11 Incredible Ways to Keep Up Your Fitness While Travelling

Convincing oneself to give up on workouts and healthy diet gets easy once we hit the road on account of getting the most of our fun time. Beware! That’s like throwing caution to the wind for which consequences will follow, pretty unacceptable, specifically when you are an athlete or fitness fanatic.

It is a major misconception that travelling is your ticket to cheat days, since you won’t be able to keep up with your usual diet and exercise routine. Wrong! You are just convincing yourself to let go of the routine, but in reality, it's quite easy to eat healthily and stay active wherever you go.

Motivation to follow the regime is all you need and we can’t agree more that it gets tough to stay motivated whilst travelling. Be careful as your mind may convince you into an illusion that you can’t pursue your fitness training without appropriate gym equipment. Don’t buy these thoughts and instead start thinking about the ways you can keep your body in shape. Living in the moment and staying fit can co-exist; in fact, staying healthy will help you live the moment to the utmost.

Yes, travelling does mean a break from your routine but this isn’t a good enough reason to turn into a sack of potatoes.  

Read on, if you want to know the ways of staying healthy plus happy while you are having fun time travelling.

How to Stay Healthy and Happy When You Travel

You can follow these strategies not only to stay fit when you travel but to feel elevated and satisfied for not giving up on your fitness regime in any situation.

1- Sweat with Others

Join local fitness club: Did you give it a thought that you can join a local gym or workout classes to keep your body in shape? Not only will this help to keep your fitness in check, but will also make your travel experience different than usual. The fun part is that you can meet native people, make new friends, and perform some exercises differently as per the new trainer’s guidance.

Plus, sometimes it’s totally free to attend your first gym session or you can simply hook up with a group of travellers to enjoy colour or mud run. Who said you can’t mix fun and exercise together? Chances are you may be in luck for a colour or mud run scheduled in your city of travel.

A colour run is a 5k paint race, inspired by a Hindu festival Holi and the biggest running series in the world. In this exclusive event, runners wear white T-shirts and cover them with different colours during the run to celebrate health, joy, and individualism.

 Source: What is the colour run?

Are you looking to be part of the next mud run? Just know that it's challenging enough to test your physical and mental limits, but that always take place in a friendly environment. To cut long story short, you work as a team to get through a challenging course the purpose of which is to make sure that you sweat a lot.

2- Try Unique Terrain

Take advantage of the unusual surroundings: Don’t worry if you don’t want to get inside the soulless gym like you do every day while you are in your hometown, because we have an alternative for you. That substitute is none other than to go outside and take the most of a natural landscape to keep your body fit because outdoor fitness comes with lots of perks for your body and mind.

Working in an open space is undoubtedly a free dose of vitamin D as sunlight is a great source to meet your vitamin D requirement. A research suggests that its deficiency can be one of the reasons behind obesity.

 Source: Vitamin D and obesity

You will come across a number of opportunities while travelling to train your body in diverse geographies. Run on a beach, hike a mountain, use rocks on the beachside for strength training, or just simply choose a brisk walk through hilly tracks. Remember, you don’t need to limit yourself because there are plenty of things out there in a specific environment you are visiting, which can turn your activity into a form of exercise.

3- Go Hard and Fast

Do not underestimate the benefits of a low-duration workout: Fitness is not about long durations of tearing up yourself in a gym because "more" is not always the better. Sometimes training hard and fast is all your body needs. Besides, who has time for one hour or 45 minutes of a workout when there is a lot to explore in a new place?

The health benefits you can get from 20 minutes high-intensity workout are the same as those from 45 minutes of moderate intensity exercise. Then why sweat yourself in a foreign land for an extended time when you can save that extra time for roaming around.

4- Use Your Bodyweight

Your use bodyweight for strength training: You sure do love travelling but you also want to have strong and lean muscles. So, what's on your mind to keep doing your strength training while you are away from home? If the answer is nothing, then don't worry because we know the solution. Use something that’s within your capacity and that is your body weight. There are plenty of bodyweight exercises you can find online that can strengthen your core muscles and will leave you lurching for days but in a good way.

And if you think your body weight is not heavy enough for building stronger muscles, then think about adding volume or making your workout a little harder to get the desired results. You are doing regular push-ups, just do more reps than yesterday or use your travel buddy as added weight and try some partner exercises.

5- Eat Responsibly

Start reading about intermittent fasting: Diet is much more important than exercise. Yes, you have read it right! If you think you can achieve your ideal body goals only by lifting heavy weights, then you are wrong. Keeping a check on your diet can be a little tough if you are a mighty eater once you hit the road because let's face the fact; eating local cuisine is hands down one of the best things about traveling. Now you may think restricting yourself from trying local treats will take away the pleasure from your traveling experience. But hey you are still in luck.

You don't have to keep your hands off from the local delicacies as long as you know 'when to eat. To stay fit, we must have to fix your mealtime and it's not a bad idea to practice intermittent fasting while you are traveling. Not only it does amazing things to your body, but it also breaks your addiction to snacks and makes you disciplined when it comes to eating.

6- Don’t Let an Injury Hurt Your Finances

Get yourself travel insurance: I bet you wouldn't have thought about it. Staying fit is not all about building muscles or losing fats but it also reduces your chances of getting sick or injured. But that does not guarantee the uncertain incidents that can cost you a huge chunk of money. You may think of it as a waste of money, but what if something comes your way like a bolt from the blue? You sure don't want anything to upset your budget, so it’s better to find an insurance plan that can meet your needs at the lowest price. A little preparedness while starting a journey will definitely take you a long way.

How do you decide that what elements make a good insurance travel plan? Well, it must cover your medical expenses (in case of emergency situation), return service in case of medical situation, reimburse travel cost if you decide to shorten or cancel your trip or if it gets delayed due to unforeseen event, and gives back additional travel expenses if you miss your flight due to the situation not under your control.

Source: Travel insurance – what does a good policy look like?

7- Plan Before You Pack Your Bag

Don’t forget to plan your fitness: It’s easy to adrift when you are enjoying the sceneries abroad and lose track of your fitness regime, which you were following so keenly back home. That's why you must plan your fitness before boarding an airplane. But how many of us do really care about that and try to find out ways to stay fit in a foreign land? Almost none. Instead, we research activities, sites to visit, and restaurants to try, but when it comes to exercise, we leave it to decide on the spot. But this isn't the right thing to do because once you get there, you are either too tired or busy to roll out the exercise mat.

So when you pack your bag with your essentials, make room for portable exercise equipment that you can take with you. How about resistance bands, skipping rope, ab wheel roller, or a yoga mat? Although a yoga mat is not always packable but if you are traveling for more than a month, then you may like to consider it as essential.

Interested in buying home gym equipment, that are easy to carry with you anywhere, then head straight to Xn8 Sports for premium quality fitness gears.

8- Breathe and Relax

Do not overwhelm yourself: Exercise is meant to relieve your stress, not to double it. If you are not in the mood for a workout, you don't need to. Take a long shower, have a goodnight sleep, or do anything that can lighten up your mood. You literally don't have to sweat yourself if you are already exhausted.

Traveling can be stressful and it is equally important to relax your body and mind by getting enough sleep. Know that your fitness level will only plunge if you sacrifice your sleep for some other activity. Plus, do give yourself a credit for walking long miles on beaches or trekking in the mountains, because it definitely counts as a form of exercise and obviously much better than sitting all day.

Research continues to emerge supporting the notion that small bouts of exercise accumulated throughout the day may provide many of the same benefits as one continuous bout of activity.

Source: Do Mini Workouts Throughout The Day Provide The Same Benefit as One Continuous Workout?

9- Choose a Workout You Can Do Anywhere

Hold on to basics: What is the last thing that you want to imagine when you are at your favourite destination? Sweating in a gym when you should be exploring everything that you have put on your list. But think it like this; you got only one life and one body to take care of. By doing some basics and keeping certain things in place, you can achieve much more than you expected on your fitness journey.

What are some of the basic exercises you can do anywhere? Apart from riding a bike, going for a hike, or trekking, walking is something you should count as the basic to help you build a healthy body. What is so amazing is that they don't even feel like exercises. It's great that your trip will eventually make you walk through streets or trek on mountains as part of your adventure, but wouldn't it be awesome if you know a simple workout that you can perform literally ANYWHERE.

We have already talked about the significance of strength training and that goes without saying that you don't need to work on every muscle separately, because it targets every muscle of your body simultaneously. Interestingly, you can do squats, push-ups, or lunges within the diameter of your hotel room or make your way to the park nearest to your hotel. Space is not an issue as long as you are concerned about your fitness.

10- Party More Drink Less

Make moderate choices: Who does not love partying? Unless you are strictly an introvert, everyone is up for a party. Good thing is that now you are far from home and free from responsibilities for a while, so chances are high that you end up gobbling wine more than you should. We all know alcohol consumption is injurious to health but so is sleeping late, eating junk, minimal exposure to sunlight, and spending more than enough time on mobile phones. Yet, we do all these things frequently in our lives, and by simply keeping them on a moderate level, we can still have fun. Likewise, instead of gulping a full bottle, you can enjoy a glass of wine occasionally to live longer and healthier. If you want to drink, that's up to you. If you don't want to get yourself into drinking, again that's your choice. Just be confident of the choices you make. Drink or no drink, health and fitness should be your ultimate goal.

11- Unbox the Benefits of Travel Yoga

Let Yoga be your travel partner: Travelling can be a life-changing experience for many people, especially for those who want to take a break from the vicious cycle of life. But, at the same time, it gets tiring because a change in time zone takes a toll on sleeping pattern of people, which consequently lowers the energy level. As challenging as it can become for you to get yourself out of your comfort zone after coming face-to-face with these challenges, it's also an opportunity for you to shine and yoga is there to help.

Who doesn’t know the amazing benefits of yoga? Not only they are endless but when you are travelling, practicing it can revitalize your energy. After exploring your favourite sites, your body needs a good stretch, and what else can better do this for you than yoga? Yoga teaches you to reflect on your present situation, appreciate your surroundings, and be grateful for having this opportunity to travel. It undoubtedly has plenty of benefits that blend exceptionally well with your travel lifestyle by providing you a chance to open your heart and mind and breathe out all the stress that you may experience in a new place. All you need to do is shop a high quality fabric yoga mat that can accompany you anywhere because once you unravel in the world of yoga, this starts feeling like your best buddy on every trip.

Conclusion

Though fitness should be the top goal of our life, but it shouldn't rob you off of having fun in life. As soon as the word "travelling" pops into our minds, we start navigating our thoughts from exotic local delicacies to public places that we always had on our bucket list. Fitness does come last in our mind, but as long it’s here in your mind, you are okay.

We have already mentioned how you can utilise the geography of a country to your benefit, or eating correctly with a fasting window in between two meals, or participating in native fun activities that have to do with building body strength.

Remember, your dedication must be with the continuity of your fitness regime which shouldn’t come to pause no matter where you go.