The Work-Out-Anywhere Workout by Maria Faires, RD, ACE-PT, ACE-MES
Even if you don’t have access to a full hotel gym, this list of travel exercises provides you with some body weight exercises you can do in your room so that you don’t lose your fitness gains while you’re traveling. There are lots of exercise options here. Feel free to pick and choose. For best results warm up with cardio, do the first 4 exercises as a dynamic warm up. If time allows, stretch after your are done.
I have linked some of the exercises to my YouTube channel. Click on any blue font text and it will take you to a video demo.
Warm up cardio: It is always important to warm up before working out. Options are running in place, dancing, step ups, jumping jacks, jump rope, run around the block a couple of times or walk up and down a stairwell.
Ankle Touches: Run in place, turning your knees slightly outward, bringing the inside of the leg up toward the chest and reaching your hands to touch the inside of your ankles.
Crab To Toe Walk: Sit on the floor with your knees bent, your palms behind your glutes, and your feet flat on the floor. Lift your glutes a couple inches off the floor. Lift and straighten your left leg while reaching for your left toes with your right hand. Return to the starting position. Repeat with your right leg and left arm.
Shoulder circle: Stand with your arms straight out from your sides, parallel to the floor. Slowly rotate both arms forward in big circles. Continue for 30 seconds, then draw big backward circles for 30 seconds.
Fire Hydrant Circles: Get in hands and knees position, hips over knees and shoulders over wrists. Keep the arms straight throughout. Pull belly button to spine. Lift one leg off the ground with knee bent and perform circles from the hip; getting as large a range of motion as possible without moving your spine. Do big circles then reverse the circle then switch sides. Make sure your spine is staying stable and all the movement is coming from the hips.
Forward Leaning Lunges: get in lunge position, bend forward, place palms on floor.
Glute Bridges: Lying face up on ground with arms to side, knees bent, and heels on ground (or chair). Lift hips off the ground until knees, hips, and shoulders are in a straight line, hold 3 seconds, return to start position and repeat.
Push-ups: If these are too difficult, do standing pushups. This exercise works your chest, shoulders and arms. Kneel on the floor with about 75 percent of your weight balanced on your palms. Pull your abdominals in so your back doesn’t sag and your spine is in alignment. Bend your elbows and lower your body towards the floor. Once your upper arms are parallel with the floor, press back up to the start.
To do a more intense pushup, pack 2 paperplates for this sliding pushup!
Diagonal One Arm Sliding Pushup
Ski Jumps: side to side plyos with feet together.
Wall-Sits: From a standing position, lean back against a wall or a solid stationary object and bend your knees sliding down the wall until your thighs are parallel to the ground. Hold this position for as long as you can. If this position is uncomfortable to you just go to a depth that you feel comfortable with and then work at being able to get into the thighs parallel position as you progress through the weeks of your program. Your feet should be 18 to 24 inches away from the wall to minimize knee stress. Continue to breathe throughout the entire time.
Reach, Roll and Lift for shoulder stabilization.
Squat Thrust/burpees: Stand with feet together. Squat down and place your hands on the floor next to your feet. In an explosive movement, jump feet backwards into a push-up position (keep core braced), jump feet back between hands and stand up. Leap up as high as possible from the squat position.
Side lunge windmills. Lunge to right side and touch left hand to right foot, bring right hand up and behind you. Stay low I a lunge and move to other side. Keep back straight.
Jumping Jack: Stand upright with feet together and hands at your sides. Raise hands up above your head, while jumping up just enough to spread your feet about twice shoulder width apart. Immediately reverse movement back to start position without stopping. Repeat as many times as necessary as quickly as possible.
Squats: Stand tall with your feet hip width apart and your hands on your hips. Bend your knees and lower your body. How low you go will depend on your strength and flexibility, but never go so low that your rear is lower than your knees or your knees shoot out over your toes. Stand slowly back up.
Forward Lunge with Overhead Reach: Hold onto a 5 to 15 pound object. Get into a lunge position. Descend into a lunge and on the way up press the object straight up.
Bench Walkouts to forearm plank: Toes on bench and palms on floor, walk hands back towards bench, walk back out, one arm down to forearm, other arm down to forearm, back up to palms, walk back towards bench.
Single Leg Balance. Standing on one leg, maintain your balance Try to hold for 1 minute. Once this exercise is too easy progress to eyes closed.
High Knee Jog 30 seconds
Hamstring Plate Slides. Lie on back knees bent with heels on paper plates. Tighten butt, slide plates away.
Bench Burpees: toes on bench or sturdy stable chair, hands on floor. Hop toes to floor then back on bench.
Calf Raises: Standing, lift heels off the floor and repeat.
Rear Blasters: Get down on your hands and knees. Slowly extend your right leg behind you until its straight and in line with your back. To get additional effect, squeeze at the top for a couple of seconds. Now slowly lower your leg back into the starting position.
Skipping: forward and back.
Target Touch: Place a “target” (any small object 10-12 inches high) on the floor. Stand on your right leg approximately 12″-18″ away from the target. Slowly, perform a single leg squat and reach across with your left hand and touch the target and return to upright maintaining single-leg balance the entire time. Keep your back straight the entire time.
Low Ab March: Bend knees and keep bent. Brace abdominals, lift one leg at a time, marching slowly.
Plank: Get into a pushup position and lower your forearms to the floor. Look down at the floor, pull in your belly button and brace your abs. If this is too hard put your knees on the floor. Keep your body in a straight line from ears to toes with no sagging. Hold this position for as long as you can.
Side Plank: Lie on side, knees straight, upper body propped on your elbow and forearm. Hold.
Clam Shell. Lie on your side. Stack your legs one on top of the other, and tuck your knees forward about 45 degrees. Lean your hips forward. Lift the top knee up, keeping your feet stacked. Your legs should look like an open clamshell. Then close your legs. Repeat this movement 10 to 15 times, keeping your pelvis steady throughout the movement.
Bird Dogs: Kneel on hands and knees with legs and hands slightly apart. Raise arm out straight beside head while raising and extending leg on opposite side up out behind body. Hold 8 seconds. Lower arm and leg to floor to original position and repeat. Perform movement with opposite arm and leg.
Cool-down stretch: Take two minutes to walk until your heart rate slows and your breathing returns to normal. Then proceed with stretching.
Stretching Do a stretch for all major body parts: Chest, Back, Shoulders, Arms, Quads, Hamstrings, Calves.
