Keeping Fit While On The Go
Busy schedules and traveling keep people on the go. Unfortunately, being on the go doesn’t necessarily mean you stay active, but instead may involve hours of sitting, which can take a toll on physical fitness.
Luckily, there are plenty of ways to keep fit by using bodyweight exercises for strength training, and other clever strategies that can help you maintain a healthy lifestyle. The following are some tips to help you stay active and keep fit, no matter how busy your schedule is.
1. Be Prepared Wherever You Go
Whether it means wearing walking shoes to work or on the plane or carrying a gym bag ready for action, being prepared allows you to take advantage of unexpected downtime. Airport layovers and meeting breaks are other times to fit in a walk or some other type of physical activity.
Being prepared can apply to diet, as well. Don’t rely on hotel or restaurant food that might only offer vending machine food or pastries. Instead, keep a protein bar and bottle of water in your bag, or carry a small cooler with fruit. Your body will thank you, later.
2. Plan Ahead
Look ahead to where your day takes you to help you plan activities. Airports have lots of room to take a 15-minute power walk and hotels often have pools and exercise rooms. Walking in between meetings and during a lunch break are also ways to fit in physical activity so you can be sure to counter the time spent traveling.
Planning meals can also help you maintain a healthy lifestyle. When traveling, look ahead for restaurants that offer wholesome meals or pack healthy food that you can take with you. Breakfast bars sometimes offer fresh fruit and yogurt for breakfast or a snack that won’t weigh you down. Hard-boiled eggs or homemade protein bars are easy to pack and can ensure your energy levels remain high while you eat lean.
3. Strength Training
Traveling doesn’t mean you have to give up strength training, even if you don’t have time to lift weights at the hotel gym. Try bodyweight exercises, instead. While bodyweight exercises might not build muscles fit for a bodybuilding competition, they can certainly help you maintain or increase muscle mass and remain physically active while on the go.
Bodyweight exercises are those that use your own weight instead of machines and free weights. They can easily be performed anywhere, including a hotel or a local park. Some exercises include pushups, squats, lunges, and planks.
Plyometric exercises also use bodyweight and are more intense so that an entire routine can be performed in 15 minutes. Some of these include burpees, jump rope, squats, and pushups with a clap. Don’t forget to stretch out after your workout and take advantage of any hotel hot tubs for an enjoyable recovery. The beauty of bodyweight exercises is they can be performed in a short time, anywhere you are.
4. Hotel Room HIIT
For those who like exercise routines, hotel rooms are great because they are mainly soundproofed with heavy floors and ceilings. It’s also time to just focus on you. Take advantage of your hotel and do a HIIT routine while waiting for your next meeting. HIIT stands for high-intensity interval training and is proven to be one of the most effective ways to get in shape in a shorter amount of time. The exercise routines are efficient and can be adjusted to suit your level of fitness.
Some exercises include a warm up with jumping jacks or butt kicks, reverse lunges, jump squats, mountain climbers, and pushups. Do each exercise for 30-45 seconds and take a 30 to 60-second rest. Make each move intensive enough that you run out of steam in 45 seconds or less, but not so much you cannot recover in 60. The goal is to keep your heart rate up in order to burn calories in a shorter amount of time.
The beauty of HIIT routines is that not only are they good for traveling, but they make excellent home workouts for those on the go because of a busy lifestyle. No matter where you are, you can fit in a 20-minute routine before you begin your day.
5. Prepare Your Meals
Making or preparing your own food will almost always be healthier than dining in a restaurant. Not only will you have more control over the amount of sugar, fat, and salt you consume, but chances are you’ll save money, too.
Even if you don’t have a kitchen, oatmeal and granola are great foods to pack for any time. Fruit, nuts, cut veggies, and hard-boiled eggs can also be travel friendly if you have room for a small cooler. Other ideas include hummus cups, homemade protein bars, and trail mix, and string cheese.
6. Intermittent Fasting
Fasting is more than a weight-loss strategy. It can increase energy levels, aid digestion, and even assist in the prevention of diabetes. (1) This is an easy strategy to follow for those on the go; no need to worry about fitting in a meal or finding the healthiest food.
Intermittent fasting (IF) is simply fasting for a period of 12 to 18 hours every day, which isn’t so bad when you consider sleep takes up 6 to 8 hours of that time. Some people prefer to do this every day while others might fast for 24 hours once a week. To get the most out of IF, be sure to eat healthy during the times that you do eat to help maintain nutrient levels and energy.
You Can Do It
No matter if your schedule is busy from traveling or simply your lifestyle, keeping fit while on the go is possible. And the best part when incorporating these strategies is you should enjoy more energy and better sleep. Don’t let fitness fall behind because of your busy life. Stay fit and take care of your body, and it will continue to take care of you.
References:
1 Sutton, Elizabeth F., et al. “Early Time-Restricted Feeding Improves Insulin Sensitivity, Blood Pressure, and Oxidative Stress Even without Weight Loss in Men with Prediabetes.” Cell Metabolism, Cell Press, 10 May 2018, ww.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1550413118302535.
