How many of us travel for business, leisure or both, and throw our fitness regimens out the window, because “hey, we’re traveling!”?
It’s a good excuse, right?
Not according to our West Hartford Connecticut personal trainer.
He states, rather emphatically, ”There is really no reason (or hardly ever a reason) to not schedule some type of fitness into your schedule when traveling. Maybe it won’t be the intensity or frequency that you are used to, but some exercise is better than none. And sometimes, it is surprisingly easy to do, if you are conscious about it.”
Our personal trainer in West Hartford Connecticut tells us that it is more than possible to stay healthy and fit while simultaneously having wonderful adventures, eating local food, living in the moment and having a blast. The two schools of thought are not mutually exclusive.
Traveling for leisure? Our West Hartford Connecticut personal trainer suggests doing the obvious: Walking and walking tours! What easier way than to get some exercise in, while you don’t even realize it?
How about going bike riding or hiking on your vacation? And don’t most hotels have pools? Swimming is a fun way to keep fit.
Of course, you can always use the hotel’s fitness facility, or before you leave for your trip, find a local gym and find out what their visitor rate is!
Many of us can’t stand the thought of long hours spent in a gym when we are on vacation, however.
So our personal trainer in West Hartford Connecticut suggests –for both business and leisure travelers—the following:
Create your own body-weight circuit, and do it two or three times a week, or even once a week! It all counts.
A circuit is a series of exercises that are done right after one another with little to no rest in between. It cuts down on the time used for exercise, while upping the intensity so that your strength training also includes some cardio from performing exercises one right after the other.
Try this mini-workout, that our West Hartford personal trainer suggests, in your hotel room, or in a local park.
Find a park bench or other sturdy surface that is within your jumping range. Do three sets of ten reps, per each exercise.
- Start out with a five to ten-minute dynamic warm up.
- Jump Ups on a bench or sturdy surface
- Step-ups on a bench or sturdy surface
- Lunges (static or alternating)
- Body weight squats
- Push-ups (modify if necessary)
- Tricep Dips on bench or sturdy surface
- Bicycle (ab) crunches
- Planks
You can alternate other exercises for variety in with this circuit suggested above. For instance, instead of doing jump-ups, try Burpees or Mountain climbers. And add in some jumping jacks.
Instead of doing Planks, interchange them with regular crunches or Spiderman planks.
If you happen to be at a park, use the swings or a monkey bar to execute some pull-ups.
The variety can be endless, according to our West Hartford Connecticut personal trainer.
He also suggests creating your own version of the circuit above. The internet is teeming with information about home circuit workouts, or workouts to do at home on a snowy day (when you may not be able to make it to the gym). Use these, or look specifically for travel work outs.
Need more cardio or are you looking to develop speed? Our personal trainer in West Hartford Connecticut suggests bringing a jump rope with you.
Jumping rope, he states, can be intense, and the rope takes up little to no space in a suitcase.
When in doubt, use the internet as your source for other travel fitness ideas.
Don’t use travel as an excuse to not exercise, because it will be that much more difficult to get back into your healthy fitness routine once you return.
