How do you keep your fitness going when you’re on the move? Travel fitness can be a bit ‘hit and miss’ if we don’t plan it. We have worked with elite athletes who have to compete the world over. In addition to the athletes we also support business professionals who extensively travel with work but want to keep their physical education on track! Our top tips for maintaining health and fitness ‘on the road’ are laid out below. With the holiday season almost over, plenty of people are still travelling or looking to recommence travelling in 2019.
Get some perspective on travel fitness
Hands up if you get twitchy and irritable when you can’t exercise? If you exercise regularly then the thought of travel, without the comforts and familiarity of your gym, facilities and routine can be a source of stress. You can remove this stress by firstly placing things into perspective and then planning ahead. By perspective we mean how does exercise fit into the rest of your life. For the professional and highly competitive athlete, maintaining fitness whilst travelling is a priority. After all, its their job! Elite athletes will minimise travel so that they can train as efficiently as possible. Excessive travel can be detrimental to their programme and progress. The elite athlete will ensure that they can maintain a sufficient level of training before they travel.
The vast majority of us are no elite athletes. We do not depend on our fitness to support us and our families. Therefore, fitness must be put into context. Many of us have roles as parents, partners, sons, daughters, bosses, employees etc. For the non athlete to prioritise exercise ahead of these other roles may be misguided. If the thought of not exercising whilst on a family holiday is sending you into a flat spin then you may need to re-evaluate and reaffirm your priorities! In the scheme of the whole year, losing 7-14 days of your usual routine isn’t going to see you lose all of your gains!!
Plan to remove the stress of travel fitness
There is no reason why you cannot continue some form of training whilst travelling. In our experience, it’s the unknown that causes the stress. Therefore, we catastrophise the situation by telling ourselves that we will access to no forms of training. This is ridiculous. Plan ahead – if you know that you are going to have limited access to your usual facilities then plan for it. For example – can travel coincide with a de-load week? Can other forms of training take priority or be emphasised? If you plan it out and can see how it fits it can remove the emotional stress of the travel fitness for you. Look for training facilities that will allow you to drop in.
Train the Must Do and consider Variety
As much as you can stick to the basic elements of your programme. Every fitness programme has a skeleton framework that forms the basis of the training cycle. Getting this ‘must do’ training done will keep your progress on track. Stripping away the accessory work will not compromise your gains too much! Get creative too. If there’s no provision for heavy squats then explore some single leg varieties. Single leg variations can be just as challenging. You can also pick up something heavy and move with it – just like the strongmen do.
At the end of the day do not let training interfere with the purpose of your travel. Take it from us – your fitness training is not more important than your loved ones or your financial stability, if you happen to be away on business. Don’t be that person whose kids remind you of how holidays were spent with mum and dad at the gym. Helping clients plan their travel fitness whilst away on business is something that we do a lot of for our Fulham Personal training group. If you’d like assistance with staying on top of exercise whilst away then feel free to contact us here.