Take your workout with you
‘Tis the season
for cookie overload
shopping ‘til you drop
holiday parties
cards (we got 4 today and I realized that we’re slackers)
One of the things about traveling is that it can easily put a damper on your fitness routine. As much as I enjoy kicking back over the holidays, I also love working out to keep my sanity, health and fitness level in balance. (Nothing will clear your brain from a crazy family member like a good sweat sesh)
Here are some of my tips for taking your workout with you if you’ll be away from home this winter:
1) Sneak it in. Don’t have time to hit up the gym? No worries- many holiday activities burn extra calories and the little things really do add up.
Some fun wintery calorie burners (per hour)
-Walking the mall: 135*
-Grocery shopping: 90*
-Cleaning the house: 130*
-Mattress mambo: 108*
-Baking: 170**
-Building a snowman: 238**
-Caroling: 129**
*from this site
*from this site, based on 150 lb individual
I also like to use the layover in between flights to get in some leisurely airport cardio. I’ll walk to my gate to make sure the flight is on time and nothing has changed, and then spend the rest of the time walking around. It feels great to shake out my legs after sitting on a plane for so long.
2) Make it quick. An effective workout doesn’t have to take a huge chunk out of your day, and even if you only have a short amount of time, you can still make it count. My favorite ways to get in a good sweat in a short amount of time:
-Supersets or circuit-style training
–HIIT
Lots of workout quickies on the fitness page if you’d like some inspiration <3
3) Check out local gyms or yoga studios to see what types of deals they offer. Many gyms will do a “first time free” card, and yoga studios will often offer a week of classes for first-timers at a sick price.
4) Explore your surroundings. The best way to enjoy a new city is by foot, but try to take a buddy with you if you’ll be going for a hike or run. If you’re heading out solo, map out your route beforehand and leave it with your family/friends, and practice safe strategies like wearing reflective clothing at night, always carrying ID and a cell phone with you.
5) Workout where you are. There are so many at-home workout options to explore, and I’ll usually pack a couple of workout DVDs in my suitcase if I’d like to do a hotel workout or something in there room where we’re staying. There’s usually going to be down time during the day, and it’s a great opportunity to head to your room for a short workout while everyone else naps or rests.
Fitness tools that travel well:
-Workout DVDs
-Jump rope
-Interval timer
-Sneakers and comfy clothes
-Yoga mat + downloaded yoga podcasts, ready to go (I like YogaDownload.com)
We’re staying put this holiday season, but are usually out-of-town. Hopefully this helped out those of you who will be traveling <3
Are you traveling this holiday season? Where are you headed?
Any tips for keeping your workout routine while away from home?
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Yes to all of the above! I love all those aspects of the holiday season….but all the festivities definitely make working out that much harder! Thanks for the tips!
I recently discovered HULU. (I turned off my cable.) They have a lot of short workout ses. Jillian, Jackie Warner and Giam to name a few. I am heading to Green Valley, AZ. Is there anything to do there???
it’s not too far from tucson, but green valley itself is beautiful, but not a ton to do
Hi, my parents live in Green Valley. Here are some highlights:
– Hike/bike/explore Madera Canyon
– Window shop stores & galleries in Tubac. Eat at Elvira’s
– Ride around in golf carts
– La Placita and Grill on the Green in G.V. are good restaurants too
– Not a lot of night life (haha understatement)
– Visit Tumacacori Mission. They have an evening luminarias Christmas Eve (I think)…super pretty.
I walked around a mall for over 5 hours and tried on a bunch of clothes, that must have burned off the multiple handfuls of M&Ms and chocolate chip cookie, right? 😉
yes 🙂
I am totally loving HIIT. I did it for the first time this week! It’s important to be relatively in shape before you give HIIT a try, or else your body doesn’t handle it well.
I’ve been doing a lot of extra discovering of Denver during my long runs. It’s way different from driving past neighborhoods, and you really get to appreciate what’s nearby.
I completely agree – keep it simple and just do SOMETHING! Some of my favorite hotel/traveling workouts are bodyweight circuits including pushups, plyo lunges, burpees, squats, core work, etc.
We have never traveled on Christmas before, but this year we are going to MEXICO! I’m super pumped! There is a gym at the resort, but it’s really centered on cardio and only has some light weights and a couple small machines (Daniel and I have been there before). However, I plan to use the little gym for some weights and to get in a lot of time walking on the beach! Some beach runs and beach circuits are also on my agenda. 🙂 Of course, running through airports to catch our connecting flights will also count as cardio!
mexico!!! have so much fun! and eat a chile relleno while you’re there 🙂
xoxo
I love BodyRock for short, portable workouts. Super effective and fast. And something about finishing one of the workouts makes me feel so hardcore, which makes me want to make healthier food choices. It’s just a great cycle of healthfulness! 🙂
I remember that pic of you and Pilot in your sweaters from last year… like it was *yesterday* Wow…has it been a year?!
And can I come shopping with you? W-S bag on the front seat always means a good time was had at the mall 🙂
This was a great, helpful post Gina. You managed to get me even more in the holiday spirit and make me excited for a workout all at the same time 🙂
Great tips! The season has been ridiculous so far but I just accepted a large volunteer position that came with a members of the org clearly divided on one side or another so its challenging AND stressful. We leave in a few days for Vietnam/Cambodia for the holidays. So excited to get away! My workouts will consist of lots of walking/hiking, some running and yoga when I can eek it in.
We are headed home to the arctic. Or Calgary Alberta. I am bringing my P90X dvds and my yoga mat for sure!!
Great tips! We are staying put this Christmas, but my bro will be traveling to us. I’m sure we’ll go for lots of hikes in nearby parks. I’ll definitely be hitting up Zumba a lot before he gets here and the week after he leaves.
great tips! i love not working out at the gym, means i can take my workouts everywhere. my body is my gym! i use an interval timer (iphone app) to make random HIIT (bodyrock like) workouts, or just do yoga by myself. sometimes you dont even need a mat for that, perfect!
I was traveling pretty much every other week this summer, and workout DVDs became my saving grace. So easy, so effective—it’s a win-win!
If you’re planning on sending out a birth announcements to family/friends in a couple of weeks, then you could probably just skip the Christmas cards and wait for that! I sent out a combo holiday card/birth announcements when my daughter was born. It saves a lot of money, time and paper!!
Great post Gina! I’m staying home for the holidays, but even at home it can be hard to find time to workout when you have so much else to do. I’m a big fan of counting shopping and cleaning as my workout on days when I can’t get to the gym. 😉
Everytime I come inside from shoveling/playing in the snow I say that I feel like I just burned a few hundred calories…you don’t think you can get so sweaty when it’s so cold! 🙂 I also can’t wait to go back to my hometown yoga studio that I miss muchos when I visit the parents (to offset the Christmas Day chinese food ;).)
Great ideas. We are traveling for over a month for the holidays (our life is always nuts), so I have a couple things up my sleeve. I got two weeks free at a gym and downloaded a couple workout videos on itunes. I also do simple lunges and push ups in our hotels. Lastly, I walk everywhere when we are in cities. It all adds up
No traveling for us this year, we’ll be home. My cousin just gave me a great Tabata style workout that I plan on bringing with me when we do travel. All I need is a jumprope and I’m good to go.
Great suggestions, and my oh my is that bowl of cookie dough calling to me at 9:15 in the morning!
I’m lucky because everyone in my family is very active. When I go home for holidays, we spend a lot of time walking the dogs, taking jogs and doing yoga DVDs together. It’s so much easier to motivate myself to work out when everyone around me is remaining active, too!
Great tips. It’s cool to know that shopping burns calories.
My BF & I have a SIXTEEN hour drive ahead of us for the holidays as his family is headed to his oldest sister’s house in Minnesota. Usually I just bring my running shoes & some workout clothes when visiting his family, because it’s the easiest way to squeeze in a workout, like in the morning. I would bring some of my DVDs with me, but I think I might get some weird looks, lol. Plus I am sure we will be busy bees.
Awesome tips. I’m actually moving back home over the holiday season. My step mom has an awesome library of workout dvd’s and my parents are avid gym goers so it will be awesome to live with people who enjoy exercise for a bit! Nice little motivating boost! 🙂
I’m traveling to CT this holiday season to be with my boyfriends family. I am so excited! I’m going to have to try extra hard to get lots of workouts in, they’re all amazing cooks!
Great post! I like the calorie counts for everyday things. I definitely need to get a workout DVD for when I cannot make it to the gym for a while.
It’s so hard with cookies everywhere so I try to make own special holiday treats with healthier ingredients and less sugar so I can eat the amount I want to with less guilt. Plus, even though I find it hard to stop at one old fashioned holiday cookie, when I have too many I just feel so ill from all the butter and sugar….yet they still tempt me. I like when Whole Paycheck and TJs have treat samples, because I can try something decadent and I don’t go bonkers eating too much (for fear of getting kicked out of the store or getting strange looks from other shoppers 🙂
Great post! I like the calorie counts for everyday things. I definitely need to get a workout DVD for when I cannot make it to the gym for a while.
It’s so hard with cookies everywhere so I am trying to make own special holiday treats with healthier ingredients and less sugar so I can eat the amount I want to with less guilt. Plus, even though I find it hard to stop at one old fashioned holiday cookie, when I have too many I just feel so ill from all the butter and sugar….yet they still tempt me. I like when Whole Paycheck and TJs have treat samples, because I can try something decadent and I don’t go bonkers eating too much (for fear of getting kicked out of the store or getting strange looks from other shoppers 🙂
Oh my! Thanks for mentioning Yoga Download.com. I had never heard of it before but I just went and browsed. So many choices. I’ll definitely be using some of that this holiday season!