This month, we are posting a blog by Mike Manning (mikemanningmusings.blogspot.com). Mike is interested in how fitness and eating healthy can specifically benefit frequent travelers and those on vacation. He told me that “fitness has helped me in particular with dealing with stress and anxiety and I have found that keeping in this routine while traveling is extremely hard and tedious. Exercising should not just happen in the confines of your own home, gym, or neighborhoods. It should be explored in other areas especially for a frequent traveler who wants to stay in his or her routine.”
I agree that frequent travel should not prevent a person from maintaining their exercise routine, and that many fitness options are available while traveling. I hope you enjoy Mike’s blog.
Exercising While You are Traveling by Mike Manning
Even though it may be hard to continue your normal fitness while you are traveling, you do not have to completely refrain from doing any type of exercise. Needless to say, when you are traveling, you will be under a lot of stress. Regardless of whether you are traveling for business or pleasure, there will be many things that will cause you to become stressed. From waiting for hours during your layover to spending more money than you want to spend, traveling can make you a very unhappy person. Therefore, you have to be sure to incorporate some type of exercise to lessen the amount of stress your body will endure. If you bring small exercise equipment with you, research the hotel that you will be staying in, and take advantage of the different airports’ facilities, you will have no trouble exercising while you are away. On a trip to Maui I was able to take advantage of some due diligence and get a hotel with a great fitness center. I did this by looking at a list of Maui Hotels online and clicking through to see which ones had the right amenities.
Although it will be impossible to bring a treadmill or elliptical with you when you are traveling, you can bring some exercise equipment. For example, a jump rope will fit nicely into your suitcase, and you can use these while you are watching television. Resistance bands are also small enough to fit comfortably with your luggage. In addition to these, you can also pack workout videos in your luggage. During your time at the hotel, you can simply play one of these videos in the DVD player, and you will be able to get in a great workout.
It is extremely important to research the hotel that you will be staying in. Although it is common to see hotels with some type of exercise equipment, you will want to be sure that your body will be able to use the equipment that is available. For example, if you are not used to exercising with free weights, then you will want to make sure that the hotel has other types of strength training equipment available. Also, if you are used to exercising outdoors, you should determine if the hotel has any walking trails available nearby. By researching the hotel, you will know how to structure your exercise routine prior to arriving.
Finally, you should always be sure to take advantage of any exercise facilities available at the airports. Many airports have taken steps to help passengers incorporate exercise into their lives as they wait to board their flights. For example, some airports offer passengers the opportunity to exercise in yoga rooms and walking facilities during their layovers. If exercise facilities are not available, you can simply choose to walk the airport, and this will also give you an extra opportunity to exercise.
