side
21. Boat Pose
22. Twisting Bicycle Crunches: Alternate for 30 seconds
As you can see this is an easy 15 minute yoga workout. But, it’s also perfect for getting stretched out and ready to go on a trip. It concentrates on the core and on basic and easy stretches. It’s something to do to get you moving in the morning and feeling fresh.
Mountain Pose
Standing Forward Bend
Plank with Plange
Up Dog
Down Dog
Warrior 1
Warrior 2
Triangle Pose
Chair Pose
Standing Chest Lift
Bridge Pose
Wheel
Superman
Touch the Sky
Scissor
Boat Pose
Twisting Bicycle Crunches
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I’ll have to try these out. I’ve never done any yoga although I did get a DVD one time. When I used to be a road warrior I would always take my running shoes and shorts with me. Mind you, I never went running at home, but I thought I magically would when traveling. I was plainly on drugs.
.-= Dad is in the House´s last blog ..Six Steps to Paperwork Victory! =-.
DadintheHouse: I do that too. I bring the running shoes and equipment and nothing ever happens. I eventually just gave up and started doing a workout in my pijamas every morning. Not too hard, but just enough to say I did something.
The visuals are very helpful.
who’s your cameraman/kid? or you pull all these stylish poses off with a timer?
for those of us with young kids, sometimes time on the road is the ONLY time we get to sleep through the night and get up early for a run.
Stefan: It was my wife
I’ve had my kids film me or take pictures of me a few times, but the results are a little, um, creative. We didn’t have a lot of space so she was standing on the bed in the corner trying to get the right angle.
this is great.. simple, straightforward and loosens everything up.
thanks!
Tammy: Thanks
Hope you like it!
sounds like a funny scene. even the ALMIGHTY needs help, i guess
i’m, going this workout today in the 15 minutes I have between feeding the boys lunch and going to gymnastics, it’s perfect for today as I completely blew out my legs (in a good way) with yesterday’s workout and i don’t think I could hack a full yoga routine.. which is what was previously planned. and btw, your picture at the top of the page is by far the best yet! nice hair bro!! If my hair would do that when I cut it short, I’d so do it!!
Great post. The pictures are really helpful to show the workout positions. Working out on the road will be easier with your help, very informative.
You can also get an awesome 15 minute workout with body bands and you can easily fit them in a suitcase. Combine that with the Vinyasa and you’re rocking!
.-= Tina´s last blog ..7 Important Scooter Safety Tips For Your Children =-.
That is great advice, Keith! For those who don’t do yoga, I’ve done something similiar for a quick hotel workout at the end of the bed. You can see it here: (link moved URL field)
.-= Dennis Croll´s last blog ..Summer Vacations =-.
I’m going on vacation and I am taking my bodyweight exercises with me. Squats, lunges, dips, pushups, planks. Hopefully I can find somewhere to do some pullups as well. Great article.
I always try and do #2 and #4. I always try and find something to do, the favorites been running, walking, or swimming. But if my options are too limited I always resort to sit-ups, push-ups, and stretches.
Hi there,
This is a great post! Love the pictures. So easy to follow! I personally love working out at home! I turned my garage into a mini-gym and have to say that I love it!
Thanks for the advice and I will be sure to come back again.
Michael