Exercising. Staying in Shape. Traveling. Hard.
When I embarked on my adventure almost two months ago, at the forefront of my mind was how to not lose my fitness. I’m 46 years old and my resting heart rate is lower than my age with 17% body fat. I’ve been working towards these numbers since I quit drinking in late 2017.
So needless to say, staying fit while traveling for a long period was at the forefront of my mind. I bought three books on strength training and began my study in earnest. In the end, it actually comes down to a few simple things.
It Is A Lot Easier To Stay in Shape Than Get In Shape.
My entire fitness life (which started when I was a senior in high school), I’ve heard “you are growing or you are shrinking.” I had the mantra stuck in my head that I always had to be pushing for something better and that maintaining is the abject enemy of achieving. Alas, as part of my fitness journey and travel journey, I changed my goal. Today, my goal is to maintain muscle mass and cardiovascular fitness. But more importantly, it’s to enjoy life! Below are my top tips and tricks for maintaining, and dare I say even improving, your fitness while traveling – perhaps even integrating your goals. 😉
No. 1: Fitness Tourism.
Most of the time we arrive at our destination with a to-do list or a must see list. Or, at the very least, with an idea of things we want to do/see. One of my biggest tricks is to see which of these can be integrated with a fitness activity to get in your workout.
For example, maybe you want to go on an early morning run down the Seine or through a park that is on your “to-do” list. I love seeing a City early in the morning when I can stop on a usually crowded bridge and snap a photo. Or, more thrilling, a night run through parts of a city. I found inspiration for some runs through Paris (and places I wanted to visit) from greatruns.com.
No. 2: Use It As An Excuse To Meet New People.
So if you are long staying somewhere, and trying to even assess if you may want to move there one day (as I am doing), fitness is a great excuse to meet new friends or connect with a group of like-minded individuals. Maybe you an even find a pickleball group or tennis group.
For me, I joined a gym the moment I got to Paris. And while I have only met a few people at the gym and we are very casual “say hi”/acknowledge each other’s presence, its has been nice to at least have someone to say hi to. But I found meetup groups (using the app) for running and hiking all based in Paris. Whether it is using class pass, meet up, or joining a gym, fitness can be a wonderful opportunity to socialize.
No. 3: Fitness Bands are Magic.
So I will admit. I usually stack around 225 pounds of weight on the bench press and bang out some reps. When my trainer first suggested fitness bands could actually be a viable solution I literally laughed at him. Until I used them and was sore as hell the next day. I
I have in my bag bands starting at 15 pls and going up to 100 lbs. All the bands together cost me less than $75.00 and take up almost no space. Bet you can’t bang out a 15 of those curls…
Seriously though, a good routine using fitness bands (which you can easily construct from youtube videos a simple google search goes a long way. It is very freeing to be outside a gym and still get in a quality strength workout. Speaking of Youtube…
No. 4: Utilize Online Resources.
There are entire vlogs with thousands of subscribers devoted to yoga and strength workouts and everything in between all for free on youtube. Utilize these free resources. And while I certainly hope you subscribe to my youtube channel because while it is awesome, there is room enough in awesomeness for many, many creators. LOL.
So. While you are subscribing to my channel after you watch the video below, search for some strength training or other fitness content that interests you. I am also a huge fan of Peloton and believe their app only pricing is actually a steal. I love the stretching, strength, and sometimes challenging HIIT rides/runs. And obviously, as much as I love plugging Peloton – they aren’t the only game in town (just the best in my not so humble opinion).
No. 5: Consider It a Strategic Scale Back.
I’ve been following the same pattern for a few years now. Go hard for months, fatigue out, and take 2-4 weeks off voluntarily or not so voluntarily. Usually these coincided with times I needed more time for other things anyway so it was always a bit intentional but sometimes my breaks went from a week to a month.
So as I said in the beginning. Maybe it is time to set a strategic goal of maintaining rather than growing. Maybe it is time to accept that you are in a good place and don’t have to improve to be great. You are great. And since it is easier to maintain than to get in shape, maybe it is time to say 3-4 workouts a week (which is usually a strong maintenance schedule) is good. For me, I try to do 3 runs a week with my beloved golden Odie and 3 days a week of strength (bands etc). But that for me is a scale back – I was doing 2 a days before I left the US. If need be, I am comfortable going doing to 30 minutes of HIIT and 30 minutes of strength 3x a week. Do what is right for you. I have also had success integrating running/sightseeing or using e-bikes whenever possible to cover long distances. All of these things have helped me maintain my physical performance while traveling. Bon voyage my friends!
So…. Have I convinced you?
I hope you will consider taking a solo journey!!! In the coming weeks and months I’ll be publishing more blog posts and youtube videos on solo traveling and my adventures!!! Stay tuned to get more.
The Video.
Check out my youtube video on the advantages of solo travel!!!