How to get fit on the road?

[gt0163c]

I travel fairly regularly and don't always have access to a gym. There's a couple of things that I do.
For cardio, a brisk, long (45 minutes or more) walk works well, especially if there are hills. When I'm visiting family, I walk around the subdivision. If my knees can stand it, I jog some. Generally jogging the cul-de-sacs, walking the straighter streets works well. When I get to the tennis courts (seems every sub has tennis courts now), I do some interval type training.
I run a set or two of wind sprints...running across the court (parallel to the net), run from the side line to the next side line, turn around and run back. Turn around and run to the next to last side line, turn around and run back to the starting sideline. Continue until you run out of lines. Then go back up. If there's two courts next to each other, you can do the same thing.
I also sometimes will skip across the court(s), then gallop, then side shuffle, sometimes hop on one foot or both. Pretty much anything I can think of to keep it interesting and keep my heart rate up.
A simliar workout could be done using any surface with lines. Sports fields, empty parking lots or even just running next to a fence using fence posts.

For strength training, I don't worry as much about that when I'm traveling. The skipping, galloping and such help with the legs. Adding lunges would help too. Sit-ups, curls, reverse curls (just your legs), double curls (both upper and lower body) will take care of your core. Push-ups go a long way towards upper body. If there's a playground or somewhere with a bar, and you're able, you can do chin-up. Dips can be done using a chair, window sill or edge of a bathtub. Curls can be done by holding anything heavy....two liter soda bottle, gallon of water, small children (don't laugh, when my nephews were really little they loved this. They'd still love it now, but my strength hasn't kept up with their weights).

Another options getting a set of elastic exercise bands. Most of them come with some sort of exercise sheet or video that you can follow or you can find instructions on the web or just do what you can to replicate the movements you do in the gym. Just becareful not to overdo it, especially for smaller muscle groups. That's very easy to do when you're doing something you're not familiar with.

[rstlne]

Resist the temptation to eat more just because you're in a different city. That said, I've been very bad at that because there is always new and different food wherever I travel that I don't normally find near home. Cities where every hole-in-the-wall restaurant has good food are the worst.

I also go hiking a lot when I travel, which tends to offset the dining out. There are parks and trails everywhere and lots of historic sites and ruins to explore.

[smartgrrl!]

Walk everywhere! Take steps, if using a rental car, park a few blocks from destinations/appointments. Elastic bands fit nicely into a carry-on. Ask the catering/kitchen staff in your hotel for a few #10 cans (you will return them later) to use as dumbbells

[jdp]

My fave - elastic bands - has already been mentioned. Heck you don't even have to pack them. You can fold them into a baggie and keep them in a coat pocket or anything.

[gt0163c]

Thinking about this some more, when I travel, my goal is always to do my best to maintain my fitness level rather to increase it. So, it's more of a "stay fit" rather than a "get fit". Not that you can't increase in fitness, but I find that, especially without a full gym and not being able to cook most of my meal myself, that staying where I am is about the best I can manage.

I also had some other thoughts: to help increase a cardio workout, especially if you're not able to run, is walking with a backpack full of something heavy. Including hills and/or stairs in your route can help even more. You might get some odd looks walking up and down the stairs at your hotel, but you'll get a good workout. I've gotten a number of workouts walking with my full pack in airports as well. (Atlanta is the best, as you can walk a full mile, one way, in the underground transit area between the terminals. And there's some neat statues to look at between terminals T and A.)

Someone mentioned canned food for light weights. Bottled water (or any other liquid) works well too. And, for heavier weights, plastic shopping bags full of whatever you have that's heavy (shoes, books, etc) work as well. Doubling or tripling the bags helps for extra heavy or pointy items.

I also like to juggle. It's not a great cardio workout, but it gets you moving, especially your upper body (lower body too if you drop a lot and have to go chasing balls around). Plus, it's fun. If you use koosh balls or something else that doesn't roll, it makes it a little less frustrating when you're learning.

[irish]

Your workout can be beefed up with some simple logic. By the way, at the moment you are very chest muscle orientated. When does your back get any exercise?
Check this out: Health and Fitness View: 100 push-ups a day - macho or mad ?
So first thing to consider is 1. how long will I be on the road without a gym and how often I need/want to train.
If it's a short period of time (few days) then any haphazard collection of exercises will suffice. For longer periods then break the workouts into muscle groups: Back, Chest, Legs, and possibly Full Body.
2. What equipment you have. Look for random objects that can be used as weights: buckets filled with water, tyres, rocks, books, backpacks,etc.
If you have none of the above then try these exercises:
Chest: push ups, single-arm pushups off a wall,
Back: pull-ups over door frame, pull ups hanging off a table
Legs: Single leg squats, jump squats
there are many more but this is just an example. Try to think of the muscle groups and then try to imagine the ways in which these muscles can be challenged. Imagine every different angle and possible position. But be careful, try and research these exercises when you can to make sure they are beneficial rather than dangerous. Keep it simple.

Originally Posted by markster 32

My family has been traveling quite a bit this month. We've been visiting several relatives all across the country. One thing I missed is the regular workout routine I had at my local gym. I just started working out 4 months ago. I've been pretty good at keeping up with my schedule. My routine is pretty basic--arm curls, push ups, sit ups, bench press, stair machine.

I don't expect to duplicate this entire workout while on the road. But I a itching to do something physical after eating all this turkey and pie! What can I do oh Wise Bread gurus to keep fit on the road?

[jkuo13]

Maintaining your fitness while traveling can be more challenging, but it's perfectly doable. When I was traveling for the holidays, I didn't exercise nearly as much as I do normally, but when I came back, I didn't lose too much of my fitness levels. Even without a gym, there's plenty of exercises you can do with just your bodyweight and creative use of your environment. Playgrounds are popular with me for getting my on-the-road workouts.

I used bodyweightculture as a starting point for ideas. The other thing that I find that works well for me is a jump rope. It can be done anywhere, is really portable, and is pretty cheap. If you can't get in the walking/running, a few minutes of jump rope will challenge you cardiovascularly and work a surprising number of upper body muscles.

[David DeFranza]

I know it is not for everyone, but personally, I love running for fitness and relaxation. When I am traveling, getting out for a run really helps me settle in a bit.

A lot of people have no trouble running for a set time. For whatever reason, that just doesn't motivate me. I like to know the millage of my runs. In a new town or city, this can be almost impossible to figure out. At least it used to be. Now, I use the Gmaps Pedometer. It lets me map out a route, save the map, it even gives elevation charts.

If you are interested in building or maintaining strength, plyometric drills are great for the lower body and don't require any special equipment.

[Megan]

I'm a runner, so that's pretty easy to do just about anywhere, but another easy solution is a dvd workout. I use them a lot when I go to hotels. Just pop it into my laptop and off I go. If you'll be somewhere where you have internet access, there are a number of free workout videos online. I've found the variety is great.

[lucille]

Most of the Hyatt hotels that are geared toward business have built in fitness centers and lap pools now. Hampton Inn I think also has a small workout room and pool in all hotels. If I was still traveling for work I would make a point of only staying in those two chains if I could arrange it.