Build and Maintain Muscle While Traveling To Boost Your Gains

With a few tips, you can maintain muscle while traveling, and even build more! Many avid adventurers and people who travel for work worry they are destined to stay skinny, because it is too tough to build mass when you are on the move.

The idea can be very daunting.

I’ve talked to people who don’t try to gain mass at all, because they believe their travel will kill their progress anyway. Similarly, some people avoid trips because they want to protect what they have gained so far. This doesn’t have to be the case for you. You can have the best of both worlds.

If you travel often or maybe just have a trip coming up, keep reading to learn how to maximize your potential gains.

The principles stay the same

What’s great is that you don’t really have to learn anything new to maintain muscle while traveling or build more muscles. The fundamentals always stay the same.

• Training- exercise to spark your bodies reaction to grow
• Fuel- feed your body to give it the building blocks to build back stronger
• Rest- give your body the time it needs to recover from training and put the fuel to use

Training to maintain muscle while traveling

To build muscle, first you have to tear them up with great workouts that increase your time under tension and crank up the intensity.

That can be tricky to do when you are on the go, as you may not have access to traditional weights and equipment.

Check out my in-depth guide to building muscle while traveling with workout ideas and even a complete day by day routine.

Eat to feed your growth

The majority of this post is going to focus on eating to maintain and build muscle. I’ve mentioned it many times before- the one thing most skinny people get wrong about gaining mass is that they believe they are already eating enough.

When you are eating to build muscle, you have to eat more calories than you spend every day. This is already difficult for most skinny people. Throw in the complexity of being away from home, and it might feel impossible. However, it doesn’t have to be a difficult goal if you just approach your meals with focus.

Plan ahead

If you’ve read my content before, you are probably tired of planning ahead. However, it really is the best way to ensure you hit your goals. Don’t leave your high caloric needs to chance.

Here are some tips to ensure you are prepared to maintain muscle while traveling, so you don’t lose all of the progress you made.

1. Know what food options will be available to you. A few minutes of Google work can give you a map of restaurants near where you will be traveling. If you are in a hotel, there may be dining options within the hotel. The key here is to understand what your menu options are, so that when you need a quality high-calorie meal, you aren’t scrambling and making bad choices at the last second.
2. Carry a protein supplement. You need protein to help your body build more muscle mass. The easies way to do this may be to have protein bars with you. RxBars, KIND, and Dave’s Killer Bread are three of my favorite protein bar brands that have a good variety of flavors. If you want to save a little money, you can even carry protein powder and use a shaker cup.
3. Plan activities that accommodate snacks and meals. This is easier to do if you are traveling for vacation, because you have more control over your schedule. If you are traveling for work, you will have a little less flexibility. Even then, you can still think ahead to when you will be able to snack and fit in meals to ensure that they actually happen.

Choose food that makes sense for you

Eating while traveling can be very different from eating while you are at home. You don’t have access to your pantry and typical cooking set up. Also, you don’t necessarily have your favorite restaurants available as usual.

In order to stay committed to eating properly to maintain and build muscle, you have to be thoughtful about what you eat.

The good news is, unlike diets for people who are trying to lose weight, when you are skinny and trying to bulk up, it’s easier to let yourself indulge while you travel.

Here are some tips for figuring out what you will eat.

1. Make it affordable. Everyone has a budget. You don’t want to skimp out on calories because you’ve spent way too much on eating food that will not contribute to gains. Try to include cheap higher calorie meals to help your wallet. You can also choose to buy what you need from a local grocer instead of eating out for every meal. Draw some inspiration from my post about my favorite smoothie recipe to gain weight, gaining weight on a vegetarian diet (which can be cheaper even if you aren’t actually vegetarian), and breakfast ideas to build muscle.
2. Make it healthy. You can only go for so long eating completely unhealthy. So, give yourself a higher chance of staying committed to the program by adding healthy options. There are ways to bulk while not resorting to unhealthy options all the time. I’m not a fan of dirty bulking to gain muscle, when so many better options exist. You could even choose to cook while traveling to maintain your muscle if you have access to a stove or oven in an apartment, airbnb or hotel.
3. Make it exciting. Add variety to your meals to keep it interesting. A diet with a variety of options can be great for your body to receive nutrients. This will also help you stay engaged, especially when you are traveling and not in a mood to eat the same meal over and over.

Drink more water

Traveling can actually make you dehydrated more quickly than being at home. It’s not just the actual journey. You may not reach for a glass of water as often as you usually do when you are away from home simply because you are busy doing other things.

Water intake is actually a great way for you to make sure your body has the fuel it needs to keep training hard and recover well as you build and maintain muscle while traveling.

Keep a bottle of water near you, so you can be encouraged to at least take frequent sips.

My personal favorites (go-to options)

It helps your planning to have your go-to options, so you spend less time trying to figure out what to eat. This can also save you money while ensuring you get the right amount of fats, carbs and especially protein to maintain muscle while traveling.

Here are my personal favorites that you may want to give a try.

1. Snacks: I love protein bars from KIND, RxBar and Dave’s Killer Bread. I also enjoy jerky, particularly from Chomps and Epic. Lastly, I’m a fan of any types of nuts with spicy seasoning.
2. Protein Powder: See my recommendation for the best whey isolate supplements to gain weight.
3. Cost Effective Meals: I use ramen noodles as a way to get in calories for a very low cost. Supplementing my meals with ramen helps me take care of some of the hunger and calorie needs without breaking the bank paying for additional food. I also like to find restaurants that have secret menu items or little tricks to get more out of your meal. For example, online ordering at the fast food restaurant Wendy’s often allows you to add extra beef or chicken patties to your meal. As another example, Chiptole gives you the option to choose light, regular, or extra for many items for free when ordering online. I like to load up a chipotle bowl with extra everything for the same price as their normal bowl.

No matter why you are away from home, it is very possible to build and maintain muscle while traveling. The basic principles of gaining mass stay the same.

Thoughts or questions? Let me know in the comments!