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Top 5 Tips to Staying Fit While Traveling

From cross-country keynotes and continuing-education events to mastermind retreats and my beloved “blue-sky” time, I’m bouncing between airplane aisles and hotel rooms for several months of the year. The grind of travel is both time consuming and draining, and racking up frequent flyer miles and hotel rewards is often synonymous with skipped workouts and poor nutrition. Don’t let planes, trains, and automobiles wreak havoc on your body. Here are 5 ways to stay fit while you’re traversing the globe.

    1. Sweat with a Superband: No gym, no problem. One of my go-to fitness tools is this supersized rubber band that boasts a laundry list of exercises you can literally do anywhere. Nail your back with upright rows and seated pulldowns, hit your hips with lateral walks (gentlemen, you really need these!), and sculpt your arms with tricep extensions and hammer curls. Heck, after a long day strapped up in the sky, you can quickly relieve tightness and pain with just a few Superband stretches from the floor of your room. This little piece of equipment packs a knockout punch of benefits. 
    2. Travel with a TRX: There’s a reason the TRX is finding its way into every fitness studio and gym across the country; suspension training is the real deal. Toss a TRX in your suitcase and strap it to a door, pull-up bar, or tree to get a killer workout wherever you please. With those distinct yellow straps, you can blast your entire body in ways we couldn’t comprehend before my friend Randy Hetrick brought the system to the mainstream in 2005. You’ll catch me rowing, curling, lunging, and planking my way to superb sweat sessions with my black-and-yellow companion while on the road. Check out a few more of my favorite TRX exercises here. 
    3. Replace Iron with Resistance Bands: While I’d love to fold Fitness Quest 10 into a carry-on and go wheels-up with barbells, dumbbells, and kettlebells in tow (wouldn’t that be something!?), iron isn’t travel friendly or TSA approved. So when I’m cruising city to city, I trade the weights for bands. Resisted squats, push-ups, and upright rows make for a great three-exercise circuit, while bands can also double as simple stretching tools to keep you limber on the go. 
    4. Get Creative in Your Room: Yup, you read that right. Your cozy hotel accommodations are no reason to avoid exercise. See that desk chair in the corner? Step-ups and step-downs are calling your name. How about that comfy queen bed front and center? Toss your feet up there and knock out three sets of decline push-ups. The desk? You’ve got dips… go! You get the idea; treat your rented room as your personal fitness facility. How about that for eliminating excuses and introducing some perspective? 
    5. Use Your Body: Psst… wanna know a secret? My friends, you don’t need anything more than your body to stay in shape. No equipment, no membership, no biggie. All you need is YOU. I’ve been preaching the benefits of bodyweight exercise since the early days of FQ10 (here’s some vintage proof circa 2011 when I filmed a core-crushing segment in “the roots”), and continue to believe wholeheartedly in the minimalist approach. Beyond the basic movements, you can upgrade your routine with this TD trifecta of groiners, tombstones, and rotational squat jumps. There are endless options with bodyweight exercise.

There you have it, my fellow road warriors. Whether pounding pavement, cruising in the clouds, or hopping through hotels, you now have 5 TD-approved techniques to stay fit during your travels. Cheers to training like a thoroughbred and destroying excuses.

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