Fitness and Travel: How to stay on track even when you’re jet-setting through Summer

It is warm. It is sunny. It is vacation season!!!

We are in the thick of holiday this summertime.

So many folks are headed out on the open road, jet-setting to foreign lands, camping under the stars, or packing up their suitcases for tropical getaways. With all of this travel talk in the air, one of the topics that come up most often is how people tend to “fall off the wagon” on their trips. They stop working out, their diets are less than perfect and they’re typically drinking alcohol more than usual. (... Just me?!)

First off, enjoying our time away to rest is crucial to resetting the mind or body for our daily grind of work, responsibilities and even our hit-it-hard at the gym workouts. Being able to allow the mind and body to take a break from our demanding everyday life is important in maintaining longevity over the years. So when you head out the door next, know that vacation foods will be eaten and that your workout routine will take a little nose dive. But guess what?! It’s okay because you’ll get right back to it upon resuming reality.

With that mindset, we can be much more forgiving about the choices we make while traveling or lying around the pool sipping cocktails. While we’re taking this much-needed break though, you don’t have to stop and drop everything you’ve been working on!

Lots of traveling opportunities are perfectly set up for maintaining daily activity and healthy physical choices. If you’re looking for a good way to keep moving while on the road, here are some great options to explore:

• Research and set up dedicated times for hiking new trails in your visited locations

• Plan a walking scavenger hunt of your travel destination

• Look up studios or gyms close to your booked accommodations for easy-access classes

• Lots of locations offer their first class for free!

• Rent bicycles for a tour around the city instead of choosing a motor vehicle option - or paddleboards or kayaks!

• Sign up and take a local lesson in an activity - think horseback riding, surfing, mountain biking, rock climbing, or white water rafting

• Ask your hotel/accommodations if they have any fitness equipment available to rent (It’s likely they’ll send up equipment to your room free of charge)

• Before you go, purchase an online program you can do anywhere! (Maybe barre with me?)

Plans squared away and ready to take off? Make sure to pack your workout gear, so you don’t have any excuses on the trip! Forgetting a supportive sports bra when you want to do a HIIT workout in your hotel room is just frustratingly bouncy; so avoid being unprepared, and you’re more likely to stick with a plan.

If staying in your room, get creative and play with your surroundings for props! A towel can easily be used on the ground for a glider. Anything with a little bit of weight can be used for some arm toning exercises. Furniture can be used as an inclined prop for push-ups and up planks instead of the ground.

It’s easy to let the day get away from you when you don’t have a schedule or any pressing to-dos, but implementing a loose itinerary that includes your activity of choice for the day will make it much easier to stick to getting it done. While traveling, it’s easy to spend time toiling away on your phone or puttering around while waiting for travel partners to get ready. Take advantage of a quick 10 or 15 minutes of time to get in some light bodyweight activities.

While traveling, we spend a lot of time bunched up in seats - on a plane, in the car, riding a train, or even on a boat. It’s important to open yourself up once again to keep things limber and mobile. Often travelers getting back to their workout routine complain of stiffness, so keeping mobility exercises a key movement in between travel will save you upon return from your dreamlike time away. At the airports, I always find a little space to stretch my body and use the chairs for my hands instead of going all the way to the floor. Some airports even have yoga rooms to move in, so keep an eye out for those!

Getting in some activity while you’re moving about the globe doesn’t have to be tough! But your body will thank you in the long run, so keep it a priority. It’ll make grooving back into your routine a lot easier and even enhance your travel experience along the way.

Keep it simple and fun, remembering that our goal in fitness is to lead the life we desire.

This can include traveling to far-off other-worldly destinations, so getting in the habit of making it a lifestyle instead of a one-off slip in priorities will make each experience more rich with enjoyment.