Travel This Holiday Season - And Stay Fit!

By Alex Vitale

Many fitness enthusiasts find it difficult to follow their normal exercise plan while traveling to see family or friends for the winter holidays.

Unfamiliar environments, tightly-packed family living conditions, or lack of exercise equipment may hamper even a fitness fanatic’s best intentions for staying fit while traveling this holiday season. But as a Certified Personal Trainer, I’ve come up with the following tips for putting together an exercise program that travels with you.

Here’s how to do it:

Drink a minimum of eight 8-ounce glasses of water each day. Airport food, sitting on a plane, jet lag – all contribute to bloat. The best way to fight it is to stay hydrated.

Lift from your knees, not your back. Be aware of your posture as you carry your bags.  Use good body mechanics when you lift your suitcases up to the check-in counter.

Eat three meals a day. Even though you’ve left behind your daily routine, try to eat three meals a day, maintain a balanced diet and eat plenty of fruit and vegetables. If you’re going to eat a high-fat meal, eat a smaller portion, or order an appetizer instead of a main course. Split desserts with a friend..

Rest. If your schedule is shot and you’re not sleeping enough at night, take cat naps whenever you get the chance.  Stretch in the morning and evening, especially if you’ve been sitting all day. If you will be drinking alcohol, drink a lot of water between events.

Pack snacks: bananas and apples, yogurt, protein bars. You can make meal replacement shakes in your hotel room. You don’t need a blender, just a container with a tight-fitting lid, large enough to shake the contents.

Plan active recreation during vacations. Check out the local golf course or riding stables.

Find out if your gym reciprocates its membership with a gym where you’ll be traveling. Log onto the International Physical Fitness Association’s website, or ask at your home health club before you leave town. Three to five days off from a strength routine can give your muscles a rest. But you wouldn’t want to go a week or more without serious exercise and a short respite for your biceps doesn’t mean you should ever let your cardio workout go.

Pack a jump rope for a go-anywhere aerobic session. Invest in travel weights – inflatable weights that can be filled with water or sand when training, folded and stored while on the road.

If you work with a personal trainer, ask him or her to design an exercise plan before you leave town. When you’re sitting on a plane or in a hotel room, take deep breaths occasionally, tighten your stomach muscles, then relax. Travelers need to periodically flex and stretch the hamstrings and hip flexors, the muscle at the upper part of the leg that connects into the pelvis.

Air travel may be fast, but for many of us it can be uncomfortable.

For women who spend the day in high heels, a walk around the room toe-up, heel-down will stretch the calf muscles. Or, do toe raises by putting the heels on the floor and stepping up onto a telephone book. “Men often complain of being cramped when traveling,” states Vital. “They need to stretch their lower back and legs.” He recommends the cat stretch. Get up on your hands and knees, arch your back for 15 seconds, then release. Repeat.

Air travel may be fast and convenient, but for many of us, it can be uncomfortable and restrictive due to cramped cabins and sardine-like seating. The following tips can help you make the most of your next airplane trip by helping you stay flexible and fit while you fly. When sightseeing, forget the tour bus and walk. You’ll not only see more, but you’ll be sneaking in some extra activity. Some other great no-stress exercises:

DEEP BREATHING is an instant relaxer and can be done anywhere at any time. Try taking 4-5 deep, cleansing breaths several times during your flight.

RELAX YOUR SHOULDERS by bending forward slightly, hands on knees and “rolling” your shoulders in a circular motion 5 or 6 times. Repeat the “roll” in the opposite direction, then finish up by “shrugging” your shoulders up and down 5 times.

RELAX YOUR BACK by reaching overhead, holding elbows, and bending side to side. Repeat 5 times in each direction.

STRETCH YOUR LEGS by alternately lifting your knees toward your chest and bringing your body toward your knee to the count of eight.

RELEASE YOUR FEET by “drawing” the alphabet with one foot then the other.

Alex Vitale is a Lead Trainer for the fitness company V Shred. Certified Personal Trainer through the National Council of Strength and Fitness and a graduate of the Equinox Fitness Training Institute, a global leader in applied exercise science education. Alex’s mission as a personal trainer is to not only help people to get in shape, but also to take more control over their lives and become the best possible version of themselves.