Traveling abroad is always a blast for me, whether I’m in my own time zone or hours ahead or behind what my body is normally used to. One thing that I’m completely conscious of is maintaining my fitness while traveling.
I’m not someone looking to do some tough workout when I travel. However, I am aware that I am typically eating things my body isn’t used to and need to counterbalance that with burning some calories. Also, I’m not a runner, so I find other ways to burn a few calories while traveling.
A pair of sneakers always come with me on my trips. I also pack at least two “workout” outfits, in case I find time for the hotel gym, a local studio that has a class I may want to take, or an outdoor workout.
It costs absolutely nothing to do pushups and situps in your room. I try to do 10-20 reps every morning when traveling. It helps me wake up and gets the blood flowing, especially when there’s a bigger time difference than my body is interested in adjusting to.
Besides the obvious of walking around to explore a location, shared bike rentals are a big thing around the world. It’s a great way to get around an area and see even more than what you could on a walk.
For those who are into more weight training, there are some simple things you can bring that will help give you a good workout in your room, especially if the gym option is limited where you are. Resistance bands and sliders are easy to throw into my bag and can be used in so many ways in my hotel room or wherever I’m staying.
Some hotels have great fitness options, and even provide in-room accessories like yoga mats, resistance bands, or even dumbbells.
These days, there are numerous mobile apps that work not only on Wi-Fi but have downloadable workouts that are great for your travels. I have subscriptions to a few but Aaptiv is the easiest one for me to use when I travel.
I try to download a few bodyweight workouts that I can use in the room and have been known to utilize the hotel gym with one of their workouts on the treadmill or elliptical. The app even has the option to schedule your workouts so if you need that extra motivation by having it in your calendar, it’s super easy to do.
Hitting up a local gym or studio in a foreign country can be a little scary but fun. I have done this a few times with a couple of the studio classes I am familiar with from my home. It also gives me a great chance to learn more about another language.
Have you taken a Barre class in Mexico when Spanish isn’t your best language? I had a blast and it was fun trying to keep up with what the directions were. By the end of class, I actually felt comfortable with the instruction and was able to keep up.
Overall, keeping up with fitness during our travels is something many of us make an effort to do. From finding time to do some crunches to making time to check out a studio class while on a trip, there are many options available for anyone regardless of time or fitness level. In what ways do you stay in shape while traveling?
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