Work Out While Traveling with Simple Ideas

It is absolutely possible to work out while traveling! In fact, depending on how often you travel, it might be necessary. You don’t need to find a new job with less travel, or give up your love of exploring the world. Don’t stress. It’s not mutually exclusive decision to travel or make gains in your fitness journey.

It will just take some creativity and planning so that you can keep hitting your goals while you travel. If you get creative, you can avoid having to pack a million items to get in great training sessions while you are away from home.

You can work out with your own weight

Bodyweight exercises can be very challenging and give you a great work out while traveling, with no equipment needed. There are a ton of people who swear by calisthenics– exercise routines that rely on your bodyweight for resistance. This isn’t the best route for long term training if you are a skinny person trying to gain muscle mass, but it’s absolutely a great way to stay active while you travel.

One of my favorite youtube channels for calisthenics is Goku Pump.

Warning- this content isn’t always PG due to the language and some of the topics discussed during training sessions. Also, I don’t think the channel spends much time teaching or explaining their methods and view on training. However, I enjoy it because its a light-hearted approach to fitness with interesting locations and high energy in the videos. That particular video linked is for mass training, but the channel’s newer content has greatly improved production quality.

Exercises that use bodyweight to work out while traveling

Work out upper body

A great way to hit the upper body is with push-ups. It really does build more than just your chest. Your deltoids, core, and arms will get a pump too. Get on the floor and perform push-ups with strict form and a slow and controlled motion. To add some variety to this, you can use the edge of the tub, a sofa, the bed or even a table in your hotel room. Push off of those objects with your feet on the floor, so that your body is in an incline position. This will target the lower chest more than a standard push-up. If you want to get the upper chest and more of your shoulders involved, just flip the idea around. Instead of having your hands on the table, you rest your feet on the table and push off the floor. This decline position will target your muscles differently and add variety to your travel training.

Another way to use the edge of the bed or a coffee table is to perform dips. With your hands resting on the table, for example, and your feet on the ground, you can lower your bodyweight while focusing on your triceps.

Lower body training while traveling

Squats are the king of all exercises, and should stay a critical piece to training even when you are away from home. Bodyweight squats can be really challenging, especially when you focus on form and get in slow and controlled reps. Other ways to hit your legs include the lunge and reverse lunge. To target the quads more, keep your body as upright as possible while doing the lunge. To target more of the hamstrings and glutes, lean forward while you lunge, or perform the reverse lunge. Bulgarian split squats, using a leg resting on a bed, sofa, or table can also be another great option.

Bands will gain you mass

Alright, this is something I’m super excited to share. I am not someone who uses bands regularly and I definitely prefer traditional weights. However, this video is absolutely fire!

I am now a believer in bands and how they can actually target your back muscles and legs, which I didn’t believe before. Also, if you use them correctly, you can really get a solid training session in and fatigue your muscles. I stumbled on this while traveling in Mexico, and it got me excited to work out during the rest of my trip.

Watching this video single handedly changed how I work out while traveling.

CHECK OUT THAT VIDEO! The description breaks out the whole workout by body part, with clickable time stamps to skip you straight to the exercises you want to see. In particular, check out the way he handles back and shoulder training with only bands.

What’s great about bands is that it’s a small and light item to pack and travel with. I like the bands that come with handles and various resistance levels.

Other ideas to work out while traveling

Look for gyms available where you are going

If bands and bodyweight training in your lodging won’t cut it for you, think about booking a hotel that has a gym available. Most hotels will advertise gyms in the amenities section of their websites. Even some short term rental sites have options that have fitness facilities available for use.

If you travel often, it may be worth getting a gym membership at home that allows you to visit gyms in other locations. For example, back when I was a 24 Hour Fitness member, I could visit any 24 Hour Fitness location and get in a work out while I was in a new city. So, I would look for hotels near those locations.

If you don’t want to join a large commercial gym for this purpose, or the additional cost just isn’t worth it for you, try searching for gyms that allow “day passes” or “single day passes”. This means they will charge you a one time fee to use the gym. This can be a pricey option, so I wouldn’t recommend it for someone who needs to rely on it often. I have seen options as cheap as $5/day and up to $25/day. Some of those same gyms will also offer variations of passes that are longer than a day, but not a full month. For example, you may see 7-day passes or a pass for 10 visits. Do a little research where you are headed to see if the local gyms have that available.

Turn regular objects into equipment

Safety should be the primary concern here, so don’t put yourself in a bad situation. However, I’ve definitely gotten creative with objects in my room to provide resistance when I had no other choices. For example, I had two large jugs of water with handles attached for an event the next day. Those became my dumbbells. I’ve done the same with sturdy shopping bags, luggage, and bags of fruit. One tip if you are planning to go this route- bring some padded gloves to protect your hands. Although these items have handles, it feels a lot different when you suddenly treat them like dumbbells. Also, if you don’t feel like you’re getting quite enough resistance, slow down your rep and let it burn.

Another favorite of mine is to use Google Maps to find parks near where I am headed. Many times, I’m able to find pictures or websites that show me what’s at the park. A lot of them actually have outdoor fitness equipment available. However, even if they don’t you can use what’s available for your training. For example, a park bench or low wall can serve the purpose of a couch or bed in the bodyweight section above. Or, a set of monkey bars can be a place to do pull-ups and dips.

It is OK to rest while traveling

This is just a reminder that rest is ok. I know it’s exciting to stay consistent with your workouts. Especially if you are a skinny person, it feels like resting will lead to losing any gains you’ve worked for. Of course you shouldn’t go without any activity for an extended period of time, but if you are taking a very short trip that doesn’t occur often, it might make sense to just work that into your schedule as rest days. The process of traveling can be tiring on its own- both mentally and physically. So, give yourself a break, because you are doing a great job!

If your trip is extended, and you really don’t want to spend the whole time without working out, consider taking off some time from working out at least on the actual days where you are in the travel process to get from location to location. For example, I will often decide to skip any training on the days of my flights, but just know that I will get to work on the other days. Giving yourself time to recover can help you stay fresh, prevent injuries, and maximize what you get when you are actually training again.

Stay safe and don’t disrupt your training program

In any of these cases, if you are using objects to assist your training, make sure you are using firm and sturdy items. You can hurt yourself or break the item if it’s not able to withstand the stress of your bodyweight on it. Also, depending on the situation, you may want to consider these periods of time as slight pauses in your German Volume Training (GVT) calendar. Personally, if I have access to similar equipment I use at home, I would carry on with GVT as usual. However, if I don’t have access to similar equipment, I don’t treat these training sessions as part of my GVT routine. This is because you can’t determine from this if you made progress week-over-week. For example, if you usually bench 135 pounds, but you did bodyweight push-ups instead, how can you tell if you are ready to bench 145 pounds next week?

Thoughts, questions? Let me know in the comments! I’d love to hear your ideas.