Exercising While Travelling
 

I have found travel to be a great way to get cardiovascular exercise as there are always opportunities to walk, use stairs, etc.

The problem I run into while traveling is getting my strength training in. What exercises do all the FTer's who travel frequently do to keep in shape? Obviously these need to be exercises you can do pretty much anywhere with little or no equipment. Anyone have an on-the-road regimen they can recommend?

Every city has gyms that will let you work out for a nominal daily fee (usually $10). You can find creative ways to include this in your expense report;) You can usually walk to them if you are in the city or drive to them. I have memberships at Golds and Ballys and usually find them in the cities I travel to. My experience has been that the staff at the front desk at most hotels also have recommendations for gyms that are close and the hotel has an arrangement that will allow you to work out at them. Most evenings are too crowded so i will work out early mornings.

it's tough - motivation-wise - to workout while travelling anywhere other than a gym.

In the hotel room, put your feet on the bed and hands on the floor, and the press-ups you do will work out shoulders and chest.

The chair at the hotel room desk? sit on the floor, lift your hands onto the seat, push yourself up and down - great for triceps.

Abdomial excercises - planks are good, given that you don't need a mat for support like you would/should with reguar sit-ups.

But on the whole - a hotel gym's much better.

Push ups and sit ups.

I rarely do them while I am at home (where I do cycling on the road and weights in the gym), so this keeps me in shape and is a bit of a change of pace....

If my hotel has a gym, I'll try to hit the weights. I very rarely do the other stuff, like treadmills (you never get anywhere)....

Thanks for the advice. Never even thought to check out the local gyms when my hotel lacks one...

I bring this with me when traveling:

http://www.perfectpushup.com/

I have an all clubs membership at a gym chain. I find one when traveling. I rarely do anything in a hotel. They don't have enough space/things/heavy things to make it worthwhile. I try to at least do some deadlifts while on the road. It's a quick way to hit a lot of muscle groups.

Yes, this has always worked for me as well. I've never had difficulty finding a gym on the road.

Matt Furey
 

Do a google search for Matt Furey and/or Combat Conditioning. I guarantee these bodyweight exercises will kick your you-know-what! Hindu pushups and squats, neck bridges, etc. They really work well.

The ability to exercise while traveling sometimes depends on the quality of hotel you stay at. Many of the nicer hotels have quality fitness centers. For instance, the Hilton San Francisco has a great fitness center(almost like a health club).

I did a thread in the Hilton forum a while back about hotel fitness centers if anyone is interested.

Which Hiltons have the best fitness centers

Press-ups? Never heard them called that. Anyway they also work the triceps.

I agree, and it's the very exceptional hotel or resort that has a decent weight room. Sometimes even 5* resorts don't have a good assortment of free weights, benches, etc.

I nearly always stay in hotels that have gyms, although many of the European ones tend to open too late on weekend mornings to be of much use for me. While I agree with the posters above that the strength-training machines are rarely very good, I can usually make do with a few free weights, a mat, a bench and a ball.

Push ups and running alone will keep you in great shape if you do them religiously and strenuously. Good to throw in ab work too, and strong abs will also help with running and push ups.

I've found a new routine that I really like:

run 5 mins-50 push ups-run 5 minutes-40 push ups-run 5 minutes-40 push ups-run 5 minutes-40 push ups-run 5 minutes-40 push ups-run 5 minutes-40 push ups-collapse in a pool of sweat

Obviously some people will do more or fewer push ups. Do it without resting between sets and it will really kick your butt.

Wow. +1 for effort alone.

Most concierges will be able to guide you towards quality running routes from your hotel. My only problem is fitting the running shoes in my rollaboard, especially when traveling for work.

I do push ups and some jogging every possible morning, but would also add some variety to your anaerobic part. How about some exercise for the stomach, back and calves etc.?

Here's an article that was in this month's Men's Health that talks about using portable resistance bands for use when traveling. I typically use the hotel gym but this could be a nice alternative.

Push ups are good for the upper back (lat) muscles.

Ab work should strengthen your lower back (actually a strong stomach will prevent lower back problems). I hate sit ups. I do crunches and leg lifts (lie on my back with legs out straight and lift my legs in the air 50-100 times. I do "sit backs", where I start in the position you normally end a sit up in and go back 1/3, hold it for 5 - 10 seconds, go back more and hold it again, and then go back until my back is almost touching the goround and hold it again. I do those 3 exercises in a row 3 times and also mix in some side twists with no rest between sets. Planks seem good, too, but I don't do them.

To work your calves, get on your tippee-toes. Just going from flat footed position to tippee-toes several times will work your calves. It's even better if you have some weight resting on your shoulders as you do this.

Using a chair and bed to do makeshift dips will work your tri's. Feet on the bed, hands on the chair and nothing under your butt. Dip down and then back up several times.

I don't do biceps work. That's a beach muscle. Big strong arms come from good triceps.

Same here. Whether or not to pack my running shoes is a big internal debate of mine on nearly each trip (unless I have to check a bag, in which it's a no brainer).