When we travel, we love to eat! Life is too short not to partake in good food and the fellowship that often accompanies it. However, for most of us vacation (getting away from the worries and stresses of life) also comes with getting rid of our schedules. With that, any eating plan or exercise routine we may have had typically goes out the window and like it or not, we come home with a few (sometimes much more than a few) extra pounds around our waist. We get discouraged and the challenge of getting back to desired routines seems insurmountable! How do we make it through our traveling without putting an extra notch in our belts? While it’s true that push-ups (away from the dinner table) can be the most effective form of exercise during this time, here are a few other tips that can help us make it to the other side of our travels with no or little net gain!
Number one, do as much site seeing as you can, or at least enough to get a few good long walks in on a daily basis. Walking is a great way to burn a few calories and increase metabolism. For those of you with fit bits and smart devices, getting a huge numbers of “steps” in daily is great. Just make sure that some of that walking time is at a fast enough pace to get your heart rate up a little higher than normal, even for short distances a few times a day.
Number two, 20 TOTAL minutes of exercise. We are told in general that 20 minutes of exercise 3-5x/week helps with strength, endurance, maintaining weight and overall health. But did you know that you can break your 20 minutes into 4 times of 5 minutes, 2 times of 10 minutes, 5 times of 4 minutes or 20 times of 1 minute. Break it up however you want, but 20 minutes of elevating your heart rate above its normal resting state, is still 20 minutes and can be as equally beneficial as 20 solid minutes.
Number three, “Seriously?! Where am I going to find 20 minutes in my day to work out, I’m on vacation!” Spread it out with naturally “wasted time”. For example, you spend 2 minutes brushing your teeth morning and evening. Do a few wall sits during that time. Watching television? Spend a few commercial breaks doing some standing marches, getting those knees nice and high, or a few squats. 2 squats 10 times a day do not take long and you still get all the benefits of doing 20 squats! Waiting in line? Try subtly standing on one leg for short periods and alternating legs. Or come up on your toes, alternating with pulling your toes up off of the floor a few times. Work in a few wall push ups or take a few water bottles and press them up over your head a few times. Truth be told, it’s less about “finding” the time and more about “making” the time, but hopefully this gives you a few ideas on how to make it a little more doable.
Finally, work as many muscle groups as possible when you exercise. Every muscle you activate through exercise increases your overall metabolism. So the more muscles you use, the more calories you potentially burn. So while pushing away from the table does work the upper body, following that with standing up and walking away from the table becomes even more effective for a variety of reasons! In all seriousness though, a simple routine of pushups (from toes or knees), planks, squats and walking in place spread throughout the day (or even every other day) in short bouts can help eliminate the potential of coming home with extra “baggage”.
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Article Submitted by Frederick J. Garcia, PT, CWT
23 years of experience
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