When you travel a lot for business, it is easy to let fitness and healthy eating slide of the radar. It can be the same for pleasure travel, but usually that involves some sort of beach attire or sporting activity which act as deterrents and motivators. Business travel is draining. You are in an unfamiliar place with a different bed, odd noises, often a lack of healthy food, and the pressure to be ‘on’ for clients or colleagues. All this creates a breeding ground for easy excuses to avoid exercise and indulge in unhealthy food.

When I get back to my room, the last thing I want to do is work out and search for fresh whole food. What I want to do is to put on my big pants and flop face down on the bed to wait for the delivery of the largest plate of pasta in red sauce from that ubiquitous Italian restaurant that seems to deliver to hotels in every city. While it feels great to lay there and shove comfort food down my gullet, it always makes me feel awful. The sodium makes my fingers and eyes puffy and I’m extra tired the next day.

About 2 years ago I was traveling to Indianapolis a lot. It was great work with cool people, but I fell into a spiral of not eating all day, eating heavily after work, and not working out. That wasn’t like me. I was choosing things like mozzarella sticks over tempura veggies. Granted, tempura in mass quantities is not much better, but that was the healthiest options on the restaurant menu. Thankfully, my python-approach to eating kept me the same size/weight but I found myself to be tired all the time and without the positive attitude I almost always have.

That summer was rough. After a long week, I arrived home for the long July 4th weekend. It went by without me as I slept all 3 days. When I woke up, I was detoxed from carbs and decided that I couldn’t continue that way. The following week, when I returned to Indy, I located a nearby Sprouts market where I could walk every evening to grab healthy food and I found an in-room workout that I did faithfully, in addition to forcing myself to get out and enjoy the city with long walks despite the late afternoon yawns.

By the end of the project (December) I was back to my old self. Lots of energy (even without my beloved java), happy, and a lot fitter. The moral of the story is that traveling for business is hard enough. Don’t make it harder by treating your body poorly.

Below is the workout I used, sourced on Pinterest. I still go back to this when my trips last longer than 3 days, my destinations don’t allow for outdoor fitness options, or there is no fitness facility in the hotel. I do modify this with low impact, high yield moves to avoid making noise for my fellow travelers and avoid jacking up my knees.

What do you think? Do you have a go-to workout for the road? Is the workout below something you see yourself doing? Let me know in the comments and thanks for stopping by!