The 7 Secrets of Travel Workouts

Don’t let traveling hold you in maintenance mode; or worse – losing what you’ve worked so hard to gain.

This article will teach you how to continue making progress while you’re away, even with minimal equipment.

Lots of people travel. Whether for work, events, or just plain recreation, traveling is a regular part of life. So, how do you keep your training sessions from falling apart when you’re stuck in a hotel “gym” that only has dumbbells lighter than your Chuck Taylors?

It’s not always possible to run out and find a fully loaded training spot every time you’re away.

This article will not only show you how to keep your training intact, but also allow you to make improvements while you’re away – even if you don’t have much equipment.

The Benefits of Training While Traveling

You might be surprised to hear it, but working out in less than ideal conditions, with less equipment, and outside of your usual training space can actually be incredibly beneficial.

For one, this time gives you a chance to direct your training efforts to other fitness traits. You know, the stuff you always “know” you need to work on, but just never get around to.

This can be anything from mobility, tissue quality, joint health, stability and balance, conditioning, endurance, explosiveness, and even work capacity. These are all extremely important, even if your goal is just to gain muscle or strength, but they so often get swept under the rug to make extra room for more heavy training. When you aren’t  traveling, heavy work has to take a back seat since the majority of hotels don’t have fully equipped gyms.

Now is the time to work on these traits. You’ll return to your training primed for progress after the trip is over. You’ll even get mental benefit out of breaking away from your regularly scheduled programming for a fun new style of workout. These traveling workouts can be incredibly fun, and with a few training techniques, you’ll still be able to stimulate new growth in your muscles.

Trip Quality

Not only are there benefits from a training point of view, the quality of your trip itself will improve drastically by including effective training sessions while you’re away.

For example, many people have a hard time sleeping in hotels, especially after the stress of traveling, which keeps you seated all day.

Including a training session will help you fall asleep quicker and allow you to get a much better night’s sleep than if you chose to skip it. Not only that, but the full range of motion movements combined with mobility drills and self-myofascial release (SMR, also known as foam rolling) will help loosen up those tight muscles that have had to endure lack of movement in uncomfortable positions all day in a plane, train, or car.

You’ll feel better throughout your trip, and recover from the stress of traveling much more quickly. This is especially true if you’re traveling across time zones. Improving overall well-being and sleeping on your trip will do wonders for adjusting your body clock and exercise even helps with handling the physical symptoms of pressure changes during flight.

Working out while you’re away will also keep you in a healthy mindset when it comes to other decisions you’ll be making, which is possibly more important than anything. You’ll be more likely to say no to all those cookies and brownies they put out at the conference, go to sleep at a reasonable hour, and avoid completely letting your health and fitness go off the deep end.

The best part? You don’t have to be a crazy person doing push-ups in the airport or burpees on the side of the freeway to get benefits. Even short workouts can get the job done, so there’s really no excuse not to train. You may be exhausted from traveling, but remember these benefits when you’re considering skimping on the workout. You’ll be happier taking the time to work up a sweat.

Creating the Most Effective Session

While your travel workouts will be dependent on a bunch of factors like the hotel gym equipment, what equipment you bring, what your current training abilities and goals are, etc. there are still several key pillars that should be in your routine.

Hit All Muscle Groups

Your workouts while you’re away should stimulate most, if not all, of your muscle groups. When it comes to sessions with minimal equipment, by far the hardest muscles to adequately stimulate are your latissimus dorsi and trapezius muscles – your back muscles. We’ll get into the best ways to work those muscles with minimal equipment later on in the article, but for now just be sure that you’re making an extra effort to hit them.

Most other muscles can be hit with a variation of push-ups, squats, core work, and calf raises (which are all “pushing” type exercises, compared to the “pulling” nature of the back muscles).

Include a Variety of Training Variables

I mentioned a laundry list of the fitness traits you can work on while you’re away. The important variables to consider when creating a travel routine are muscular tension, fatigue, endurance, conditioning, and mobility/tissue work (the last of which is incredibly important if you have to spend long periods of time in the seated position while traveling). The good news is that even if all you have is your bodyweight, you’re still capable of training each of these traits.

Using techniques like unilateral exercises, mechanical drop sets, density training, circuit work, and mobility drills, each of these traits can be satisfied in a quick routine. We’ll get more in depth with the details of these exercises later.

Making the Most Out of Your Equipment

There’s no use skirting around the issue: Most hotel “gyms” suck.

If you are lucky, the dumbbells go up to 50 pounds. There are no barbells or squat racks. Some don’t even have resistance machines. Usually, all you’ll find is a few treadmills and stationary bikes, with an open area and a few mats. How are you supposed to turn that into an effective routine?

By using mostly bodyweight exercises.

Are you asking yourself if you can really create enough tension using only your own body weight? Well let me ask you this: Can you do more than 5 one-arm pushups? What about decline one-arm pushups? One-arm inverted rows or pull-ups? Pistol squats? Unilateral training allows you to put a lot of tension on muscles without resorting to any external resistance.

Bodyweight movements are also great for working on explosiveness by using plyometric drills. You can easily set up circuits to improve your conditioning and endurance, while burning a ton of Calories and boosting fat loss. In addition, using the techniques listed above, you can create the necessary tension and fatigue to get a great session.

Another fact specific to bodyweight training? The exercises are all “closed-chain kinetic” exercises, meaning you’re moving your body through space while your hands or feet stay stationary. These types of exercises have been shown to activate more muscle tissue, engage the nervous system harder, and may even have some extra advantage from a hormonal point of view (ie. increased testosterone).

Bodyweight training is nothing the scoff at, but there’s plenty of room for improvement. Having said that, some extra equipment is very useful. For example, pull-up bars, suspension trainers, benches, ab wheels, foam rollers, lacrosse balls, and jump ropes will greatly expand your exercise bank when using bodyweight-only training.

Luckily, with a little creativity, you can use a lot of everyday things as your equipment. For example, chairs can be used as benches when doing incline or decline versions of exercises, triceps dips, or when doing deficit reverse lunges, step ups, or single leg box squats. You could use rolling chairs for ab rollouts or reverse ab rollouts. No rolling chairs around? Do hand walkouts instead.

If you need a place to do pull ups or inverted rows, look for nearby trees, or better yet, a playground or park. Of course, you can always do sprints outside (assuming the weather is appropriate).

On top of all that, there’s a decent amount of equipment you can bring with you that won’t take up much room in your suitcase. A lacrosse ball is great for targeted SMR, and is certainly small enough to bring along. If you have space, you could even bring a mini foam roller. If you have suspension straps (like TRX for example), you can easily pack those to use for inverted rows (and a host of other exercises).

Don’t have suspension straps? Buy a rope for your local hardware store and create your own.*

*If you’re making your own suspension straps, be careful not to buy your rope too thin. If you do, it will cut into your hand and be uncomfortable to hold. A great idea I’ve found useful is to tie loops at the end of the ropes like handles, and wrap them in electrical tape for a nice, grip-able surface. Very easy to do and the far cheaper alternative.

Another bring along option, if you can, is a door pull up bar. Not only does this ensure you have a place to do pull ups, it also allows you to use your suspension straps by wrapping them around the pull up bar.

A jump rope is an easy thing to bring for a great cardio workout. An ab wheel is also small enough to bring, and it provides you with a great core exercise. When it comes to equipment, you don’t need a ton of fancy things to get a good workout. All you need is your body, and a few cheap, but effective pieces of equipment to expand your bodyweight exercise repertoire.

Where Should You Work Out?

Now that we’ve covered the minimal amount of equipment you’d need, let’s discuss the location of these workouts.

Typically when you’re on the road, there are 3 different places you can get your training in: the hotel gym, your room, or outside.

Let’s look at the pros and cons of each.

Hotel Gym

The first and most obvious place to work out while traveling is the gym at your hotel.

Despite being the room dedicated to working out in a hotel, most hotel gyms leave a lot to be desired. You can never be sure exactly what equipment a hotel will have (unless you’ve stayed there before or look it up beforehand), or if they have a gym at all, so it can be hard to plan your workouts.

When they are available, they are often very small and sometimes get pretty crowded. Not a good way to get a good session in. Plus they’re usually only open during certain hours, which might not work with your travel schedule. You also have to wear shoes in the gym, which means you need to pack a separate pair of shoes to bring with you.

All of that aside, depending on the equipment available, the gym can still be very useful. They usually have some machines and dumbbells, which give you more exercise options. Even if you don’t use that equipment, they also usually have a place for pull-ups, which will make your bodyweight training a bit easier, and allow you to do inverted rows by wrapping your suspension straps or rope around the bar. You may also find other equipment, like foam rollers, bands, exercise balls, etc. which can be useful.

The final advantage of using the hotel gym is that it’s usually a good idea to work out in a different place than you relax. It helps get you into the workout mindset, without having a bunch of distractions egging you on.

Your Room

Having said that, it’s not always possible to work out in a separate location.

Besides, there can be some benefits to working out in your room as well. Not only do you get the privacy to work out by yourself (which 100% means naked workouts, whoo!), but you can also work out whenever you want. There’s no timeframe you have to adhere to.

On top of that, you know what equipment you’ll have available. Most hotels are pretty standard and you can bet that there will be a doorframe to put a pull up bar, or a chair to use for decline/incline exercises. Also, from a packing point of view, room workouts save you from having to pack an extra pair of workout shoes, since you won’t be required to wear them.

Of course working out in your hotel room isn’t without its cons. The biggest of these are the fact that you have limited space and equipment, and that you’ll have a bunch of distractions around you, making it a little harder to get into the workout mindset. Once you get started though, this shouldn’t be an issue. You can even use it to your advantage by watching TV in the background, or playing whatever music you’d like.

Outside

The final, but least predictable, place you can work out is outside. Unfortunately, this is highly dependent on your location and the weather outside. If it’s cold, rainy, snowy, tornado-ing, whatever – you won’t be able to get a good session done outside (although a “tornado workout” does have a certain ring to it).That makes it a pretty unreliable option.

However, training outside allows you to get fresh air, and see the city you’re staying in. The bonus is that if there’s a park with a playground nearby, you have tons of awesome options for bodyweight workouts. You should be able to do any variation of pull ups, inverted rows, and dips – the exercises that require unique equipment.

Sample Hotel Workout

Below, you’ll find a sample hotel workout. The only equipment required is a pull-up bar and suspension straps or a rope (as described in the equipment section).

 Mobility Warm-Up x1:

• Spiderman Lunge x 10 per leg
• Shoulder Swings x 10 Forward and Backward
• Lateral Lunge w/ Overhead Reach x 10 per leg

 Circuit 1 x3 – all exercises done for max reps:

• Decline Push Ups, then Regular Push Ups, then Incline Push Ups
• Decline Inverted Rows, then Regular Inverted Rows, then Incline Inverted Rows
• Single squat or Reverse lunge
• Chin Ups

Rest 120 seconds

Density x 15 minutes – rotate through the exercises, resting as needed, and complete as many total reps as you can within the timeframe:

• Push ups/Rows/Step ups/Sit ups

Conditioning circuit x3 – all exercises done for max reps:

• Wide push ups
• Inverted curls
• High knees
• Prisoner Squat
• Ab Bike
• Plank

Rest 60 seconds

Jump rope/sprint intervals for 10-15 minutes to finish

Diet While Traveling

Ideally, you should maintain your normal healthy diet while you’re away. Let’s be honest though, chances are you’ll be around a lot of delicious, different foods, and sticking to your diet might not be so easy. If you have a few rules or a system to follow, you can still enjoy some of those foods while minimizing the damage and preventing any excessive slip ups.

Rule #1: Start your meals with a big serving of protein and veggies

Protein and veggies are the most filling foods, and they have the most benefit from a health standpoint. If you find yourself fighting cravings, be sure to start your meal with a big serving of protein and veggies. Afterward, you’re allowed to have some of the stuff you know you shouldn’t eat. After eating a whopping portion of protein and veggies, you may completely lose your craving for the junk. Even if you don’t, you’ll certainly end up eating less of it.

Rule #2: Stay busy to avoid boredom snacking

You’re sitting in the airport… Waiting… and then you hear your flight has been delayed for another hour.

If you’re like most people, you probably want to go grab a snack to pass the time and feel better.

Instead, stay busy by reading a book, watching a movie or tv show, getting work done, or occupying yourself in some other way. Mindless snacking is the easiest way to ruin your diet. The worst part is that it’s also the least satisfying way to eat.

By staying busy, not only will you avoid the snacking trap, you might even be productive and get something useful done.It’s a win-win.

Rule #3: Try intermittent fasting to help your body adjust to time changes

Your circadian clock is pretty powerful, and nothing screws it up more than changing time zones. Luckily, your circadian rhythm is also closely tied to your eating patterns, especially if you follow an intermittent fasting style of eating. By following a short 16-hour fast with an 8-hour eating “window”, you can help your body adjust more quickly to the time change. The bonus? If you fast during your travel time, you’ll automatically prevent mindless snacking, and the eating window allows you to still eat big, satisfying meals.

Planning For Your Trip

The key to keeping your training intact while traveling is good planning. If you don’t plan ahead, you’ll be canvassing a terrain without a map, and you’re sure to get lost.

A couple of things you should find out before you leave:

•         Where you’ll be staying
•         What the gym looks like (if there is one)
•         The weather during your stay
•         How much you’ll be able to pack and bring with you
•         Your schedule while away (and when you can work out)

Once you have that information, plan ahead by copying what the Air Force does. They have pilots prepare for missions by planning for the worst case scenario, the best case scenario, and finally, the most likely scenario.

The worst-case, SOL version:

You’ll be short on time the entire trip, you’ll have no access to a gym, and you can’t bring any equipment with you. The biggest issue will be hitting your back muscles, since pull-ups and inverted rows are your main options and both require equipment. By using exercises like Prisoner Squats, hand walkouts, ab rollouts, and push-ups, you can still get a little work for your upper back, even if it isn’t optimal.

If you know you’ll be in this “worst case scenario”, you can even plan a hard upper back workout right before your trip. That way, you can focus on the muscles you’re able to hit while you’re away, while letting your back recover from that hard initial workout. At the very least, you can squeeze in some mobility drills or conditioning workouts, which will still provide you with some benefit while you’re away.

Don’t be fooled into thinking short workouts aren’t effective.

The Best Case Scenario:

Obviously you’ll have much less to plan for in the best case scenario. You’ll have all the equipment you need and plenty of time to do it. Just make sure that if it turns out to be a “best case scenario”, that you have what you need (workout shoes, jump rope, etc.) and that you stick to the plan.

The Most Likely Scenario:

What you’ll likely encounter is a situation where you have some equipment and some free time, and you’ll need to use a little creativity to make everything work. The workout above is great if you have access to a pull up bar and can bring ropes with you, but you may need to use lower resistance than you’re used to and compensate by adding more reps and using less rest.

Never Waste A Trip Again

Traveling is a part of life, and I recommend you see as many places as possible. It increases your worldliness and gives you perspective on life.

And now, you’re armed with the knowledge to make your training super effective while you’re out exploring the world.

As a recap:

•         Traveling gives you the opportunity to work on fitness traits you might normally put off or avoid
•         Training while traveling helps keep your body healthy and on a normal schedule, which actually makes your trip better
•         To make training effective, you should focus on hitting each muscle and using a variety of training variables
•         Every muscle can be hit with bodyweight exercises, but your upper back requires a pull-up bar or suspension trainer/ropes (which you         may be able to bring with you)
•         You can work out in the hotel gym, your room, or outside, depending on your specific situation and what equipment you have                 available
•         Follow a system to keep your diet on track in the face of tempting foods
•         Plan for the worst case scenario, the best case scenario, and the most likely scenario

Never let your fitness slip just because you’re traveling. Get out there and enjoy the world.

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