Work Travel; No Sweat
I Mean You Should Sweat
Many of us travel often for our jobs, and many of us (yes, me included) struggle to stick to our workout routines while we are on the road. This just happened to me and it made me want to share my experience with all of you, and arm you (insert visual of me flexing) with fool-proof ways to avoid a downward spiral into a world of being sedentary and unmotivated. I know drastic, but unhealthy habits lead to other bad habits.
My latest business trip had me staying at the beautiful Westin in Downtown Columbus, OH, which by the way caters to the healthy crew so I totally recommend staying there if being healthy is a priority and it should be, but I digress, again. I had to wake up earlier than I normally do to get my workout in – say by an hour or hour and a half. Well, when my alarm went off; I almost called it and went back to bed, but something inside me made me get up and I am glad I did. Does this happen to you, but you’ve stayed in bed? Not the next time with my help.
Follow these quick tips:
- Pick your hotel based on the workout facility and not the room. You will be more likely to want to leave the room to go workout if you don’t have the penthouse suite. Many hotels are now catering to a healthy lifestyle – not only by having great work out facilities, but by offering things from equipment rentals to personal training sessions.
- Pack your favorite workout gear. Having those cute outfits, you love to wear to the gym, truly does help motivate and knowing you get to show them off to an entirely new audience may be the very reason you never skip a workout on the road again. You never know, single ladies, the man of your dreams may be in that hotel gym.
- Schedule your meetings a little later so you can squeeze in a morning sweat session. Often this is not possible and your schedule may be dictated to you, but if there is some flexibility, aim for it. Don’t be so quick to accommodate those early morning meetings. Have enough courage to, at least ask, if that meeting can be moved to a bit later. You never know, your client may appreciate it as well.
- Wake up early but you don’t have to wake up that early. The gym is only a few floors away, which saves commuting time. For most of us, a gym mere steps away is a dream come true. I don’t know about you, but I have to drive at least 20 minutes to get to my gym so I am happy when I only have to ride an elevator to my workout.
- Workout with a colleague. Most of us are traveling with work friends so why not encourage others to be healthy too and schedule a workout together. It will hold you accountable to actually getting it done.
- Amend your workout so it is not too daunting for a hotel gym. Even though hotels are improving greatly on their gym amenities, most still have a long way to go. That said, you won’t be able to do your normal routine if it includes a squat rack or TRX gear per se so keep it quick and simple.
You will likely perform better on the days you work out so having spent time in the gym will have major payoffs like being happier, having more energy, improving your memory and most importantly, you will show up with more self-confidence. Each time we travel, it means client dinners too so hitting the gym on those days will also help balance those extra calories. Add to it sitting in a full days’ worth of meetings and you can become quite depressed. Always be happy, never skip the gym.
Sign up for a free Vitola Well “Wake-up Call” while you travel. Email me to learn more!