Please Like:

As pretty much anyone will testify, as soon as you jump on a plane that stringent fitness regime you once put together is seemingly out of the window.

fitness while travelling

A combination of tasty restaurants, too many fun things to do and of course the dreaded hotel “gyms” means that it’s just not practical to work out for many people. For those that travel away on business frequently, and also have to factor in meetings, this is obviously very damaging.

However, there are ways around it. Today’s post is all about various accessories you can take along to make your job a little easier. Let’s now take a look at six of the best accessories to help you along your way when you travel.

 

The rise of the app

In today’s age, we seem to answer everything with an app. However, when it comes to travel and fitness, your smart phone really can be your best friend.

If you are training at your “home” gym, you probably have a set fitness regime that you stick to. As soon as you are thrown out of that comfort zone, you suddenly don’t have anywhere as much equipment available to yourself. It means that you have to improvise – and improvising is tough.

With an app, things can be made easier though. Some apps will focus on instructors, who might be able to deliver a workout to you without any equipment. Others are larger in scale, and might tell you all of the exercises you can do with the equipment at your disposal.

 

Resistance bands

As you will soon note with a lot of the suggestions we make through the course of this article, many of these can be quickly packed away in a suitcase. This certainly applies to resistance bands, which have the added beauty of being completely versatile. In other words, you can use these bands to carry out a whole host of exercises – that work umpteen parts of your body.

Some resistance bands have handles, others don’t. You might even be able to find out through one of your fitness apps (see previous section) just what the best way to use your resistance band is for the body part you are looking to fine tune.

 

Suspension straps

For some of you, these might go by the name of TRX (this is the well-known brand name that can commonly be spotted around gyms across the world).

In short, these simple but incredibly effective devices, can create an entire workout by themselves. You will need another piece of equipment, as suspension straps need to attach to something to work. However, even in your hotel room, you can attach them to a door and the rest as they say is history.

You can exercise absolutely every body part with suspension straps, so the world is your oyster. The common exercises involve pulling and working the biceps, but you can even form an advanced push up if you place your feet through the straps.

Don’t worry if you have quickly Googled TRX straps either. As already alluded to, this is a brand name and cheaper alternatives are available if you look hard enough.

 

Skipping rope

As most of the other suggestions might have already highlighted, there seems to be a pattern with ropes through these suggested accessories. Again, a skipping rope is often underestimated, but the amount of cardio benefit it can give you is immense. A ten-minute workout with a skipping rope (and in plain terms, this is just skipping on the spot) can help you work into a real sweat and set you up for the day.

Of course, you can go as advanced as you desire with this piece of equipment. Some of you will launch into high knee skips, while others might skip on a single leg or side-to-side. Again, there’s complete versatility here and like all of the suggestions that have been documented, this is something that is barely going to make a dent in your baggage allowance.

If you really want to push the boat out with skipping ropes, nowadays you can buy them with weighted handles. Naturally, this can make a significant difference to your workout.

 

Gliding discs

In reality, gliding discs are primarily used to just take the “standard” exercises a little bit further. If you feel like you want to inject a bit more fun into your push ups, or just want to take things up a notch, these gliding discs will just give you something extra to think about.

The big advantage with them is that they can be used on multiple surfaces. In other words, you don’t have to reserve them for the gym floor; they will work just as well on the majority of hotel floors.

By working with these discs, you will notice a really big difference to your core stability and strength.

 

A pair of running shoes

This last suggestion might seem as though it borders on the obvious, but it needs to be thrown in there. Let’s be honest, you aren’t going to be carrying out any of the exercises we have spoken about in your work gear, and this is where your pair of training shoes steps into the picture.

Of course, we have highlighted the “running shoes” element here. The main point we are trying to make is that running shoes provide ultimate flexibility to delve into cardio regardless of your location in the world. In the very worst cases it might only be running on the spot in your hotel room, but more often than not you will be able to get out there and run the local streets.

If you do go on your travels without these, it’s going to be the first sign to demotivate you when you get the feeling that you “could” exercise. You need to give yourself as many reasons to exercise during your travels, and this is the first.

About Olivia Marsh

Olivia Marsh - Author - Professional chef and Travel enthusiast.
Culinary Institute of America (CIA) graduate. Chef Marsh has traveled the globe from France, Italy, Germany to China, Thailand, India, Tunisia and more.
Olivia lived in Tunisia for almost 10 years now.
Follow me on Twitter

Comments

comments