By Mike Slomczewski, MSc.PT, CSCS, Summit Performance
As a physiotherapist and personal trainer for executives, business owners, and busy professionals, I’m frequently asked the same question by clients: “How can I stay fit when I’m travelling or on vacation?” Here are my best tips, in hopes you can implement these to stay fit no matter where life finds you.
Fail To Plan = Plan To Fail
A little planning goes a long way. A huge percentage of staying fit while travelling revolves around your ability to plan out the particulars of your on-the-go fitness routine – what, where, and when – in advance, and implement that plan while you’re away from home and your usual routine.
When you’re at home, you’ve got your daily routine: wake up, breakfast, work, etc. You operate the rest of your life like clockwork, so take this same approach to your health and wellness. Routinize and set aside a specific time in your schedule for exercise and hold yourself to it no matter what. Just as you do for the other appointments and people you care about.
Also, brainstorming about your training space is always a worthwhile thought experiment. If you know where you’re going to be (cottage, hotel, etc.), think about what you have access to that would make exercising easier. Is there a gym at the cottage or hotel? Best case scenario! If not, a set of stairs, or some resistance bands. Don’t forget a commitment to blocking out some time in your schedule on travel days goes a long way to maintaining on-the-go fitness.
This little bit of planning and routinizing keeps you in the same groove you’ve got while at home, and ensures you can be there for those you care about for the next five, 10, and 20 years too.
The First Step to Start Your On-The-Go Fitness Habits
Our unconscious brain loves excuses. This means that anything we could see as a barrier to exercise, we will see as a barrier to exercise. Saying to yourself, “I can’t exercise – I left my resistance bands at home,” is an easy rationalization at the moment. So set up your luggage and the places you go frequently with duplicates, so there is no barrier keeping you from your healthy, on-the-go fitness habits. This is where resistance bands, jump ropes, and backup protein bars pay off huge, in terms of the space-to-convenience ratio for the luggage or handbag you take everywhere.
This little bit of effort means that when you’re on the go driving, flying, or working, you’ve got an autopilot option to stay on track. Instead of stopping roadside or at the airport for that convenient but probably suboptimal snack choice. It’s never one big thing but 100 little things you have to get right to be consistent with your health and fitness while living a high-mobility lifestyle.
Get an Accountability Buddy
You don’t have to go it alone. If you have a choice between sleeping in and a 6 a.m. workout on a Saturday, you know what you will instinctively choose. However, if you’ve made a commitment to someone else, you’re much more likely to make the harder choice.
Accountability buddies can give you an excuse to exercise, instead of the 100 excuses you can invent in the moment not to exercise.
Accountability can take many different forms. Committing to a spouse or friend by putting agreed-upon workout times in your calendar can pay big dividends. A personal trainer, especially one who comes to you, can help by doing the “what” portion of exercise planning and legwork for you. This is a big value-add if you just want to wake up, get your workout done, and be on with your day. Thus, without having to drive to a gym, sort through which exercises and which equipment to use when, and how often. Leaning into others who are stakeholders in your health and wellness can inspire you to commit to the time you set aside to train/exercise.
On-The-Go Fitness: Bite-Sized Exercise
Anything is better than zero! Even if you can’t make the time for a daily workout, you absolutely can do an extra lap of the stairs each time you use them. You absolutely can do 10 bodyweight squats every time you sit down. Or, you can make a point of going for a 10-minute walk after each meal with your spouse or partner. These little wins can add up quickly if you fully commit to them. Definitely, it’s a game-changing mindset for many of the executives I work with. Even when their schedule while travelling is wall-to-wall slammed.
Bundle Exercise with other Activities
To keep workouts from feeling like a chore, hack your brain’s reward system. Bundling exercise with an activity you enjoy can inspire you to pony up.
For example, I enjoy listening to music. One idea could be to set a rule that you can only listen to music when you are walking the stairs, treadmill, or in the gym while you are away. This habit will allow you to “soften” any lack of motivation to exercise by giving your brain a bit of positivity: listening to your favourite playlist while you exercise.
Another way to do this is to bundle exercise with an activity you know you must do, but that can be done anywhere. Example: I have to take a call today, but it doesn’t matter where I am when I do so. Try putting headphones in and walking the stairs or treadmill while you take that call. This will ensure you’re making optimal productive use of time you know you would have to set aside anyway.
Of course, these habits take a bit of discipline to implement. But a little forethought and implementation can unlock a huge amount of benefit for maintaining on-the-go fitness, even if travelling and/or vacationing are a regular part of your life.
_______________________
Mike Slomczewski, MSc.PT, CSCS is a physiotherapist, strength and conditioning specialist, and the owner of Summit Performance. He serves executives, business owners, busy professionals, and unique solo athletes with full-service and travel health and fitness services. Learn more about Summit Performance at: summitperformance.fit
