The No-Equipment Workout for Fitness on the Road
edited by Madelyn Miller
The most important part about staying in shape while traveling, for work or
vacation, is packing work out clothes.
When you have a chance to exercise, the excuse "I don’t have sneakers and a pair
of shorts" stops way too many people before they even get started. It is worth
finding room in your bag because of the stress, bad food and sitting involved in
traveling. Your body wants you to move. You'll get rid of stress, burn calories
and release those feel-good endorphins.
If you don’t have access to a gym or weights, there are plenty of things you can
do with your own body’s resistance. Here are 10 of the 20 moves that make up an
exercise-on-the-road routine.
1) Warm-up. Start with a simple march and then jog in place for a minute. Move
to a step-touch while lifting arms to the sides. Add an alternating hamstring
curl and biceps curl with both arms. Then finish up the five-minute warm-up with
light jumping jacks.
2) Push-ups with a glute raise. Start with regular style or add a multi-tasking
move by lowering to the knees and adding lower-body sculpting. After the first
modified push-up raise your right foot to the ceiling. Repeat 10 times on the
right side after each push-up and then 10 times on the left side. You've just
worked your pecs, triceps, core and glutes.
3) Low leg low ab crunch. Next, lie on your back and straighten your legs 80
percent straight, knees together and feet on the floor. Put your hands behind
your head and crunch up for 50.. Be sure to keep your eyes on the ceiling, knees
together, neck long and chin lifted.
4) Cardio interval. Jump rope (pretend to hold the rope and swing it for extra
biceps work) for one minute or count to 100 — alternate from one leg at a time,
to feet together and hopping. Maybe hop twice on one leg at a time. Have fun
with it. For all cardio intervals in this workout, march in place for at least
20 seconds afterwards to get your heart rate back down to a comfortable level.
5) Triceps dips. Sit on a bench, footstool or chair with your hands at your
sides and palms on the bench knuckles up and fingertips curling around towards
the floor. Lift yourself off the bench and slightly forward. Lower your backside
toward the floor while bending your elbows at 90 degrees. Finish the move by
pushing back up so elbows extend again. You can make this more difficult by
straightening the legs or lifting one leg off the floor.
6) Inner thighs. Lie on your right side and balance on your right elbow and
right hip. Bend your left knee to place the left foot in front of your straight
right leg. Be sure to keep the right foot parallel to the floor and lift the
right leg 30 times. Repeat on the other side. Next lie on your back with your
legs extended over your ribcage. Turn the toes out and flex the feet. Begin to
open and lower the legs to the sides, away from one another. To finish the move,
bring the heels back together. To intensify, only bring heels in halfway and
press against your inner thighs with your hands for a true "thigh master"
resistance move. Repeat step one on the left elbow and hip.
7) Cardio. Stand up and do 20 jumping jacks with the right foot in front, 20
with the left foot in front and 20 alternating and crossing feet.
8) Outer thighs. Now lie again on your right side, and prop yourself up on your
elbow but this time in a half-side plank. Bend the right leg lift hips off the
floor. Keep the left leg straight as you lift it for 25 reps. Keep the abs tight
because you’re working them as well in this multitasker. Repeat on the other
side.
9) Planks. Alternate from a middle plank (looks like a freeze frame of the top
of a push-up) to a side plank and hold each for a count of 10 seconds. Middle,
right, middle, left equals one repetition. Complete 5 repetitions.
10) Cool down. Do a 5 minute cool down with the same moves in the warm up and
then stretch your hamstrings, calves, quadriceps, hip flexors, inner and outer
thighs, glutes, triceps, pectorals, trapezious and rhomboids (upper back), and
lower back with standing rolls or cat/cow.
Remember to drink a lot of water, and maybe treat yourself to a new exercise
clothes as a souvenir to celebrate your healthy habits on the road.
These tips are from NikkiFitness. Nicole
Glor, is an AFAA certified NYC personal
trainer, group fitness instructor at Crunch in Manhattan and fitness
columnist for Military.com.
