If you travel a lot for work or fun, your exercise routine can take a hit. The idea is to make movement such a huge and wonderful part of your life that it’s inconceivable to skip it entirely just because your conference ran late or you’re on vacation. Travel and exercise can go together if you do it right.
I love to travel, and for longer trips (a week or more) I pack my suitcase assuming that I’m going to exercise when I reach my destination.
If I’m just going somewhere for a weekend, I might use those as my rest days, depending on where I’m going and how easy it will be to find exercise time. (Two nights out of town to attend a wedding or see a friend? Rest days. Four nights at a hotel with a gym? Workout ON.)
I tend to pack light, so packing to exercise AND travel can be a challenge, but this is what I do:
Wear the workout shoes on the plane.
If I’ve got limited space for luggage, I wear my tennis shoes (which are usually the heaviest, bulkiest shoe I take anywhere, anyway).
Quick-drying clothing.
When I work out, I sweat a lot (like, a LOT), so I have to assume that I’m going to be washing my workout clothes before I go home. I fill a little shampoo bottle with laundry soap, wash them in the sink as soon as I’m done my workout, and they’re dry and clean (enough) by the next day.
One item to aid your workout.
If you’re in a hotel, you might have a gym. Lucky! If not, be honest about what you can and will do. If walking or running is your workout of choice, then you don’t need anything but your shoes and clothes. You could also pack a yoga mat if you intend to do yoga or pilates or even just some stretches and body weight exercises. I like resistance bands
Take advantage of your everyday opportunities.
If you’re out exploring, walk! Take the stairs, climb the hills, see the whole destination and get a lot of movement in while you do it. If I’m on an adventure trip and we spend the whole day walking, then no, aside from some yoga I don’t do another workout.
Plan ahead.
Decide before you leave what you’re going to do each day. Something like:
Day 1: Up early to do yoga before we go to the airport.
Day 2: Walk all over the new city. Stretch for 20 minutes before bed.
Day 3: 15 pushups, 1 minute plank, 50 jumping jacks, and 20 minutes of yoga.
And so on. Things change quickly when you travel, so if you’re just planning to “fit it in when there’s time” there probably won’t be.
Travel isn’t usually a time to advance your fitness level (unless you’re going to a yoga retreat or fitness camp, I suppose), but especially on a long trip it’s important to maintain your current status. A huge motivation for staying fit is never having to start from scratch again! So don’t worry about going crazy, but make an effort to do SOMETHING to reinforce your routine.
Do you exercise when you travel? What do you do?