How to Never Miss a Workout When You Travel
Staying in shape at home is hard enough; hit the road, and the obstacles really add up: Tiny hotel gyms. Hotels with zero gyms. Hectic travel schedules. All-you-can-eat breakfast buffets with those little omelette stations. Sometimes you’re your own worst enemy. “Motivation is definitely the biggest challenge when traveling,” says Jay Glazer, an NFL commentator and owner of Unbreakable Performance in LA. “You usually want to jump right into your meetings, or meet up with friends—or head to the bar.” The easiest way to stack the odds in your favor is with one or two easy-to-pack workout gear, recommended by pros who know best.
The Pro: Kirk Myers, Founder & CEO of New York’s DOGPOUND, AKA Smash City. Residents of Smash City include Alexis Ren and Karli Kloss.The Gear: Resistance Band (with or without handles)
“Resistance bands are a multipurpose piece of equipment that can support muscle building and fat loss, making targeting major and minor muscle groups with varying levels stress highly effective when access to a full facility is limited,” Myers says. Here are a few exercises to get you started.
Can’t find room in your schedule to fit a workout in? Meyers calls bullshit. “Time constraints are never a REAL problem. From 15 minutes to 1 hour, there's always a routine or combination of moves that can ignite your metabolism and spike your heart rate in a matter of minutes that will leave you drenched,” he says. “The most effective exercise when time (and space) are limited is the burpee. Burpees are full body strength and endurance building exercise that is the epitome of functional fitness.” High-intensity exercises like the burpee burn up to 50% more fat than moderate exercising.
The Pro: Joe Holder, a New York-based health and wellness consultant who has trained the likes of Derek Blasberg and Fedez.The Gear: Recovery tools, TheraGun, Powerdot, and the Hyperice Hypersphere.
“Therabands, a jump rope, your body, and some running shoes will typically get the job done. I also like using the Nike + Training Club App that gives me easy workouts to do when I'm on the road,” Holder says. His real travel hack comes after the workout.
If you really want to be serious about hitting the gym when you get home, invest in recovery when you're traveling: “I think people don't focus enough on recovery and being on the road allows me great time to focus on feeling better so I can hit training sessions harder when I get back from my vacation or work trip. Recovery is actually the most important part of training,” Holder says. “You can use the TheraGun to work out knots on tight muscles, the Powerdot as ‘active recovery,’ basically placing it on areas of your body that were just worked out or feeling a bit sore, and the Hyphersphere is perfect size for traveling. Think of it as a mini foam roller but it vibrates to help you get out those knots.”
The Pro: Jay Glazer, NFL commentator and owner of Unbreakable Performance in LA where you’ll find stars like Sylvester Stallone, Wiz Khalifa, Nick Jonas, and Demi Lovato training.The Gear: 16-ounce boxing gloves
“They’re compact and light enough to fit in your bag, and so versatile you can use them wherever you’re traveling. You don’t need to find a gym or even leave your hotel room, you can just throw them on and get in a workout right there,” Glazer says. “I like to do an interval routine; switch up the exercise every 30 seconds to one minute. Start with shadow boxing to get your heart rate up, then move to pushups, skipping, crunches, jumping jacks, punching in the air (great for a shoulder pump!). Can also use the bed to punch down on, like you’re ground fighting. It’s a great stress-release from traveling for long hours.” And a good way to blow off some steam if you’ve had a long day of maybe-not-so-productive meetings with the West Coast team.
The Pro: Uriah Hall, UFC champ and real-life video game character. (Literally.)The Gear: Resistance bands
“It depends on where I'm going, but a small item I usually take is a resistance band for resistance training like push-ups squats or sit ups. It's basic work but I can add tension,” Hall says. “I always find ways to work out in my hotel room. I turn the heat up so I can sweat more, and I do squat on the chairs, like one-legged squats. It will help a lot if I have my resistance band.”
The Pro: Katie Chung-Hua, a fitness model, former hockey player, TEAM bodybuilding.com athlete, and trainer.The Gear: Gliding discs
“Since [I can't] squat heavy or lift heavy dumbbells, I use my travel days as an opportunity to get in my cardio by using high reps and HIIT workouts. Use these workout accessories to get high reps and sweat,” Hua says. “I love gliding discs, resistance bands, and resistance tube with handles.”
The Pro: Todd Durkin, MA, CSCS, a strength, speed and conditioning coach, personal trainer, not to mention an author, the owner of Fitness Quest 10 in San Diego, and a trainer on NBC’s STRONG.The Gear: Superbands
“I love Superbands, particularly one-inch bands, [which] allow for the greatest diversification of exercises,” Durkin says. “There are dozens of exercises with the Superband but my favorites are: Lateral band walks, Superband band splitters, core rotations, assisted pull-ups with the Superband under your knee, and resisted Superband pushups.” Durkin’s keys to optimum travel health include drinking at least a liter of water on every flight, avoiding alcohol, eating healthy whenever you’re out, and cutting out the excuses. “Get over it and just get out there and move for a minimum of 20 minutes.” Just think: you'd probably use that time scrolling through Instagram anyways.
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The Pro: Harley Pasternak, MSc, a celebrity trainer, fitness and nutrition specialist, and author who has worked with hard bodies like Adam Levine and Megan Fox.The Gear: TRX suspension straps and a fitbit
“As often as I can, I try and travel so I land in my destination early in the day, and I hit the ground running. Literally. I try and get some exercise in right away, even if it means walking to my first meeting. I also do some early reconnaissance work by Googling the best places to get healthy food and good coffee near where I'm staying,” Pasternak says.
For gear, he mixes a combo of high and lo-tech tools. “The TRX hangs on a door and you can train your whole body: push, pull, upper body, lower body, and core,” Pasternak says. “The fitbit is the perfect tool to motivate you to move more throughout the day even when you're not working out. It also helps you keep tack of the quality and quantity of your sleep—and we know that sleep often suffers when you travel.” Having a fitness watch on means that you'll be that much more attentive to how well you're treating yourself.
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