How to Stay Fit While Traveling

One of the things that would be disrupted when you travel is your daily health regimen, such as diet and exercise. Often when you are on the road you would have no or limited access to the gym, and the daily activities and the local cuisine could also wreck your diet, not to mention the lack of access to a kitchen and your fridge.

Nonetheless, your health need not take the backseat when you travel. Here are some tips on how to keep your six-pack while having a good time seeing the sights.

• Take multivitamins. You may not be able to eat healthily while you are on the road, maybe due to unfamiliar taste of the local cuisine, accessibility of McDonald's as easy grub, or your travel schedule wrecking on your meal sked. Consider this as an insurance that you'd still get the RDA for vitamins and minerals to keep your body functioning well even if you are not eating right. Augment it with anti-oxidants such as Vitamin E and ascorbic acid.

• Buy bottled water. It may not be the most environmentally friendly solution, but it would save you countless trips to the john if the source of potable water is suspect. Drink soda if there's no bottled water. I normally won't recommend soda to anyone, but high fructose corn syrup would be less worrisome than the possibility of getting the runs at the middle of a backpacking trip. 

• Try to drop by the local grocer and buy some fruits that you can bring to your room as snacks and handy breakfast. That way you'd still get a few servings of fruits in your diet.

• You can still exercise even without having access to the gym. My personal trainer gave me these routines that do not need weights, dumbbells or any other equipment:

Workout 1 (3 sets)

30 seconds Inch worm crawl  

10 T-push ups

15 Prisoners squat jumps

10 Inverted row( table)

12 Bench dips

30 Bird dog

30 Toe reach

45 seconds Plank  

Workout 2 (25 secs per exercise)

3 sets Spider man push ups

Reverse crunches

Inclined push ups

Russian twist

Burpee with push ups

Single leg hip raise

• If your knees can take it you may try to go to a park to jog and limber up. I did that when I was in New York, in Central Park. The best thing for this is that you'd get to see the sights too, and do something that locals do.

• if you are staying in a hotel, chances are a gym is one of the amenities that they provide.  Take advantage of that. Also keep in mind that it is part of what you paid, so use it. Likewise if the hotel has a pool, and a sauna. Do some laps for a total body workout, then sweat out for a few minutes in the sauna to relax your muscles. 

• Your club may have reciprocal arrangements with other branches abroad. My gym, Fitness First, has a program called Passport, which gives you access to other Fitness First branches in other countries. So far I have tried working out in Fitness First gyms in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.

• Be sure to get your beauty sleep. Sleep may be a challenge especially if you traveled across several time zones and got afflicted with jet lag, so a sleeping aid such as melatonin may help. Take note that in some countries melatonin supplements may require a prescription so Google first before bringing any on your personal kit.

• If your budget can take it, try to indulge a little and hit the spa for a little pampering. A good massage can do wonders to the body and spirit. 

• Nothing beats physically demanding activities as an exercise. Do stuff such as surfing, scuba diving, snorkeling, rafting or swimming when traveling. Your body will thank  your for the workout, and you'd have fun doing it too. 

• Lastly, relax and take it easy. Enjoy the trip, slow down and try to vanish the stress away.