Anyone who is seriously committed to physical fitness knows how important scheduling and habitual consistency are when it comes to working out. But with all the time it takes to exercise, it’s difficult to maintain an active lifestyle while also conducting business (or having fun) while traveling.
Some hotels have nice full gyms with exercise equipment, which can enable you to do all the same exercises on the road that you’re used to doing back home. More often, though, these hotel gyms are “travel-sized,” small and incomplete versions of what you’re used to. And most Americans are busier while traveling than any other time – whether their schedules are packed with business meetings or sightseeing activities. This means it can be difficult to make time to get acquainted with a new gym, even if it is just down the elevator at the end of the lobby hall.
These factors lead many travelers to eschew their fitness plans altogether, taking a break in favor of other activities or professional responsibilities. But patterns show again and again that as soon as someone breaks their habit of exercising on a regular basis, it’s much harder for them to get back on the wagon. And even when they do successfully regain their former commitment to working out, it’s often only after seeing the physical effects of backsliding from their previous regular exercise schedule.
So how can men and women continue their exercise regimens while still doing what they want and need to while traveling? Like at home, there are two components to successful personal fitness on the road: the mental and the physical.
The Mental Component
Preparation is key when it comes to continuing to exercise on the road. Give yourself as much structure as possible before you leave. Write up a schedule of how long you’ll spend exercising each day, and when. While traveling, try to exercise in the morning as soon as you get up; that way it will be a priority and you’ll be much less likely to throw it out than you would if you waited until the evening, when you might be too tired after a day of business or vacation fun.
So schedule in your exercise time, along with everything else you know you’ll be doing: business meetings, sightseeing, meals, and miscellaneous end-of-day drinks or extended dinners that always seem to creep in. Hold yourself accountable to this schedule, but don’t let it ruin your trip either. If you’ve scheduled yourself for an hour of exercise in the morning but a quick call from the boss requires you to come to an early breakfast meeting, take twenty or thirty minutes instead to get just a little fitness in that day. It’s mentally much easier to resume a pattern if you stray from it as little as possible, and it’s physically much easier to maintain your physique and prevent backsliding than it is to make drastic improvements quickly.
The Physical Component
Because it’s comparatively easy to maintain your physicality, you can actually afford to pare down your exercise regimen while traveling, as long as you stay up on the basics of cardiovascular fitness and resistance training. And if you keep your exercises as simple as possible you’ll be much less inclined to give yourself excuses about skipping them.
Doing calisthenic (body-weight) exercises in your hotel room will allow you to quickly work out as soon as you wake up, before you shower or eat breakfast, without needing to plan around the gym’s schedule or inconsistent equipment. Do push ups on the floor, tricep dips off the bed or chair, and finger pull ups on the bathroom door frame. These exercises all work out many muscles at once, and are easily done in the privacy of your own room. Jogging around the neighborhood is not only good cardio but also a nice way to see what local restaurants, attractions and bars are around your hotel. Running first thing in the morning is a great way to get to know a new city without battling traffic, and it will invigorate you for the rest of the day as well as help your body to adjust to jet lag.
There are many challenges with maintaining an active lifestyle while traveling, but taking these mental and physical tips to heart will allow you to conquer many or all of them. You may even return from your week-long trip in with a more sculpted body than when you left.
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