Staying Healthy While Traveling This Summer: Part 2... The Fitness Segment
A Few Weeks Ago I Described How I Stayed Healthy While Traveling To Toronto Over The Weekend, If You Didn't See It…Go Check It Out. Then A Couple Weeks Ago I Wrote About My General Nutrition Tips To Keep You Healthy When You're Traveling This Summer. Eating Is Only Half The Battle To Staying Healthy When You’re Away From Home Though…We Gotsta Move Too! So Let's Talk About It…As We’re Approaching Summer It Means That Lots and Lots of Traveling Is Likely Going To Happen. Vacations, Camping Trips, Short & Long Term Getaways From Reality Are All A Major Part of Summer and They Should Be, But It Doesn't Mean That We Have To Abandon Our Long Term Goals and Health and Sacrifice Our Fitness Under The Guise of "Well I’m On Vacation”… No No, We Can Have A Blast and Still Stay Healthy, and Believe It Or Not…It's Really Not That Difficult! Let’s Talk About Some Basic Fitness Tips That Will Keep You In Line While On Vaca!…Don’t Overthink It, Overthinking Usually Results In Bad Things, and Plus It’s Boring…Just Go Eat Good, Move Good, and Vacation Gooder!!!!
Here Are My Fitness Tips To Focus On and Remain In Good Graces With Your Waistline, It’s Nothing Major or Groundbreaking, But Then Again Very Few ‘Best Practices’ Ever Are…
*Walk Everywhere You Can… Cabs Are Cool, Subways Are Fun, and Driving Is Wonderful…But Your On Vacation, Get OUT There and Experience As Much As You Can By Walking There… 20 Blocks Away Might Seem Like A Long Ways Away…But It’s Not, Make The Trek! Getting In An Automobile of Any Kind Has Become The Norm, But Aside From Not Being Lazy and Actually Experiencing More By Walking You Can EASILY Take The Same Day and By Walking From Place To Place Add An Additional 12,000-15,000 Steps Without Even Thinking About It!
*Do Some Recon Work … It's 2017, It's Really Not Difficult To Take 5 Minutes Before You Travel To Scope Out/Contact Gyms/Classes/Places To Workout… Do It! With A Little Bit of Prepping You Can Have Times and Days Set Up To Go Get Your Workout In. If You Are Into Zumba, Crossfit, Back Squatting, Bootcamps, Spin, Etc… Doesn't Really Matter The Reality Is That Whatever You’re Into There Is Decent Chance That There’s A Gym That Provides All That You Would Need To Fulfill Your Desires!
*Accept The Imperfection and Seek Different … Yes, This Goes With Your Workouts Too, Not Just Eating! You Are Likely Not Going To Have Your “Perfect Workout Conditions” While Your Traveling, and Guess What…THAT'S OK! Accept That You Might Not Be Able To Find Your ‘Perfect Gym’, or Do Your ‘Exact Bodybuilding Split Routine’… And Embrace That You Can Now Use This As A Chance To Both Deload and Try Some New Things. If You Want To Lift Heavy But No Gym Will Suffice Then Use This As An Explorative Time and Find A Different Type of Modality Around and Go Give It A Shot! Ya Never Know, You Might Love Spin Class…Just Try It…But You Must First Embrace The Idea and Seek It Out!
*Take The Stairs… When You’re Traveling There Are Always Stairs Around…USE THEM! If You’re In A Hotel…Take The Stairs! If You’re OUT Shopping and There’s Escalators…Take The Stairs! See A Random Set of Stairs In The Distance…Walk Toward Them For No Reason and Walk Up and Down Them! … Just Work Those Stairs At All Costs! I Have (Whether Traveling or Not) What I Call My “6 Flight Rule”… Which Is Basically Just I Won't Allow Myself To Take An Elevator If Wherever I Am Going Is Within 6 Flights of Stairs…Very Simple! Maybe You Set Yours At 2 Flights, or Maybe 10 Flights…But Set A Minimum. Also Stairs Are A Great Tool To Use For Your Actual Workout…I LOVE Just Either Walking or Jogging Up and Down A Large Stairwell In A Hotel For 10-45 Minutes As My Standalone Workout. Stairs Are Your Friend…Walk With Em!
*Break Up Your Road Trips … Yes, Long Drives Are Treacherous On The Bod…Locking It All Up! So Break That Mess Up With Some Movement! I Like To Use My 50-75 Mile Mobility Breakup Rule (I Even Have A Routine To Do At Each Breakup…Check It Out Here or Below!), In Which I Stop and Get Out To Move Every 50-75 Miles If I’m Going On A Long Trip. Maybe You Have A Set Routine That You Will Follow Each Time, or Maybe It's Just To Get OUT and Stretch, Walk, Mobilize, and NOT BE STAGNANT! This May Add A Few Minutes To Your Trip However In The Course of A Day You Can Take A Trip Where You Would Have Gotten In Exactly ZERO Steps In... To A Day Where You Get 6,000 Steps and A Ton of Other Work In and It's Super Easy, Simple, and Makes You FEEL GOOD! There Is Nothing Worse Than Getting Out of The Car After Hours and Hours of Sitting and Feeling Like You Just Went Through A 12 Round Boxing Match With Ali. So Make It A Point To Stop The Car, Get Out, and MOVE Every 50-75 Miles!
*Invest In Minimal Equipment … A Few Bands, A Kettlebell, A Slam Ball, Some Sliders, A TRX, These Types of Things Can Just Be Thrown Under The Seat and Can Turn Any Area Into A Full On Gym! Most All of These Items Are Relatively Cheap Too (Some Obviously More Expensive Than Others), But Find A Couple Things That You Really Like and Keep Them In Your Truck. I Always Have A Kettlebell, A Couple Bands, and A TRX In My Truck. They Take Up Essentially No Room At All But I Always Have A Gym With Me. If You’re Traveling A KB Might Be A Bit Much But You Can Easily Throw A Band and A Pair of Sliders In Your Bag… And This Little Investment Can Give You A Couple Tools To Work Your Back, Chest, Legs, Arms, Core…The Whole Bod!
*Make Challenges or Create Games/Site Hunt … Competition Is Wonderful Most of The Time…Well At Least I Think It Is, Even If It’s Just Competition With Yourself…Set Some Challenges While You're On Vacation With Your Movement and DON'T LOSE! Maybe You Set A Challenge To Take 13,000 Steps Each Day, or Walk 50 Flights of Stairs Before The Vacation Is Over, Etc. Set Lofty Challenges and Go Get Em. Also You Gotta Make Moving Fun! You’re On Vacation So You Should Probably Enjoy It…And A Great Way To Make Moving Fun and Enjoyable Is To Make Games/Contests Out of It! Whether You’re On Your Own and Are Just Challenging Yourself of You Are Challenging Others With You, Make Contests Where You See Who Can Find The Most Landmarks, Sites, Attractions, or Do The Most Fun Activities and Capture Them On Camera. See Who Can Get More Pictures of Doing Pushups In Front of ‘No Loitering Signs’ (or Any Random Thing)… This Will Be Fun Because You Have To Find Them Which Is Added Steps/Movement…Then You Get To Do Pushups, and You Get To Hopefully Win The Contest…It's Like A Win Win!!!!
*Set A Minimum … 10 Minutes You Can Always Spare, and Certainly 5 Minutes Can Be Found In Your Busy Traveling Days (Even If You Try To Convince Yourself That You Can't…So Make It A NON-NEGOTIABLE To Workout For A Minimum Number of Minutes EACH Day. This Can Be Anything From A Bodyweight Workout, Yoga, Jogging, Etc.….It Doesn’t Matter…Just GET THE JOB DONE! Again, Your Workout Doesn’t Have To Fit Some Perfect Mold of Fitness…But 5 Minutes Is ALWAYS Better Than Zero Minutes. Yes, You Are Possibly Going To Be Busy But Don't Let That Notion Trick Your Mind Into “I Just Don't Have The Time To Workout”…You Got 5…Get It In!
*Perfect Time To Work On Mobility … This Might Be The Most Long Term Beneficial Thing To Focus On. With The Strong Possibility of Not Having All The Ideal Equipment or Facilities To Get The Workout In That You Want, or Perhaps Any Equipment At All…This Is An IDEAL Time To Put Some Work In With Your Mobility and Flexibility. It Is Likely (If You’re Anything Like Me) That You Have Been Neglecting These Two Attributes of Your Fitness Anyway. So Capitalize On This Vacation Time To Work On These, You Won't Need Any Equipment, and It Can Also Be Very Relaxing So It’s Kind of A Double Vacation Bonus! Every Morning You Wake Up, or Before You Go To Bed…Work Mobility! Out On The Beach Relaxing? Take A Dip and Come Out To The Sand and …. Work Mobility! Stretch, Flex, Move, Don’t Think About Weights, and Just Get Fit!
*STOP STRESSING … Yeah, The Last Tip Is Way Simple… Just Stop Worrying About What You Will “Lose”… You're On Vacation After All! Worst Case Scenario If You Didn't Exercise At All The Chances of You Surviving and Being Ok Are Very High… and You Will Likely Find That You Didn't Fall Too Far Off of Anything (If At All).. If You’re Not Going Off The Rails With Your Eating, It's Probably A Great Opportunity For Your Body To Restore, Recover, and Grow Stronger!
And That’s It! You Now Have A Full List of Ways To Both Keep Your Eating In Check As Well As Your Fitness In Check While You're Traveling This Summer Season! There Is A Laundry List of Thoughts, Tips, Strategies, and Ideas That Could Be Listed…But Ya Know It's Really Not That Complex, and In Fact I Think That Making It More Complex Than It Needs To Be Will Do More Damage Than Good. The More You Travel The More Tightened Up You Will Have To Be Obviously, But Sticking To These Fitness Guidelines Will Safeguard Against A Rapid Expansion of Your Belt Notches and Perceived Pants Shrinking. Remember To Not Think In The “All In or All Out” Mentality”! The ‘Perfect’ Conditions May Not Exist While You’re Traveling, But Ya Know What…THEY DON'T HAVE TO! And In Many Ways It's A Good Thing That They Don't…Live A Little Bit and Use It As The Opportunity To PROVE To Yourself That YOU Have The Skills, Power, and CONTROL Over Your Life To OWN Your Health & Fitness!
Go Do This and Stay Fit This Traveling Summer Season!
Smile, Laugh, Tell Someone You Love Them, and Keep Living The Gooder Life!
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