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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. It’s also true that it really
doesn’t 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 you’re on the road.
However,
you still have healthy eating to think about and just because you’re
traveling doesn’t mean you can’t 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 you’re traveling and to come home in better
shape than when you left
Nearly
every time I travel (the exception being if it’s 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 didn’t make a decision to do otherwise. In fact, many people
hold a belief that it’s “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
There’s
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
don’t have kitchen, you will be much more likely to skip meals,
it’s 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 wasn’t 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 didn’t 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 didn’t 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, it’s 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 it’s 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 you’re influenced by non-healthy-eating
companions (don’t 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! I’ve 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. It’s 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 I’m 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 1970’s. 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 Bally’s
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 they’re upset or
disappointed when they don’t 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 gym’s 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 don’t 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. I’ve 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 couldn’t 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-person’s
chariot?”
About
the Author:
|
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 Men’s Exercise, as well as on hundreds
of websites worldwide. For information on Tom's Fat Loss program,
click
here.
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