Tom
Venuto's Top 10 Travel Fitness Tips
By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
I recently
read two articles about travel fitness. One said that
while you're traveling, you should keep up with 50% of
your normal training and the other said you should keep
up with only one-third. Both were written by well known
fitness professionals and both said that you should NOT
expect to keep up your regular exercise program while
you are traveling. That struck me as kind of "lame"
and I said to myself, Why the heck not? Why do people
have such low standards and demand so little of themselves?
Why do they let themselves off the hook and scale back?
Sometimes,
of course, traveling is purely for a vacation including
a vacation from training. Occasional time off from intense
training is beneficial and necessary to let your body
recover and rejuvenate completely from chronic training
stress, just as time off from the office is needed to
disengage your mind for a while. Its also true that
it really doesnt take much to maintain fitness once
it is developed, and an abbreviated, but still effective,
workout routine could certainly be used, if you choose,
when youre on the road.
However, you
still have healthy eating to think about and just because
youre traveling doesnt mean you cant
follow your regular exercise regimen. Why settle? If you
want to continue to improve your physique while on the
road, you can! Here are 10 ways that I did it on my last
extended business trip that you may find helpful as well.
It begins with a simple decision.
1. Decide to improve while youre traveling and to
come home in better shape than when you left
Nearly every
time I travel (the exception being if its a complete
rest and relaxation vacation), I set a goal to come home
in better shape than when I left. The only reason most
people usually come home with lower fitness and a few
extra pounds than when they left is because they didnt
make a decision to do otherwise. In fact, many people
hold a belief that its impossible to
stay on their eating and exercise program while they are
traveling! Why not get in better shape no matter where
you are? The truth is, all it takes is a decision and
some planning. I find it a fun and exhilarating challenge
to improve myself no matter where I am in the world.
2. Write out your workout schedule in advance
Theres
nothing like writing your goals down on paper to keep
your mind focused and keep yourself motivated. In addition
to writing out goals regularly, preferably every day,
you should also commit your training schedule to paper
and especially when you are traveling. Write down the
days, the time of the day and the exact workout you plan
to do and you will be amazed at how easy you will find
it is to get to the gym and have great workouts.
3. Get a hotel with a kitchen
The single
most important part of my travel arrangements was to book
a hotel with a kitchen. For me, not having a kitchen is
not an option. If you dont have kitchen, you will
be much more likely to skip meals, its very difficult
to eat 5 or 6 times a day (as required by any good fat
burning or muscle building nutrition program), and you
may end up at the mercy of restaurant, hotel or convenience
store food. For my most recent trip, I stayed at Homestead
Studio Suites, one of several national hotel chains in
the USA which includes a full kitchen including a refrigerator,
microwave, stove the whole works. Exteneded Stay
America and Marriot Residence Inn offer similar accomodations
On previous
trips, if there wasnt such a hotel with a kitchen
in the vicinity, I searched the internet for apartments
for short term rental. You may be surprised at the type
of lodging you can find and often you will be pleased
with price as compared to hotels. I once booked a luxury
condo for 7 days and it ended up costing less than the
hotel I was first considering, and the hotel didnt
even have a kitchen. Nothing beats a full kitchen, but
you may also find that many hotels will provide you with
a microwave and mini-refrigerator if you ask for them.
4. Go food shopping immediately after checking in
The FIRST thing
I did after checking in was to make a beeline straight
to the local grocery store. I took a shopping list with
me because on past trips I found that I nearly always
seemed to forget one or two small items if I didnt
have the written grocery list. Once you have a fully stocked
refrigerator and kitchen, your meal planning and preparation
is NO DIFFERENT than it is when you are home.
5. Check the local restaurant locations and menus and
commit in advance to making healthy choices when dining
out
Since I had
a kitchen at my disposal, the majority of my meals were
just business as usual. I cooked them right in my hotel
room and brought them along with me wherever I went. However,
when traveling, its likely that you will probably
be having quite a few restaurant meals.
I make it a
habit to scope out the local restaurants in advance and
even check their websites. Most have their menus online
these days. I make a decision in advance whether it will
be a regular meal or a cheat meal. If its
a cheat meal, I enjoy whatever I want, but I always keep
portion sizes in mind. For example, last time, I split
a slice of cheesecake with a friend. Was I guilty? Heck
no, it was my planned cheat day, I only ate half a slice
and it was the first cheesecake I had in 12 months!
If you walk
into a restaurant without having made a decision in advance
whether you are staying on your regular meals or having
a cheat meal, you are much more likely to have a diet
accident and make a poor choice on impulse, especially
if youre influenced by non-healthy-eating companions
(dont under estimate the negative peer pressure
factor). All it takes is one unplanned cheat meal and
that can often lead to guilt. Then all or none thinking
tends to set in and you may tell yourself, Well,
I blew it, so the next meal and then the rest of
the week tends to completely fall apart as well.
6. Cook portable foods and bring meal replacements or
healthy snacks for drives, flights and day trips
I love to drive,
so for my trip last month I packed everything up in my
car and hit the road. Naturally, I cooked for the road
trip and my food came with me! Ive learned how to
make a variety of portable foods including several different
types of oatmeal pancakes, tuna burgers and healthy sandwiches.
Some of these portable foods can be even eaten
with your hands while you are in a car, on a plane or
sitting in a seminar room.
On my recent
trip, I knew I had a long drive, so I calculated the number
of hours on the road and the number of meals I would need
and simply brought them all with me. For two of my on-the-road
meals I had oatmeal-egg white-apple-cinnamon pancakes
and one of my meals was simply a high protein
meal replacement shake and fresh fruit. Its not
difficult at all when you plan and pack food in advance.
7. Choose your gym or check your hotel fitness facilities
in advance
Many people
work out right in their hotel rooms with a body weight
exercise program or even portable equipment. Since Im
a bodybuilder, I refuse to go without a fully equipped
gym. Unfortunately, on-site Hotel gyms are notorious for
sounding great in the advertisements and then when you
arrive, you find that the gym is a room about
the size of a walk in closet, with a few pieces of (mostly
broken) archaic equipment from the 1970s. There
are a few exceptions, but having learned my lesson a couple
times, I now use the Internet to locate a gym prior to
my trip. Call in advance and ask if there are daily or
weekly rates.
You can also
ask if your hotel has an affiliation with a local health
club. During my last trip, the hotel was affiliated with
a Bally Total Fitness Center that was just a 10 minute
drive away and use of the Ballys was included with
the price of my room. It turned out to be an excellent
club, so I was a happy camper.
If you are
already a member of a gym in your local area, check to
see if your gym has an affiliation with other clubs around
the country or if they belong to an organization such
as IHRSA (international Health, Racque & Sportsclub
Association). Some clubs are part of a network which allows
you to train at other clubs when youre traveling - all
you have to do is show your membership card and you will
get access to train at other clubs that are part of the
network. IHRSA has more than 6,500 clubs in 67 countries
in its network.
8. Pack your workout gear and plenty of workout clothes
When you pack
hastily at the last minute, things can easily be forgotten
and left behind, so be sure to pack plenty of workout
clothes with you and bring any other gym gear you might
need (belt, lifting straps, etc). For extended trips,
inquire with your hotel to see if they have laundry facilities.
(The hotel where I recently stayed had an onsite laundry
room, which came in handy with my 2.5 week stay).
9. Change up your workouts as you change up your gym
Some people
get accustomed to their hometown gym and theyre
upset or disappointed when they dont have access
to the same equipment when they travel. They feel that
it cramps their style or hinders their results. However,
this can really be a blessing in disguise. Your body adapts
to any workout, often in just a matter of weeks. We tend
to be victims of our own habit patterns in life and that
includes our workouts. You might want to take advantage
of it when you have new and different equipment at your
disposal.
After scoping
out the gyms facilities, design an entirely
new workout program for a change. Do something 100% different.
Sometimes a simple change of exercises is enough to stimulate
new progress. The club I trained at during my last trip
had a full line of Strive machines which are
not available at my hometown gym. These machines allow
you to choose three different resistance curves on each
exercise. Very cool. Since I had access to this equipment,
I did a totally new routine and used more machines than
usual. Although most fitness experts these days generally
advise you to use more free weights than machines (and
I agree for the most part), using these machines was a
great change up and I could feel and see the difference.
10. Walk, bike or make physical recreation part of your
travel plans
Personally,
as I am already in very good shape, I usually dont
count casual walking as part of my formal
workout (cardio) program, although it certainly might
count for other people. However, it never hurts to get
some extra activity and all physical activity burns calories
and provides some health benefits. Ive found that
more often than not, when I am on the road, whether for
business or pleasure, there are plenty of opportunities
to get some physical recreation and see the sights by
foot.
On a trip last
year, I spent an entire afternoon hiking in the hills
of a beautiful national park. On another trip, I rented
a bike and rode for miles along a beachside bike path.
On my recent trip, I spent an entire day walking through
museums and then sightseeing. I walked for hours. I also
couldnt help but notice other people (mostly conspicuously
unfit people), tooling around outside on those stand-up
scooters. Funny thing too, because right next door to
the motorized scooter rental was a bike rental. Which
would you choose foot, bike, or lazy-persons
chariot?
About
the Author:
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Tom Venuto is a lifetime
natural bodybuilder, an NSCA-certified personal
trainer (CPT), certified strength & conditioning
specialist (CSCS), and author of the #1 best-selling
e-book, "Burn
the Fat, Feed The Muscle. Tom has
written hundreds of articles and has been featured
in print magazines such as IRONMAN, Australian IRONMAN,
Natural Bodybuilding, Muscular Development, Exercise
for Men and Mens Exercise, as well as on hundreds
of websites worldwide.
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