Anyone serious about fitness must dread traveling for business or pleasure. While many hotels have gyms; you never know if their gym hours will match your availability or if the equipment is what you want. While you always need to travel light, there are five tools that everyone can fit into their luggage that can help you get all the exercise needed to stay fit while on the go.
Pack ankle and wrist weights. These work for any exercise you normally use a free weight or dumbbell form, but have the added benefit of packing quickly and easily. I recommend wearing your weights when running around airports to double up your travel time making connections or waiting for boarding. Put them on when doing squats, sit-ups and push-ups for added weight and resistance. They can also help turn a morning jog from a cardio calorie-burn into a lean muscle building activity.
Speaking of morning jogs; the biggest mistake most people make when traveling is not bringing along athletic shoes or sneakers. Even if you aren’t a runner, pack a pair of tennis shoes and spend some time wearing them. Walk the hotel corridors or go up and down the stairs, enjoy a morning stroll along Main Street or in a nearby park. Having good athletic shoes will allow you to take these walks with less chance of injury and stress on your feet, making the exercise more enjoyable and less painful.
Another great tool to bring with you is a tennis ball or racquet ball. No, the point isn’t to play tennis or racquetball: although, if the hotel has courts those CAN be great ways to get a workout in. Instead, grip the ball in one hand and squeeze as hard as you can to provide your forearms and hands with a good strength building exercise. A racquet ball packs light and takes up little space, making it an ideal choice for an exercise like this.
Resistance bands also pack light and are helpful when doing a variety of exercises. A resistance band and related exercises provide basic arm and strength training. There are many exercises available with resistance bands, but one great exercise is to use resistance bands while performing squats. Squats alone are great lower body strength, but by stepping on the resistance band shoulder length apart and holding them at chest level, you will expand the benefits of the squat to your upper body as well. Another great resistance band exercise is to ones are using resistance bands during squats and
Finally, one tool that almost everyone forgets is the proper nutrition your body needs to sustain exercise and strength training. A lightweight choice is to bring whey protein supplements. Most whey protein comes in a powdered form which you add to water to make a tasty and nutritious whey protein shake. Since your hotel or motel will provide the water, all you are packing is the lightweight powder. Whey protein provides your muscles with the right sort of building blocks to both develop and maintain lean muscle.
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