5 Tips for Fitness on the Road
ATTN TRAVELERS: (aka most baseball ladies)
Do you feel like you never have time to work out when you travel? Everything feels out of whack and what the heck do you do when there’s only a treadmill in that tiny fitness center?
I’m usually in a hotel every weekend from Dec-May because of my job, BUT I have learned a few tricks.
1. I feel much more energized when I get my body moving before a long day of work on the road. Especially travel days! Some people will advise you to NOT move on travel days if you’re flying or it’s hectic because your adrenaline is already out-of-whack and it ends up putting more stress on your body. I think there is some truth in that. Heck, I don’t have kids so I’m sure when the stress of flying with them comes I’ll feel crazy. Listen to your body and do what feels best for you.
2. I look at the hotel pictures before so I know what I’m working with or if I should pick a different hotel. One time I stayed at a hotel that the fitness center didn’t open until 10am and closed at 8pm?! What! So now I look at times too! Most of them are 24 hours, but you gotta check!
3. When I check in, I go downstairs and figure out what time I should work out and when breakfast ends to make sure I have enough time to grab some food after. Some nicer hotels have fruit and water bottles in the fitness centers, too!
4. In a big gym I don’t usually get to combine running with lifting because the treadmills are in a different area than the weights but that’s what I love about hotel fitness centers! I can make my own lil station with a mat for body weight exercises or some dumbbells. I love to play with setting a timer and picking a couple different movements and combine it with :45 second run or .2 mile jog. Maybe I’ll do something like 30 minutes of a 1 minute jog, 15 sit-ups, 10 burpees, 10 bicep curl to shoulder press, and 10 lunges. Since it’s a longer round of exercises doing 4-5 rounds doesn’t get too boring.
5. Fast and to the point! If I don’t have time to jog on the treadmill and play solitaire, I can combine sprints with some body weight or dumbbell exercises to get my heart rate up, feel a burn, and be done with it! For instance, when I’m really short on time I’ll do 15 minutes of a 400m run (note there’s a big difference between a run and a jog) and a heavy dumbbell squat for 5-8 reps. Girl! Heart rate will get there and more once you get to about 5 minutes BUT 15 minutes isn’t thaaaaat much, right? That’s what I tell myself.
The morning this blog post came about I put my headphones in, jogged slowly on the treadmill for 2.5 minutes while setting my phone timer for 20 mins and getting my music motivation right (thank you Taylor Swift Reputation), and as soon as I got my treadmill speed up to a run I clicked that timer go! 2 minute run, 10 burpees (lay stomach on ground, stand up and jump), 10 dumbbell thrusters (dumbbells on shoulders- squat down and as you stand to top of squat, thrust the dumbbells straight up into a shoulder press) I think I did 5-6 rounds of this in the 20 minutes but my heart rate got to 189 max and averaged 161! Short and quick!
My fitness account on Instagram is @amandablack.fitness where I post workouts and info about exercising and nutrition. I played D1 volleyball and now coach at a junior college. My Bachelor’s is in Kinesiology and minor in nutrition. I worked as a personal trainer for 6 months, and I currently coach Crossfit classes on the side. I am by no means a fitness guru or genius BUT I want to share the info I do have to ladies and young girls so we can change the stigma of women in weightlifting and encourage body positivity!
