Tips and Tricks for Training While Traveling!

For many, establishing a consistent daily routine is essential for allowing us to incorporate extracurricular activities such as exercise, into our busy schedules. While routines are often broken on the weekends, we know that when Monday rolls around, we can get back to those weekly rituals that keep us in line and allow for some sort of organization amongst the chaos. Nevertheless, for those individuals that don’t work a traditional 9-5 such as: pilots, nurses or anyone that spends a significant amount of time traveling for work; establishing a training routine that doesn’t necessarily require elaborate equipment or an hour and a half to commit to the gym is important to maintaining a healthy body.

When it comes to exercise selection, simple is often better.

While exercise variation is important for long-term progression, when your accessibility to equipment is limited, stick to the basics and choose movements that require little to no gear. For example; callisthenic exercises (bodyweight) are a great way to utilize your own weight to create resistance. Movements such as: pushups, planks, hip thrusts, and wall-sits all provide a functional benefit and have multiple variations that can increase or decrease the difficulty while allowing you to get your heart rate up and break a sweat.

Another great option for individuals who spend a significant amount of time on the road would be to pick up some exercise bands and a suspension trainer (such as a set of TRX straps). Bands and straps are relatively small, light, and easy to pack in your carry on or check-in baggage. They provide further exercise variation and give you more options to choose from when creating a program.

Maximize your time and program your workouts efficiently.

When I create a program for someone who is new to the gym, I try to stick with full body workouts so to maximize time and efficiency. By using multi-joint exercises (such as a squat where the individual moves at the hip, knee, and ankle), you can target more muscles which will equate to greater energy expenditure. To properly organize this, you can break your program down into PUSH, PULL, LEGS, and CORE exercises, ensuring to include at least 2-3 variations of each movement. Furthermore, if you have the time and the resources (bands and straps) then you can also throw in some accessory or single joint exercises to further increase program complexity. A final suggestion when creating your own workout program is stick within a time constraint. I find it easy to get side tracked and lose focus when you’re not in a gym, therefore using a timer to limit breaks or keep a workout pace is a great way to stay efficient with your training.

Travel Tips and Tricks

While travel does have a tendency to take you away from your regular routine, finding time to improve upon your health is important. By following these tips to training on the road, you can continue to exercise and live a healthy lifestyle no matter where you are

1)Exercise program that you can perform anywhere:

Repeat each exercise in Part A then Part B, 3 times for 10 reps, 30 second breaks in between exercises.

Part A: 

PUSH: Push Ups

PULL: TRX Bodyweight Rows

LEGS: Bodyweight Lunges

CORE: Plank (30seconds)

Part B:

PUSH: TRX Chest Press

PULL: Band Rows

LEGS: Bodyweight Squats

CORE: Side Bridge (30s/side)

2)Track your exercise progress:

To track your exercises and routine, check out the JEFIT workout tracker on your Android or IOS device and keep a log of your training program while on the road!

Happy Travelling!

Adam Hayre, BKine