Get Fit Slowly

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This is a guest post from Lazy Man. He writes about fitness at Lazy Man and Health and writes about money at Lazy Man and Money.

If you’re working on strength training, traveling can be a bit hard, particularly if you are not able to find a gym or your hotel does not offer any lifting facilities. The good news is, there are plenty of ways that you can continue your training, without having to lug your weights around with you. Here are five easy strength training exercises that you can do anywhere.

Get Some Weights
First, you’re going to need to make sure that you have some sort of weight for resistance. This can be a large phone book or even a large book. Most hotel rooms supply a local phone book and if you’re in a metropolitan area, you should be able to find one that is suitable. In a pinch, I’ve even used my laptop which is quite heavy.  

If you can’t find a book or don’t want to risk breaking your laptop, you can look at getting a set of aqua weights.  These are dumbbells designed to be filled with water when you get to destination. While books or aqua weights may not be as heavy as your regular weights, it is better than working with nothing at all.

Three Exercises for a Complete Workout
Once you have your weights it’s time to get started. I like to warm up with a little cardio to get my blood pumping and my muscles ready. Depending on the intensity of your current workouts, the reps you do for each of these exercises should range between one set of 12 each, to two to three sets of 16 reps each. You can fine-tune the reps to suit your particular skill level.

• Staggered Push-up — If you have the phone book, place it on the floor and get in the position for a push up. Place one hand on the book and one hand on the floor. This is a staggered push up. Complete the required repetitions as outlined above. This is a pretty easy exercise to do, especially if you can do 100 pushups. Slow it down to add intensity or add as many reps as you can handle.
• Rear Delt Fly — Place your feet in line with your hips and lean your upper body forward until you are looking down at the floor. Your back should be completely level. Avoid curling up in the middle or rounding your lower back. Pick up the book in one hand (or if you have two phone books you can take one in each hand) and raise your arm to shoulder level. Repeat for the required repetitions. Once again, you can slow it down for greater intensity.
• Tiptoe Squats — Place the book on the floor directly in front of you. Your feet should be placed a little further out from your hips. Squat down and place your hands on the book. Now, go up on your tip toes, while remaining in the squat position. Raise your hips as high as you can without removing your feet from the floor. Repeat as necessary.

These are just three easy little ways to stay in your strength training routine. Get creative with your travel weights and you keep your strength gains on your next trip.

Lazy Man blogs about general health topics.  If you enjoyed this post, you might also wish to read his articles about drinking water to lose weight, reasons to jump rope, and even get some Wii Tennis Tips. Image by e3000.