In addition to the video that I made in Borneo in mid-March, I have compiled a list of smart things to employ while traveling if you’ve got it in mind to continue your workout on the road.
Just because you’re traveling, it doesn’t mean that you have to give up on your exercise routine. The list below will help you keep on track with your workout long into your travels — whether you’re traveling for just a week or months on end.
Keep in mind that, while I mentioned keeping a schedule in this list, I wanted to make a special note about that here.
The attention and care that you take in planning your workout regimen before you leave will be your best tool in preparing you for keeping up with your workout. We all know how busy and chaotic travel can be. But if you’ve created a schedule of your workout before you left, there should be little that stays in the way of your exercising goals.
Think creatively: You can use your backpack as a dumbbell or a stack of books as a Yoga block. Look around for a hotel with a gym. Many towns and neighborhoods have a pool or small fitness center — ask around.
This schedule should ideally be in the form of a ledger or notebook with very specific times and activities. It should have a place for you to write down your progress and keep an accurate account of what you’ve done, when you’ve done it and how many or how long each exercise took to complete. Once you’ve checked it off, you know that you can take the necessary recovery time until your next workout date.
Above is a “general” schedule of workouts. It’s specific but not overwhelming. It’s organized, too — leaving ample time for muscle recovery between workouts. It also, you might notice, divides the workouts to challenge your body one week and aerobically work it the next.
I like this schedule because the muscle training weeks allow me to be “comfortably lazy.” This means that I can sit around in a hostel, lay poolside or hit the beach for an entire week but punctuate my workout with long periods of catching up on journals, editing photos or rendering the newest videos.
But this is specific to me, my travel schedule and my particular fitness goals. So you can shuffle this around a bit or use a lighter or heavier routine to suit your travel requirements.
This particular routine is good for those with “themed” travel, like photographing the scenes or writing blogs. But yours might be better suited having less muscle training.
The schedule below is for keeping track of progress and take notes like “too much beer last night” or “don’t like running on Mondays,” or things like that. It, again, is very basic and is based on the above regimen.
[About the video: I was in Borneo this past weekend filming for what will probably end up being three filming sessions to shoot what I want to shoot for the North Borneo Railroad, a jungle hike, some of Brunei and of course, the orangutan refuge (and maybe even do the Pada white water rafting). While there, I realized that Borneo is a great place to talk about the challenges of exercising on the go.]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOUTjcuvBaU&w=560&h=315]
Below is the Top Ten list for how to stick to your routine while on the road.
The Top Ten List for Working Out on the Go:
1. Bring your own clothes and shoes — don’t plan on buying exercise gear or apparel in-country.
2. Pack any medical supplies that you need: inhalor, diabetic needs, etc.
3. In the cities, look for gyms that offer a free one- to three-day pass that can hold you over until you’re in the next city.
4. In the country, find a nice, out-of-the-way place to do your jogging. This will help to avoid animals, traffic and dangerous obstacles.
5. Bring a long-sleeved, synthetic fiber shirt for helping to avoid sunburn, dry skin from windy and arid conditions; and it will also provide a continual layer of moisture to help cool you off.
6. Bring a hat and sunglasses to keep the sun off your eyes and off of your face in the event that your workout takes longer than normal.
7. Don’t run in your hiking boots! And don’t hike in your exercise shoes. Take the time to pack safe enough shoes to support your workout.
8. Make a plan and stick to it. Just because you’re traveling, it doesn’t mean that you need to slide on your workout regimen.
9. Do sit-ups, push-ups and workout routines in your hotel room by bringing workout videos with you on your laptop.
10. Watch your diet. Extra attention must be paid when you change your diet to the host-country’s offerings. You can help this by bringing supplements and checking your beer/wine intake.
Do you find it hard to work out on the go? Tell me what you think in the comments section: