Weight training and exercise on the road

[fookisan]

Recently was on a 10 day trip and had trouble finding a gym to work out at. I brought some heavy rubber bands with me and was able to recreate standard free weight exercise just fine. I had 4 bands of 2 strengths and would double them up to increase the resistance for certain exercise. I could do curls, military press, dead lifts, side bends, deltoid, shrugs, leg extensions and many more. I used washcloths in my hands so the rubber was more comfortable to grip. Lightweight and worked great. On the boat I was on I did pull ups on their overhead pipes and dips on their benches and one footed calf raises on the deck. No excuse not to work out when traveling.

Do you look for an excuse to continue or an excuse to quit?

 

[CameronMartz]

Great story! You're absolutely right in that if you want to stay fit, you can find a way no matter where you end up. Jump rope for cardio, calisthenics for agility, push ups, crunches, supermans... the list of exercises you can do on the road is very long, and this is before getting into using portable resistance equipment like exercise bands. Not only do exercise bands allow you to recreate the resistance of dumbbells, but you can actually use them to do exercises otherwise undoable. Using a door stop, you can do lat pulldowns, standing chest press, torso twist, etc., all stuff that you can't effectively do with dumbbells.

When I'm travelling and can't get to a gym, I take my exercise bands, not dumbbells.

Cameron

 

[Kupu]

I'm a lightweight, hardly ever in the gym but I believe in the benefits of living an active lifestyle. Always easy to get in a few sets of pushups anywhere, stomach crunch if I awake with nothing else to do in bed, pullups when I find the opportunity. Along with my inclination for a long uphill walk for legs and cardio this keeps me fairly active even during long spells of travel. Use it or lose it!

 

[Mo2vation]

I travel a lot. Granted, most of the places I stay have some sort of "gym" usually consisting of a poorly maintained universal machine, some Carter-administration 80's stepper thingus or a recumbant cycle. Once in a while, I'm surprised, but usually the selection is pretty poor.

Most of the time while on the road, I'll use body weight resistance exercises in my room if there are no real dumbbells available. Dips, pull ups, push ups, squats, lunges and the like. I also use road time to do something I rarely take the time to do in my home gym - Stretching.

I don't belong to a gym - I have my stuff at home. I just hate stretching - I mean long, slow, organized, focused stretching - and it shows. I have the flexibility of a glass rod - always have. The next time my palms touch the ground will be the first for me, you know? At home, its all about mad cadio and cycles through my muscle groups - and just enough stretching so I don't knot up overnight.

The last year or so of traveling, I've really dedicated time to stretching - and its making a big difference. When I broke my leg last year and went into serious recovery, the stretching is what helped prevent me from losing serious mobility in my knee, hip and ankle. Since then, I'm a big fan of stretching.

So in the room - its body weight stuff, and lots of stretching.

---
Ken

 

[SteveDiver]

When I travel I only book places that has a gym or a gym nearby where I can buy day passes...

 

[fookisan]

I'm a lightweight, hardly ever in the gym but I believe in the benefits of living an active lifestyle. Always easy to get in a few sets of pushups anywhere, stomach crunch if I awake with nothing else to do in bed, pullups when I find the opportunity. Along with my inclination for a long uphill walk for legs and cardio this keeps me fairly active even during long spells of travel. Use it or lose it!

Jack Lalane said that proper nutrition and exercise is the king and queen of good health. (the king and queen must also sit on a thrown of low stress living to be 100% effective) Living an active lifestyle made a big difference to me. When I used to eat rich food and shop for a hobby I was 60 pounds overweight. When I gave up that lifestyle for low salt and healthy natural eating and added mountain biking, scuba, hiking, weight training, kayaking, roller blading, swimming and dirt biking I lost the fat and am 155 now. Keep up the great work with your active life - either our activities promote our health or destroy it.

Dan

 

[fookisan]

Great story! You're absolutely right in that if you want to stay fit, you can find a way no matter where you end up. Jump rope for cardio, calisthenics for agility, push ups, crunches, supermans... the list of exercises you can do on the road is very long, and this is before getting into using portable resistance equipment like exercise bands. Not only do exercise bands allow you to recreate the resistance of dumbbells, but you can actually use them to do exercises otherwise undoable. Using a door stop, you can do lat pulldowns, standing chest press, torso twist, etc., all stuff that you can't effectively do with dumbbells.

When I'm travelling and can't get to a gym, I take my exercise bands, not dumbbells.

Cameron

Good ideas for more exercises. Will make a master list to remember them all when traveling. I can't always afford stating at places with gyms and really the gyms I've seen at some hotels stink anyway in the weight training dept. -- it is crap shoot. so, am very grateful for the bands and some brains on of to use them creatively.

Thanks,

Dan

 

[fookisan]

I travel a lot. Granted, most of the places I stay have some sort of "gym" usually consisting of a poorly maintained universal machine, some Carter-administration 80's stepper thingus or a recumbant cycle. Once in a while, I'm surprised, but usually the selection is pretty poor.

Most of the time while on the road, I'll use body weight resistance exercises in my room if there are no real dumbbells available. Dips, pull ups, push ups, squats, lunges and the like. I also use road time to do something I rarely take the time to do in my home gym - Stretching.

I don't belong to a gym - I have my stuff at home. I just hate stretching - I mean long, slow, organized, focused stretching - and it shows. I have the flexibility of a glass rod - always have. The next time my palms touch the ground will be the first for me, you know? At home, its all about mad cadio and cycles through my muscle groups - and just enough stretching so I don't knot up overnight.

The last year or so of traveling, I've really dedicated time to stretching - and its making a big difference. When I broke my leg last year and went into serious recovery, the stretching is what helped prevent me from losing serious mobility in my knee, hip and ankle. Since then, I'm a big fan of stretching.

So in the room - its body weight stuff, and lots of stretching.

---
Ken

Yes, stretching get put on the back burner many a time. I've neglected my Yoga for about 2 weeks now since returning from long trip and being overloaded with other work. I used to do it 45 minutes a day for 5 days a week when at my best. I do get in bits and pieces of yoga when I get a chance and sometimes do an hour of yoga in front of the TV at night if I am backed up with work. If I stand in refund line or whatever I stand on one leg to do modified tree stance to work on balance and strengthen legs. Also do one lege calf raises and stomach vacuum's while standing around waiting.

No time to exercise or stretch? That is a signpost for living a wrong life. Sometimes I have big eyes for too much and must remember first things first...good health first.

That is a great photo of your boat entry. Where can I get a large copy to use as wall paper on computer?

Dan

fookisan54@aol.com