It can be all too easy to let your health and wellness take a bit of a hit whilst you’re traveling, and if you’re anything like me – your body might just slap you in the face to remind you! Trains, planes, buses, boats, ferries… rushing from place to place, sometimes only sleeping for 5 or 6 hours a night – it’s super easy to forget to look after your body! Not to mention the extra kilos you start to accumulate as you sample (a little too much of) the local eats! Yes – all of these things have happened to me, and then I managed to get a gastro bug a few weeks ago which had me canceling and rescheduling travel plans whilst I recovered. It was horrible, but despite this – I took it as a sign from the universe that I’d been a little too confident with my food choices, and to start looking after my gut health again like I always did at home.
So if – like me – you love feeling vibrant, healthy, enjoy keeping fit at home and would like to maintain this when you go off on your travels then I have a few ‘hacks’ for you:
Walk – EVERYWHERE. As much as you can, as far as you can. Seriously, you don’t need to hit the gym every day to keep fit – walking is an excellent way of keeping on top of your fitness and it’s free! Plus, you’ll see so much more of where you are if you walk around instead of using Ubers and taxis. Take advantage of the free walking tours that you’ll find in lots of cities around the world and get those steps up. I like to make sure I’m wearing my Fitbit to keep me on track with getting my steps in each day. If you’re feeling super energetic – you could jog as well as walk!
– Download a bodyweight workout app for your iPhone. There are loads of these, but I like to use one called ‘Seven’. Like it says on the tin – it’s a seven minute workout and you can choose from all different types. It doesn’t require any equipment or very much space so you can perform these exercises pretty much anywhere.
If you’re like me and you absolutely MUST lift weights whilst you’re traveling, then you’ll find that you can pay a one off drop-in fee to most gyms. This can get expensive though – with a typical drop-in fee in Australia being in the region of $20-30. With that being said, if you’re in one place for long enough you can often join for a couple of weeks which makes it cheaper. Tourist cities and towns are used to having visitors so you’ll find most gyms have short term visitor options as well. I always like to drop in to my nearest CrossFit gym when I’m traveling, not just for the workout but for the banter too!
Kayaking at Ewen Maddock Dam, Sunshine Coast, QLD, Australia
Try something NEW! What better opportunity could you get than trying new and exciting ways of keeping fit when you’re traveling? So far I’ve hiked up two mountains, kayaked on a dam and tried stand-up paddle boarding! I’ve even used a kids play park to do some exercising in as well – you’ve gotta get creative and think outside the box.
Doing pull-ups in the local kids play park!
Nutrition wise – look after your insides by eating lots of different varieties of veggies and fruit whilst you’re away, as well as good lean proteins and healthy fats. Cut down on snacking, it can be easy to keep grabbing things on the go whilst you’re traveling and all that extra food can add up to a few extra kilos very quickly, especially if your activity levels are lower than normal. Oh, and minimise your alcohol consumption too! Sorry to sound like a party pooper but excessive alcohol consumption is going to upset your gut, and nobody likes traveling with an upset gut!
It sounds simple, but make sure you’re drinking enough filtered or mineral water. It’s really easy to forget to drink enough water when you’re on the go all the time, and this is especially important if you’re in a hot climate. Not only will this keep you feeling energised, fit and healthy but it’ll improve your skin too. If you are traveling in a hot climate and sweating a lot, make sure you’re drinking mineral water to replace lost salts, or add a tiny pinch of sea salt to your tap water (so tiny that it shouldn’t affect the taste). You’d be surprised how quickly you can get dehydrated in hot climates.
There are LOADS of ways to stay fit and healthy when you’re traveling, these are just a few of my favourites! If you have any others, feel free to leave a comment and tell me your favourite way to keep fit and healthy when traveling!
Just checking to make sure my muscles are still there!