So how do we feel about working out and maintaining our fitness levels while traveling for business or pleasure? Do you feel like you just don’t have enough time while traveling, maybe just not sure on what to do, or do we use it as an excuse to just not exercise? Let’s start off by saying we all need a vacation (even if it means the occasional high calorie treat or missed workout). The problem arises when these splurges go from occasional to everyday habits. Tight schedules, limited options, and unfamiliar territory make it easy for traveling to derail your fitness routine. The reason I’m writing about this is, I just recently came back from a trip myself and here are just a few tips I thought might help others while traveling.
1. Be prepared with fitness attire. Exercise opportunities on the road won’t do much good if you are not prepared. A quick walk/run around the parking lot at a rest stop or airport will stretch the legs and burn a few calories.
2. Make space for exercise essentials. If you own an exercise band, tube, or even the TRX, these can fit in a carry on or suitcase to make it easy for on the go hotel room strength training or just focus on exercises that can be done in home.
3. Use airport/hotel gyms. Fitting in exercise during long layovers could be as simple as walking the terminals and even in some airports there are designated yoga rooms, walking paths, and even small gyms. Don’t forget to take advantage of the hotel gym as well, even a quick 30 minutes counts for something.
4. Carefully weigh your food options and have prepared snacks on hand. Take advantage of fresh produce by exploring local markets and meals for a healthy breakfast, lunch, or snack. Fill baggie with mixed nuts and dried fruit, energy bars, and fresh fruit for emergency snacks to make unhealthy options less tempting.
5. Book an active excursion. Make a natural attraction part of your itinerary (hiking, biking, running) or check to see if there are any races or events at your destination you can get in on while visiting. Local fitness studios may have active weekend retreats or bootcamps that you can join while on your trip, so do a little research before you head out. (I love walking cities or going for runs in places I’ve never been, you get to really see the city and explore spots you might’ve missed in a car, taxi, or bus).
6. Use technology to your advantage. Now a day we all have access to a laptop, phone, iPad or other device and online fitness info can be found all over the internet. It can provide solutions for exercise when you are confined to a hotel room. Add some extra Fitness Apps to your phone to have easy access to exercise moves as well as, logs for food and exercise.
7. Get plenty of rest. Let’s face it, traveling whether pleasure or business wears you out. So be sure to get the appropriate sleep to help you sustain and recover from all the traveling. Continue to choose healthy foods, sleep 7-9 hours and plan to get back to your normal exercise routine once you return home…don’t put it off, get right back into the swing of things!
It’s hard enough to maintain your workout schedule while at home, and being on the road it definitely takes some proactive thinking and effort. Remember any little bit of physical activity is better than nothing. Enjoy your vacation with a little active rest!
I wish I had $1 for every time I heard this excuse- yes I said excuse, not reason. Everyone is guilty of using this – even us trainers.
The most important thing about working out is to realize that it does not require a large amount of time out of your day; here are some guidelines from the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) for cardio training:
1. Adults should get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week
2. 30-60 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise (five times a week) or 20-60 minutes of vigorous- intense exercise (three times a week) is recommended
a. One continuous session or multiple shorter sessions (at least 10 minutes) are both acceptable to accumulate amount of daily exercise
3. People unable to meet these minimums can still benefit from some activity.
Lets delve a little deeper into what these recommendations are saying (the proof you have time for exercise)-
1. 150 minutes per week breaks down into around 20 minutes a day
a. 20 minutes a day is spent hitting the snooze button, waiting in line for lunch, watching reality TV shows, waiting for dinner to cook, etc.
2. Minimum of 10-minute sessions can be used to accumulate daily exercise recommendations.
a. 10 minutes of power walking with your dog in the morning or at night, climbing the stairs at work for 10 minutes during your lunch hour, playing with your kids at the playground, walking them around the block in their stroller, etc.
3. Any activity no matter how little is better than nothing!
Instead of thinking about how busy you are doing other things make a time in your day that is blocked off for working out. I did this in college; my gym time was blocked off as if it was a class that I had to attend. That way when my friends wanted to go to lunch or do whatever college life activities we could do I had an excuse. Your health is way too important to put on the back burner, you make everything else in your life a priority why should exercise fall by the wayside?
We are all guilty of it – scouring the Internet or latest fitness magazine to find the new diet or exercise tips. What a lot of people don’t know is that what they are reading could possibly be exactly what you DO NOT want to do. Keeping up with what is right and what is horribly wrong can be tough to do, which is the reason behind this blog today.
Myth #1: If you exercise one area, you will lose fat in that one area.
No, spot training is not possible. To put it logically – chewing gum does not make your jaw muscles bigger and make you lose weight in your face so why would doing side bends for love handles make them go away? Weight comes off first from where it went on last – it is easier to lose weight you’ve put on recently. It is an all or nothing principle and a mixture of diet, cardio, and strength training will get you where you want to be.
Myth #2: Woman shouldn’t lift weights because they’ll get bulky
Ladies, please stop thinking this. We do not have the same hormones as men and it is impossible (without the help of an illegal substance) to have the same gains in muscle as them. Yes it is possible to gain muscle but lets be serious, you rarely see women with pecs that you can make bounce up and down and biceps that look like they are busting out of your shirts. Strong is the new skinny ladies so go ahead and pick up that weight.
Myth #3: You should work abs everyday and every other question about abs out there
Your abdominals are just like every other muscle in your body – they need time to rest and recover. Working them everyday is not only over training but not going to get the results you want. “Abs are made in the kitchen,” a saying repeated over and over again by professional bodybuilders. You can work your abs as much as possible but unless you lose that layer over them, you will not see them. Doing crunches does not equal a smaller waist, if anything you are making the muscle bigger which will look great once you get that diet in check and cardio going. Lastly, attribute a 6 pack to good genes, you can have a great looking core but to get those washboard abs you have to be pretty blessed in the gene pool.
Myth #4: Muscle turns into fat
Muscle and fat are two very different cells that simply do not mutate into one another. The amount of muscle can be hidden by the amount of fat and visa versa but they are not one in the same. While a pound of fat and pound of muscle may weigh the same, they differ in density. Five pounds of fat takes up more space than 5 pounds of muscle.
To eat 3 meals, 6 meals, or even 9 meals a day that is the question??? How many meals, how often, what size portion, when and what time are good to eat, and when do you avoid eating. It’s the never-ending, always-changing questions and answers. There are many thoughts on this and many possible answers, but bottom line we need to do what works well with our own individual bodies.
According to a recent study by American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, a group of nutrition researchers concluded that whether you are practicing the “three”, “six”, or even the “nine” meal daily dietary pattern, weight loss ultimately comes down to “how much energy or (calories) is consumed as opposed to how often or how regularly one eats”.
As far as increasing the amount of calories we burn, according to Viki Sullivan PhD, RD, LD; the only thing that has been consistently shown to increase Baseline Metabolic Rate (BMR) is…Exercise!! In other words weight maintenance: Calories In = Calories Out.
Another major key factor is eating the right total amount of calories each day, and getting those calories from the ideal amount of Protein, Fat, and Carbohydrates (yes I did say Fat and Carbs)!
The trick is eating when you are truly hungry but not so ravenous that you are at risk for overeating or eating out of control. Ask these questions:
· Am I hungry? (If unsure, wait 20 minutes and ask yourself again)
· When was the last time I ate? (If it’s less than three hours, it may not be real hunger)
· Could a small snack tide me over until the next meal? (Have ready-to-eat fruits or vegetables on hand for this)
However, many nutrition experts agree that when it comes to weight loss irregular eating patterns and skipped meals are not good for any of us. So make sure to eat something!
If your unsure how many calories you might need, see one of the trainers and we would be happy to put some info together for you. Number of calories expended through physical activity increases with: frequency, intensity, and duration of training program; as well as non-training physical activity (jobs, recreation, sports). With today’s Apps and programs out there its easy to monitor this on the go and in everyday life, so let us know what we can do or how we can help!
To explain exactly how foam-rolling works makes me use words like fascia, Golgi Tendon Organ, and autogenic inhibition; instead of putting you to sleep I will use an easy analogy- rolling out the knots in dough with a rolling pin. Knots can form in the connective tissue that protects your muscles (fascia) causing discomfort. While using the foam roller you are putting pressure on those knots and rolling them out, similair to what a massage therapist does. Stretching is very beneficial and cannot be neglected. But in the case of muscle knots, stretching alone is not enough. When stretching a muscle with knots, you are only stretching the healthy muscle tissue; the knot remains a knot. Just like stretching, foam rolling needs to be done repeatedly to obtain the full benefits.
Some of the benefits of foam rolling or self-myofascial release are-
· Corrects muscle imbalances
· Relieves muscle soreness and joint stress
· Increase in flexibility
· Increase in muscle function
· Increase in overall performance
Muscles usually targeted with the foam roller-
· IT Band
· Piriformis
· Hamstrings
· Quadriceps
· Back
We have foam rollers for sale- get one now and enjoy the benefits!
We are starting our juice cleanse 10/10/12. We are working with Pulp to make the juice and we have a few options and levels so don’t be scared to give it a try. Whether its all day or just one juice a day the benefits are amazing. So who out there is participating in our juice cleanse? Are we looking forward to it or dreading it? Hopefully we are all looking forward to it, let us know how your feeling and what your thinking during your experience.
Just in case you can’t get the juice from us try a reciepe at home.
Good luck and hope you all feel energized!
