Working out when on the road
 

I'm sure I have seen a thread like this before, but I don't remember when, or if it was even on this board. But, I did a search and didn't come up with anything. Anyways, I am on the road a lot now with work and would like to keep up my workout schedule. Before this job it was very easy to keep to a regular schedule by weight training 3 times a week and cardio every day. Now, however, I am gone 4 days at a stretch staying in hotels. I know how to keep cardio up, I just go running. Plus I've yet to be at a hotel without a treadmill. The problem is weight lifting, what do you recommend? Body weight works well for chest and triceps, but not so much for back, bicep/arms, and legs. Does anyone here have a road routine they use?

Haven't done this in years, but many good resistance exercises can be done on the road with thick rubber tubing, of the type that can be bought at pharmacies (surgical tubing) and hardware. You can also buy a fancy version with handles at some fitness/sporting good stores, but I never bothered.

I can't say it's going to build you mighty muscles, but it's a workout that you can feel, if done properly. You can make it as hard as you want to, by buying thicker-gauge tubing.

Here are a couple of links that go into more info:

http://www.yorku.ca/wellness/levy/tubing.htm
http://umanitoba.fitdv.com/new/artic...html?artid=405

There are even books. Google "rubber tube workout" and you'll find a few.

All I can think of is push ups,pull ups or dips for your upper body. If you are a member of a large fitness chain, get a visitor pass for gyms that you are near. This is all I got.

Get some of those elastics. From what i've seen, they're great if you can't hit up a gym.

For legs, do 1 legged squats. You'd be surprised how hard they can be. Or stand on your tippy toes with 1 foot at a time. Do it for long enough and your calf muscle will burn. You can hold books or stuff to make these exercises harder.

I just do pushups/stiups/pullups. Then of course I just use my luggage for the bicep curls.......

Here are some links for you:

http://humanhighlight.tripod.com/dunking/id31.html

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/alex1.htm

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/becker20.htm

And this may sound crazy, but my wife - who was a big lifter - got into Yoga. Now she is a Yoga instructor. She has been able to maintain nearly the same level of strength and never lifts. Yoga is pretty hard and you can practice by yourslef, of course.

Make sure you stay in hotels with a full gym or that are close to a gym where you can get a daily pass.

I too travel quite a bit and I do try to stay at hotels w/ a workout facility on site. But some many of those are in sad shape, equipment that is broken or needs adjustment. Really gets frustrating.

exercises you can do in your room...

arms/chest:

- standard pushups (alternate between standard, wide-grip, diamond, fingertips)
- elevated pushups (feet on bed or chair/feet on chair, one arm each on a chair)
- dips (feet on bed, arms on a chair behind you
- arm circles (do 50 4-count forward rotations, then reverse)

abs/core

- supermans (lay on stomach, elevate feet and whole arms and hold for 10 seconds)
- standard mix of situps/crunches
- gladiators (pushup position only on your elbows, clasp your hands, keep your body straight,hold pose)
- leg throws (lay on back, hands over head gripping stationary object, lower legs to 6 in. above floor, alternate straight/left/right)
- bicycle/flutter kicks
- lay on stomach with toes pointed (important), lift as much upper body off floor as possible, bring hand to same shoulder as if you were doing a lat-pull motion

legs

- lunges (there are many varieties)
- wall sits
- calf raises (it will take a while without weights, but you'll get a burn eventually)
- donkey kicks (get on all fours, extend one leg straight out while purposefully flexing glutes)
- squats (hands over on back of head, this gets tiring surprisingly quick)
- leaps (you look funny doing this, but gosh if it doesn't give a workout)

anyway... there are a few. each exercise has plenty of variations. getting in on a fitness yoga instruction will give you more ideas and an easily transportable routine.