Guest post by Diane Raymond a ACE-certified personal trainer.
Summer is nearly here, which means travel will be on the schedule for many of you at some point soon. Vacation itineraries don’t often include time for exercise, but with a little planning and creativity, there isn’t any reason your trip can’t include a workout or two (or more), and just think, by sneaking in some calorie-burning sessions, you might avert the five or so “vacation pounds” that the average traveler gains during a week away from home.
Here are some helpful tips for sneaking in some exercise while you’re away.
1. Pack small, lightweight equipment in your suitcase. Resistance tubing, also called a fitness band, fits easily into any suitcase or carry-on and you can use it tone and strengthen every muscle in your body, right in the comfort of your hotel room. If you like to explore your vacation spot on foot, why not 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 Fitness Anywere. There are also lots of 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. Swimming laps can be monotonous, so try mixing up laps with intervals of water jumping jacks, leg lifts, jump squats, and so on. If the hotel fitness room as weights, you can intersperse weight training with intervals on the cardio equipment.
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. Yoga Journal’s website has a lot of easy-to-follow videos you can watch from your computer. Taking time to unwinds and stress will help ease the kinks and knots that often come with traveling.
Give one of these ideas a try during your next trip, and I guarantee you’ll come home feeling fit and refreshed.
Diane Raymond is an ACE-certified personal trainer and the founder of the Blue Sky Blog. Check out her daily musings about training, health, and personal fitness at Diane Raymond’s Blue Sky Blog
