Keeping Fit while On the Road

It's very tough to live the fit life style while traveling--heck, for some of us it's very to tough to do at home, but that's a different problem.

When we're on the road, whether for business or pleasure (as everyone knows I mix these up frequently), an entirely different set of priorities takes over. Business is all business from the time the wheels go up on the plane until they touch down again at ATL. When vacationing, we tend to eat and drink . . . how should I say it? . . . in abundance. Staying up late and limited sleep. Eating and drinking garbage. All of this contributes to, at best, a stall in our fitness journey, and at worst a serious regression. (I'd prefer not to discuss how much weight I put on during my last vacation . . . )

In the worst cases, you feel so terrible physically from eating poorly and not working out that you're afraid to come back to camp. You're afraid of how you will perform in that first workout back, then you skip. And skip again. Making excuse after excuse to the point where you've forgotten how good it feels when you do go to camp.

If this sounds familiar, try these steps for staying on the fitness wagon when the wagon is on the trail:

Step 1: Do something physical every day no matter how small.
Get your heart rate up, break a sweat, breath hard. Something to consider: a single-exercise Tabata lasts less than 4 minutes. Here is a list of other perfect travel workouts in order from least involved to most involved:

• Go for a walk - (5-30 min.) If nothing else, you can make time for a freakin' 5 min walk!
  
• Jump rope - (5-10 min.) Best piece of fitness equipment ever invented. Singles, doubles, jog in place, side-straddle hop. It doesn't matter, just go. (If you don't have your own jump rope you can buy one from me.)
• 8-min. workout - Continuous work for 8 min: 4 x 30 sec. each of 8-count burpees (don't forget the claps overhead), mountain climbers, jumping jacks, and squats. Move from one exercise to the next every 30 sec. Count total reps for your score.
• Warm-up and cool down - (15-20 min.) Nothing more. Standard dynamic warm-up followed by a cool down stretch. This is also great for off-days for those of you working on flexibility.
  
• Walk to your gate at the airport - (10 - 30 min.) Get to the airport early enough to walk to your gate. At ATL, that can be an excellent workout especially with a backpack and carry-on.
  
• Go for a run - (20-30 min.) See this workout for one of my all-time favorite 30-min. runs, or do a fartlek.
  
• FitWit workouts - (10-60 min.) Check out any of the previous "Wednesday Homework" and "Workouts Over Break" blog posts.

Step 2: Get physical first-thing in the morning.
Set your alarm or wake-up call to 20 min. earlier than you would normally. You'll probably spend the first 10 minutes talking yourself out of getting up, but even then you'll still have 10 minutes to work with. Get up and put your shoes on. An Aussie buddy of mine used to say it every day before his run "Mate, the hardest thing about running is puttin' on your shoes." After that, there's nothing left to do but to do it. Get your shoes on and do one of the workouts listed above.

Step 3: Eat breakfast every day.
This is one of our basic tenants in the nutrition plan. Avoid muffins, doughnuts, and cereal--all plentiful in hotel breakfasts. Check your Fitness Camp Manual for paleo- and primal diet-approved food choices. Get some protein and vegetables or fruit. Eggs, berries, nuts and omelets stuffed with veggies are great choices, though not always available. You can keep it simple. Even cheap hotels offer bananas and red delicious apples. Add a couple of spoonfuls of peanut butter, and it's an adequate breakfast.

Step 4: When you imbibe adult beverages, go one for one with water.
I learned this in my salad days when attending the Country Concert in the Hills--give me a break, I'm from Wapakoneta, Ohio. Three days straight of 90-degree heat surrounded by rednecks and Old Milwaukee Light made drinking water a survival practice there, but the tactic works any time you're likely to have one-too-many. Think of it as damage control. Late nights will kill any motivation you may have to execute the other steps the next morning. While matching your alcohol intake with water won't eliminate the late nights, it will reduce the aftermath. You will limit your total alcohol intake, metabolize the alcohol faster, stay hydrated, and limit the severity of any hangover symptoms, thus allowing you to feel better sooner and more likely to do steps 1-3.

It really boils down to keeping fitness a priority and taking action early in the day. Do something physical first-thing in the morning. Even five minutes of walking will do something for you. Eat a primal-approved breakfast with protein and vegetables or fruit every day. These two steps alone will set a very positive tone for your entire day. Set yourself up for a great morning by doing some damage control the night before, drinking one glass of water for every alcoholic drink you imbibe. You will wake up better than you would otherwise--though probably really having to pee.

That's it. Good luck, safe travels, and vaya con dios!