By: Matt Weik
Whether you travel for business (or just for fun as a getaway) very seldom or quite frequently, those days away from home and your norm are enough to throw off your fitness goals. You may even find that the number on the scale has gone up when you return home from a business trip or vacation. You're not alone – it happens to many people, and like them, you may find it challenging to stay on track with your fitness.
The key to making your business trip or vacation work for you and around your fitness goals is to have a plan in place before you even leave for the trip. Those who plan and prepare are in a much better position than those who try to figure it out as they go. Prior planning prevents poor performance.
This article will lay some groundwork and a foundation of how to stay on track with your fitness so you can keep progressing and getting closer to achieving your goals.
When heading out on a business trip or vacation, one thing you need to take into consideration when you want to stay on track with your fitness is, "How are you going to fit in your workouts?"
Depending on the hotel you stay at, they may have a fairly extensive gym – or they may have absolutely nothing at all. If you are counting on a hotel gym, it's best to look online or call the hotel before you book your room to check their amenities.
If you aren't concerned with the hotel gym and want to be able to do your own thing, you could invest in a set of resistance bands. No, it won't be like stacking 315 on the bar and pressing, but it will get you through the days away from home on your business trip or vacation.
As a rule of thumb, it would be wise to invest in a good set of resistance bands if you plan on using them often. Some sets aren't the greatest and as the saying goes, "Buy once cry once." The good news is that for around $100, you can get a high-quality set of resistance bands that won't take up hardly any room and are easy to pack. Not to mention you can also use them at home on the days you can't make it to the gym.
Should you decide to forgo the resistance bands and hotel gym, learn the location you will be traveling to on your business trip or vacation. To stay on track with your fitness, you may want to check for gyms in the area so you can easily fit in a workout and have it be conveniently located near your hotel.
No matter which way you decide to go, keeping up with your workouts is incredibly important.
If you want to get the best results possible, you're going to want to track your nutrition. While this can be somewhat tedious and time-consuming, what's even more time-consuming is spinning your wheels and not seeing results. Insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result. Don't drive yourself insane, track your nutrition, and get a handle on it.
MyFitnessPal is a great tool you can use to stay on track with your fitness and nutrition. It's a free app that can be downloaded to your smartphone and has an incredibly simple interface that anyone can understand and use.
Depending on your goal, it's important to understand where your calories and macros need to be on a daily basis. If your maintenance calories are at 2,000 per day, anything under that number can cause you to lose weight, and anything above that number can cause you to gain weight.
On a business trip or vacation where you are frequently eating out, you can quickly and easily put yourself in a caloric surplus at the end of the day if you aren't careful. To stay on track with your fitness during a business trip or vacation, you need to pick and choose your meals carefully. Try to order food that is clean and without all the sauces, creams, oils, added sugars, etc., that don't align with your daily caloric intake (as well as your fat intake). Many restaurants can and will accommodate your dietary needs, how you wish your food to be prepared, and any food substitutions.
The bottom line is that you can't out-train a poor diet, so if there is one thing you need to pay extra attention to, it's what you are putting in your mouth. Also, pay attention to liquid calories – they can add up quickly!
Last but not least on our list of how to stay on track with your fitness while on a business trip or vacation is rest – aka sleep. If you aren't getting enough quality sleep each night, you're not allowing your body adequate time to recover from your workouts or even the stress you put your body under from a long day traveling and conducting business. Simply sitting behind a windshield all day is enough to cause your body stress.
Each night, you should strive for a minimum of seven hours of quality sleep. That doesn't mean lying in bed until 2am scrolling through your social media feed or emails before finally dozing off, only to be woken up a few hours later to your alarm.
Make sure your devices are turned off or are on silent, turn down the temperature in your room to make it cooler, and ensure the blinds are closed and your room is dark before hopping into bed.
If traveling to a different time zone, that brings along a new set of challenges – trying to reset your sleep patterns. While some people can simply close their eyes and fall asleep without issue, it may be wise to supplement with something like melatonin if you find this difficult. Once you take a dose of melatonin, it resets your internal clock and tells your body it's time to go to sleep.
Just understand that you may need to take the supplement again to reset your internal clock back to the time zone where you live when you return home.
Utilizing the strategies listed above to stay on track with your fitness while on a business trip or vacation and allow you to keep seeing the progress you desire from your hard work. The key is being dedicated and sticking to your regimen.
Should you fall off the horse during a business trip or vacation, hop right back on, dust off your cowboy hat, realign yourself, and get back after it. Don't think that just because you ate poorly or skipped a workout that all hope is lost. You'll be able to bounce back quickly so long as you get back to your game plan.
If you want to help maintain your physique and stay on track with your fitness, consider adding a product from the MPA VasoSeries. These topical skin gels can easily pack with you when on the go (The 3oz bottles are TSA approved). Simply rub it in and apply it to your trouble areas and feel the gel immediately start taking effect with a tingly and warm sensation. The MPA VasoSeries of products is a great way to manage your body fat levels and help promote fat burning.
Don't let a business trip or vacation ruin your health or physique. Implement what was mentioned above, and you'll be able to stay on track with your fitness. Happy traveling!
