Whether you are looking to travel for holiday family trips or you travel for business, or you just need a good old fashioned vacation, it invariably takes a toll on the regularity of your exercise regimen and your life in general.
You’re jetlagged, in an unfamiliar town, uncertain of the roads, and you don’t have access to a gym because yours is a local gym with no franchises elsewhere. If staying in a hotel, you don’t have access to a kitchen or wholesome ingredients so you eat unhealthily — the reasons (excuses) are endless. (Or it is the holidays and portion size expands.)
If healthier living is a lifestyle instead of a resolution then there should be no “wagon” to fall off, and you won’t come home with more baggage than your dirty laundry!
Do your homework and plan ahead!
- Book yourself into a hotel with a gym.
- Create a routine for yourself that you can do in the confines of a hotel room. This way you’re more likely to actually do it because you’ve tried out its effectiveness in the familiarity of your own home.
- If you’re a runner, check in with a local running club and join them on their run! This is a great way to meet like-minded people and run with a pack, which is much safer, particularly on roads you’re unfamiliar with.
- Commit to healthier eating choices and research local eateries around your hotel so you know which ones to hit and which ones to avoid.
- If you’re traveling for business and expect to have long days in conference rooms with little time for yourself, bite the bullet and wake up just thirty minutes earlier and squeeze in a run around your hotel or a quick resistance workout in your hotel room. Resistance bands are light and take up no room in your suitcase — so don’t leave home without them. You can also use a phone book or big bottles of water in lieu of weights.
- Exercises like push ups, lunges, crunches etc. require no equipment.
Improvise!
- If the weather is bad, find a mall and “mall-walk.” (Leave your wallet -behind so you’re not inclined to shop, just carry some change and your ID in a pocket in case of an emergency.)
- Book yourself into a higher floor at the hotel and use the stairs instead of the elevator for an instant cardiovascular workout.
- Instead of eating every meal at a restaurant, find a local grocery store; buy some fruit, cereal (or oatmeal) and milk and store it in your room for a healthier (and cheaper) breakfast for everyday of your trip! Get yourself a sandwich from the deli section and you’ll be less inclined to get “chips, drink and a cookie” than if you were to go to a “Subway” or “Quiznos” or some such sandwich place. This way you can allow yourself to indulge a little for dinner and taste the local wares.
- If you don’t have 30 minutes to commit to your workout, then break it up into 10-minute chunks.
Make it Fun!
- Make exercise a part of your trip. Walk to all the sight-seeing icons; walk whenever to wherever you can.
- Most of the larger cruise ships offer state of the art gym equipment, so if you’re chowing down at the all-you-can-eat midnight buffet, make sure to work it off the next morning on the running track around the ship, in the pool or at the gym.
- Try something you’ve never done before, i.e., Seattle is home of the REI flagship store — which has a 65 foot tall, rock wall — test it out!
- Go skiing in Dubai, or indoor ice skating in South East Asia, whatever your pleasure, do something to elevate your heart rate while doing something you’ve never done before.
- Go on a different kind of vacation — adventure travel no longer means camping and eating out of a tin cup. There are enough adventure tour outfitters happy to tailor a trip that combines a healthy dose of adventure geared to your skill level with luxury accommodations and gourmet cuisine.
- Include the whole family; ask every member of the family to come up with different forms of exercise daily. Now you have diversity and accountability!
- Allow yourself an indulgence. Make a reservation at the French restaurant you’ve heard so much about and conserve your calories by eating healthily all day, so you won’t feel so guilty about eating every course — including the dessert and cheese!
When you travel, make it a habit to pack your workout gear. Yes, your athletic shoes are bulky and cumbersome to pack, but think about where you’d rather have those extra pounds … in your suitcases or on your person! You won’t leave home without your tooth brush — make your exercise clothes just as important and you’ll come home without the sense of doom of you now have to drop those extra vacation pounds.