Working out when you’re away

So many of you will be aware that I am currently off on my travels, at the moment of writing this I’m sat in a 10-bed dormitory in Wanaka, New Zealand, after just getting back from a bike ride.

This bike ride was my first real “exercise” for almost two weeks. In the week leading up to going away I had a migraine for 4 days and could barely stand without wanting to throw up let alone train, and now I’m a bit here there and everywhere.

So currently I’m trying my best to make do with what I have.

I imagine this is a very similar situation for a lot of you, you’ll go away on holiday and either not want to work out because, after all, it is a holiday, or if you do want to you may be under pressure from a loved one to not spend time with your beloved iron (the manly kind … not those that make shirts look pretty) but spend it with them instead.

Both of these are completely valid reasons to skip working out whilst you are aware, but beware … If you are anything like me you will begin to miss working out, and also being to lose those precious gains we all seek.

So what can we do about it? Well I for one tried to plan ahead a little bit and came up with a quick and easy Plan B.  What is this plan b? It is a little piece of rubber called a resistance band. The smallest of the 3 I own cost me about £5, the largest, which I use for mobility, around £10 I think, and I also have one that sits somewhere in the middle.

With these resistance bands I can do all sorts. I can use them for mobility, especially the stronger ones, and the smaller are ideal for isolation exercises around the body. They’re cheap, lightweight, and take up next to no room in luggage.

Apart from these little life savers, I do bodyweight work as and when I can (i.e. without looking like a right prick in front of the other 9 people in my dorm … including my girlfriend). Press ups, squats, lunges, Bulgarians, pulls/rows. Whatever you are able to do around the space you may have available to you, make the most of it and get moving about.

It may not be enough to get you more progress and make you stronger, but it won’t send you rocketing backwards like doing sweet FA would. I mean look at prisoners – even though Hollywood portray them even larger than they really are, a lot of prisoners are in good shape. And besides the obvious steroid trade through the guy to know on the inside, the only other route is simply to do. And in a 5x5 box you’re fairly limited.

Now – I am also going to go a little outside of my comfort zone here … I’m going to compliment CrossFit.

I know, I know. I feel dirty just saying that, but they’ve definitely had a positive impact on the amount of facilities available with bars, and weights. You can count on them always having some barbells, and some weights of some kind – although if they are those super huge “make me look strong when I’m weak” rubber bumpers then you monsters out there may struggle to get anything over 200kg on the bar.

But even if you can’t lift heavy, who cares? Get outside of your comfort zone and hit some reps, hell go crazy and do some really high rep sets! Stimulate those muscles in a way they’re not normally used to.

So yeah anyway back to my point – CrossFit boxes are like McDonalds or Starbucks, they’re EVERYWHERE! If you go to a legitimate city then you’re pretty likely to find a Box somewhere near there to work out.

So go on that magical thing called the Internet, have a search on your favourite search engine, and if you find something nearby just send them a friendly email and see if you’re able to stop by and steal all their plates for 90 minutes.

I think that’s about all I wanted to say on this, so go buy yourself a resistance band, and hit up a Google search (shameless sponsor plug … I wish), then enjoy getting some kind of exercise whilst you’re off on vacation that involves keeping your pants on.

Cheers,

Rob Nitman. BSc. ASCC.

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