How To Stay In Shape While Traveling | Hacker News Reader

How To Stay In Shape While Traveling

nerdfitness.com

65 pointsjoelrunyon19 comments

I trave a decent bit to crappy hotels for weekends (I'm a club sport coach on the side). If you've got a touch or iphone with you on the trip, I highly recommend Nike Training Center: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nikewomen-training-club/id301...

They say it's slanted towards women, but it works great for me and I'm a fairly fit dude. Lots of workouts in both variety and length, and very little need for equipment. And it does a decent job of tracking you and rewarding you as you go.

How does the "lots of workouts" work out for you?

I tend to find that the more types of workouts I include, the harder it is to make a routine. So it's easier for me to pick a small set of exercises (pushups, pullups, dips, lunges, squats, etc) and do them repeatedly rather than trying to switch up workouts.

Could just be me though...

I think I'm somewhere in the middle of you two...

My results are always best when I design three complete body workouts, then alternate them every three weeks. I find that this keeps my routines feeling fresh (since I never do a single one for more than three weeks). And most importantly, it helps motivate me when I come back to a routine (after six weeks on other routines) and discover that I am stronger!

I've never dealt with an ultra-long trip like the one he's talking about in the article. However, for "normal-"length vacations you might take as a software engineer (i.e., 2 weeks or so), I've found that my body actually benefits from the time off.

I've done two two-week trips this year (Peru and Spain). In both cases, I was in excellent shape before the trip (155-160lbs at 5'11" with low body fat and good muscle definition). I work out three to four times per week, plus box twice per week.

I lost about 10lbs during each trip. When I got home from Peru (the first trip), I was mortified. I tried to bulk up like crazy by eating a ton of good fat and protein, and I lifted almost exclusively heavy weights. I was bigger and stronger than before the trip in three weeks.

After the second trip I was less scared, because of the previous experience. I was just as strong as before the trip in about three weeks again, but I didn't gorge myself as much, so I stayed a bit leaner.

I guess what I took away from the experiences was that you're bound to loose body fat while traveling, simply because you do so much walking. If you're in good shape beforehand, though, your muscles will "remember" and come back to you remarkably fast. You may even be able to improve your overall fitness level and put on leaner muscle afterwards.

Don't you think that most of your weight loss was water?

Recently got back from two months in Europe, stuffing my face through 15+ countries. What knocked my weight off was a 170km+ hike around Mont Blanc (Tour du Mont Blanc). Walking across and around cities also helps. I'm never sure how people can go abroad and not return leaner - the walking balances the endless restaurant visits, surely?

Hey me too, I just got back last Sunday. We visited 20 cities in about 50 days and tried all the local foods and beers. We walked a lot but I was still surprised I didn't gain any weight from eating and drinking that much.

I took a set of elastic bands with me which were actually quite good for various exercises and some of the places we stayed at offered a gym.

Some hotels will have gyms. No other place will prevent you from doing crunches, push-ups, walking or running!

My brother (professional basketball player) was on the trip with me. At one point, he was doing some sort of lifts with first our backpacks and then the end of a bed.

Not just abroad: even when I travel domestically, I try to rely on walking and public transportation as much as possible to avoid the time/money/hassle of getting and returning a rental car. However, if I have to cross that threshold and get a rental car, I use it as much as possible.

Also, we recently took our daughter to Disney World. We overindulged in desserts and large breakfasts, but all of the walking around more than made up for it.

Interesting, although the author, as many people who work out, follows a diet which someday is gonna catch up with him.

Eating lean meats, such as grilled chicken or salmon, is a sufficient source of protein. Hamburger and meatball sandwiches are not healthy and whereas this may not make much difference when you are young, it will as you grow older and your metabolism slows down. Olive oil shots, as a source of calories, are completely unnecessary. It's a "healthier" oil than most of the others but, nevertheless, it is still oil. I'm not a fan of shakes personally but they can be a good source of calories without too much fat (or sugar hopefully) and with a punch of protein. Oftentimes they are convenient to prepare.

The concept of "gonna catch up with him" is weird considering he explicitly says that he's trying to gain weight. As someone who's currently making his living as a fitness professional, I'm sure the author is keenly aware of his body fat percentage and would alter his diet if that weight he was adding came in the form of fat instead of muscle.

It is interesting to note that, while he recommends the paleo diet, he does deviate from it as part of his mass gain & travel menu.

I love nerdfitness. Its helped me get into such better shape.

DC Rainmaker (a triathlete) has some good tips on training while traveling as well. http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2009/03/training-while-travelling....

Stretch. Stretch and stretch. Stretching is the most underrated fitness routine in the book. Professional athletes will have fitness sessions where all the do is stretch. So let me repeat. Stretch, stretch and stretch.

But: warm up first! Stretching cold is just asking for injuries.

Luckily I just swim. And you can find good swimming pools in most places. I also prefer studio apartments with a kitchen or kitchenette: it's crucial to not have to rely on prepared or restaurant food solely.

You can throw a towel over a door and use it to do pullups, by the way. No need to find a tree branch. His evernote is much better than mine though, I'm such a lame pre-optimizer.

Won't the door be in the way? Or how exactly would this look? I would also be worried about breaking the door.

Open the door all the way until it hits the wall, throw a towel over it, and start doing pullups. Some people use workout gloves, but it's basically anything that will serve as padding. The door will hold, for sure.

Here's a video of what it looks like: http://youtu.be/dCkqIMKTSa4

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