Traveling can impact your exercise program, unless you plan in advance and keep your discipline. If you travel quite a bit, maintaining an exercise regime can be difficult. A very popular home exercise program is P90X by Beachbody. As an editor for a national hotel website, Roomrate, and a P90X program student, I can tell you there is nothing worse than traveling and maintaining the intensity and discipline required to achieve results. Bit, with a little dedication and ingenuity, it can be done.
As one who has had to adapt to different hotel training venues (i.e., my hotel room at times), thought I would share some tips. First, for those not familiar with P90X, it is a great exercise program that will definitely give you some tremendous results, but the program demands you put in the effort consistently, day after day. P90X is based on muscle confusion principles and a program of diverse cross training workouts. You will be doing muscle building workouts, plyometrics, cardio workouts, Kempo and intense yoga workouts. These workouts only last for sixty minutes, but exercise routines are constant with minimal rest periods and at the end you’ll be drenched and wasted. It sounds enticing doesn’t it? Well, if you can make the trip, the results will be gorgeous. Trust me, I’ve done it. Another good thing about P90X is that you don’t need a lot of equipment, usually bands or a few dumbbells will do the trick. Your work outs are guided by Tony Horton your video host and trainer. Just plug in the DVD and get going. There are others out there which also are extreme home work out programs, but whichever you use staying committed and showing up every day is a key to success. Whatever exercise regime or program you follow, all share a basic requirement that you stay on schedule and commit to doing the prescribed workouts.”
So, what do you do when you are traveling? First, P90X and other extreme fitness programs are designed for a disciplined regimen. You should not deviate or take days off. So, the most important tip is you must think about how to exercise when you are away at a hotel I’ve had to do that, so I’ll share a few tips, because it can be done.
Take Your Workout DVDs. If you don’t take your DVDs, chances are you’re not exercising. By taking them you are one step closer to staying on schedule.
Bring Your Laptop Computer. Many hotel rooms have in-room TVs with DVD players, but many don’t. So, bring your PC so you can play your DVD on your laptop.
Bring Exercise Bands or Dumbbells. Bring your exercise bands. Exercise bands are light and easy to pack in your luggage. They may not give you the exact same workout you are accustomed to if you use dumbbells, but they will do the trick. You might also check out the exercise facility at the hotel to see if they have free weight dumbbells available for use too.
Take Your Roll-up Exercise Mat. If you have a mat, bring your roll-out mat. It will help provide a clean surface when you exercise in your hotel room. If you don’t, don’t sweat it.
Use Your Hotel Room as Your Gym. Usually there is more than enough room to do your work in the confines of your hotel room. You might have to move a chair or two out of the way but you can clear enough space to exercise. With P90X you only need about 8 feet by 5 feet to do most anything. But, if there is a Hotel exercise facility, you might want to work out there, especially if there is a pull-up bar or other device you can use to hang room exercise bands from.
The infamous Hotel Room Floor. Hotel room floor rugs are notoriously dirty. T doesn’t matter how much they vacuum, there is a lot of people coming in and out of the rooms, and there are plenty of germs nestled in those rugs. Since you will be working out close to floor, and breathing heavy, so will want to put down a clean bathroom towel or your exercise mat if you brought it. How important is this? On the last day of an extended trip, I forgot to put down a towel and within 24 hours of doing a routine in a European hotel room, I was deadly sick with a chest cold. There is no doubt is came from the floor.
Where to put Bands for Pull downs in Your Hotel Room. Again, the best option is to use the hotel’s fitness room if they have one. If it has a pull-up bar or other piece of equipment you can use to hang from, then bring your laptop and exercise DVD down to the fitness room and exercise there. Who cares what others think. Others will be impressed with your workout intensity, and you just may convert one more fan to your program. If your hotel does not have a fitness room, there is a way to solve this problem in your hotel room with bands. Use the hotel room bathroom door with exercise bands. Open the door so there is a half inch crack between the door edge and the door casing, then slide the band into the opening from the top of the door and let it rest on the top door bracket. Each side of the band will then straddle the door. Next, grip the exercise band handles and move back away from the door and get down on your knees. Lean forward as far as you can from waist so that your arms and back are straight and when extended they are extended they are in the same plane as the bands from the top of the hinge. This will give a decent pull-up effect.
Discipline & Planning Ahead. Let’s face it, when you are on the road doing business there is a good chance you will be eating dinner out and possibly enjoying a few drinks with business associates. It is best to try and schedule a late dinner so you can squeeze your workout in before dinner. Or, if you are an early riser, get your workout done in the early morning. But, overall, moderation is the key. Don’t put yourself in a situation where you can’t get your workout done. When you are on the road, there are plenty of distractions, including evening dinners and a few social drinks with business partners and potential customers. So, it is important to intelligently plan your workouts. If you can do them in the morning, it is a great way to avoid conflicts and get your workout done before other events compete for your time. If you are a night owl and prefer a nighttime workout, then it is best to try and get a workout in before dinner and late night activities interfere. Simply schedule a late night dinner. It’s easy enough to make the excuse you’ll need an hour or two to check back with the office and take care of few things.”
Finally, as Tony Horton says in his P90X workouts, “do your best, and forget the rest.” Simply adapt and substitute exercises and work as hard as possible to achieve that great burn. Any effort is better than none and your body will thank you.
About the Author. The author is a Senior Editor for RoomRate Hotels, a leader in providing consumer friendly hotel booking services on the web. RoomRate provides hotel deals direct from hotels with no booking fees, and does not charge its own cancellation fees and penalties like many other travel web sites. RoomRate offers great hotel deals direct from tens of thousands of hotels in the United States for all cities, including New York Hotels, Atlanta Hotels and Boston Hotels, to name a few.
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