Tips for Your Hotel Room Workout
Updated: Jul 7, 2019
We all know that staying in shape can be tough sometimes, let alone when traveling is involved. It can be extremely difficult to workout when on a business trip or on vacation due to things like jet lag, lack of motivation, a busy schedule, and nowhere convenient to workout. Traveling can be a huge barrier to fitness, but where there is a barrier there is also the opportunity to overcome it, and come across the other side stronger.
I will be laying the blueprints for you to overcome the barrier of traveling in this article. Now I know you're probably expecting a list of exercises to do in your hotel room that is conveniently universal for everyone who reads it, but I'm going to take a different approach from most of the other articles out there. I am going to give you the knowledge to be able to design your own hotel room workout fit for you and you alone.
Determine Your Options For Where to Workout
Before you default to working out in your hotel room you should investigate what options you have in your hotel. Your hotel may have a fitness center or exercise room which would be the best case scenario. They usually don't have all the bells and whistles, but they do have the basics which are all you really need. The other option is a pool, if you are looking for an easy way to get some exercise at your hotel, swimming laps in their pool may be an option. The most Likely option that you will choose is to exercise in your hotel room and this is just fine, you can get a really effective workout right in the convenience of your hotel room if you follow the guidelines in this article.
Plan Ahead
If you are going to workout in your hotel room it is vital to plan ahead. Make sure to plan your workout before you leave for your trip, you will be much more likely to do your workout if you plan these factors ahead:
What exercises you will be doing
Number of sets/reps of each exercise
When you will be doing your workout
How long your workout is
What equipment you will need
Planning these factors will set you up for success when you go to execute your workout. I would recommend writing down your workout plan in a fitness journal or using a fitness app to record your plan.
Use Your Surroundings
A hotel room can be a versatile environment to workout in, you are surrounded by ordinary everyday items that can be transformed into fitness equipment. Don't be afraid to think outside the box for this. Here are a few examples of things you can use and how you can use them:
Simple Chair: Step ups, incline/decline pushups, tricep dips, and seated exercises
Luggage: Overhead press, Overhead squats, lateral raises, chest press and curls
bed: Incline/decline pushups and workout surface for abdominal exercises
Water bottle: Shoulder raises, chest press, curls, tricep press, and bent rows
Focus on Bodyweight Exercises
Bodyweight exercises will be your best friend when you are without a full set of exercise equipment. They are versatile, effective, and require no extra gadgets. When performing bodyweight exercises you can increase the intensity by doing more reps, performing more sets, focusing on time under tension, and performing single limb exercises. Some examples of great bodyweight exercises are:
Upper Body: Push up variations, pull up variations, tricep dips, and regular dips
Lower Body: Single leg deadlift, single leg squat, floor bridge, and wall sits
Core: Plank, sit-ups, crunches, supermans, leg lifts, and floor bridge
Use Improvised Weights
When traveling it is not very practical to bring weights with you. There are certain exercise equipment that is perfect for travel which I will go over next, but as far as bringing dumbbells and other weighted objects, they will just add weight to your luggage which can be costly and inconvenient. You can still find objects to use as weights that are very easy to come by. Some of these items include:
Suitcase/Bag: Use your suitcase as a dumbbell or as a barbell, you can adjust the weight inside from almost nothing to close to 50lbs.
Large Water Container: Use a water bottle or milk carton as a weight for your various exercises, you can also adjust the weight by adding or removing liquid.
Canned Food: When looking for lightweight options for improvised weights canned food is perfect, they fit in the hand nicely and have an even weight distribution.
Bring Travel Exercise Equipment With You
There is a large variety of travel exercise equipment that is perfect for carry-on bags or luggage. You can dramatically increase the effectiveness and convenience of your workout if you bring some exercise equipment with for your hotel room workout. When you utilize your surroundings along with a piece or two of exercise equipment you can make your hotel room workout just as effective as your regular workouts. Here are some examples of travel exercise equipment:
Jump Rope: weighted rope, speed rope, and compact rope
Resistance Bands: loop bands, handle bands, and stackable bands
Core equipment: exercise ball, core sliders, yoga mat
Maximize Your Time With Circuit Style Training
One of the biggest barriers to exercising while traveling is a lack of time or a tight schedule. This is very understandable because traveling in itself takes a lot of time and those who travel usually have a lot built into their schedule.
One surefire way to fit a solid workout into your busy schedule is to utilize the time-saving benefits of circuit training. Circuit training is when you perform a group of exercises back to back with no rest in-between sets until you complete one set of each exercise, then you take a short rest and repeat the cycle. This type of training saves time by reducing the number of rest periods you take and eliminating the need for cardio in your workout because your heart rate will be highly elevated compared to a traditional style training.
Have Certified Personal Trainer Build Your Workouts
Planning your own hotel room workout can be a great skill and can be done in a fairly short amount of time, but just like every other type of workout, it is an art to design it effectively. Designing an effective hotel room workout takes knowledge of the human body, knowledge of exercise modalities, and a decent amount of experience with fitness. This is where a personal trainer can help you excel and I highly recommend having a personal trainer to help you reach your goals. But you ask how can a personal trainer work with me when I am traveling?
Shogun Athletics offers a one of a kind training experience with our Travel-Fit program. The travel fit program allows for a 1-on-1 personal training experience on the go, wherever you are, through our members-only fitness app. Don't worry about if your hotel room workout is going to be effective or even if you will have time to plan it out, one of our trainers can do the "heavy lifting" for you.
The Take-Away
Staying in shape while on a business trip or on vacation is no longer something to worry about. You now have to knowledge to create a rockin' hotel room workout that will ensure you do not lose any of your progress towards the goals you have set. The key things to keep in mind for your hotel room workout are:
Determine your options
Plan ahead
Use your surroundings
Focus on bodyweight exercises
Use improvised weights
Bring travel exercise equipment with you
Utilize circuit training
Save time and have peace of mind with the Travel-Fit program