Most bang for your buck..

Been a couple of days since my last post. I've just finished up one gig in Norfolk and I'm headed to Texas for a couple of days off before the next one. I started this post at the airport at 5am, so forgive me if it seems like I can't speak English.

Like most people who try and balance travel with exercise I try to find the way to get in and out of the gym in the most efficient manner possible. I like my workouts to include lots of body parts and muscles so I can get in an get out quickly. I also try to have things I can do with little to no equipment in case I'm stuck in a horrible hotel for a while. Sometimes you can't even make due. These are the 5 exercise moves I do in all my traveling workouts regardless of equipment access. 

1) Squat - If you aren't squatting you aren't working out. Its that simple. Arguably the greatest single move you can do a proper squat uses your legs, back, abs...Basically everything from the neck down. Weighted or body weight they need to be in your workouts. Goblet squat, Back squat, Front squat...don't care just do them.  Quit making excuses why you can't do it and get to work. Not sure your doing it right? Google that sh*t. There are only a few thousand posts / videos out there. 

2) Pull up - Second verse same as the first. The pull up is the upper body version of the squat. It works your arms, back, abs, delts. You can change hand grips to hit different muscle groups. Want a great tapered V look to your upper body? Get to pulling. Admittedly they can be harder to do if your traveling, but spend the 20 bucks and get one of those collapsible bars your can hang from a door frame. They can hold my big ass they can hold you.

3) Planks - my favorite ab exercise is the plank. I'm not a fan of crunches. They are to easy to do wrong and I think they are honestly not had enough. Its hard to screw up a plank. Hold your body ruler straight and contract your abs. Hold till you start to shake and can't hold it anymore. Rest for less time than you think you need and do it again. If your not sweating in a minute or two your doing it wrong. Turn sideways to hit your obliques. Repeat. Try not to die.

4) Push up - The crown prince of upper body exercises. There are several alternative versions if regular push ups aren't hard enough anymore. My favorite is just to add a weighted vest. Throwing an extra 40lbs on your back before you start will humble you real quick. Not to mention remind you of all the weight you've lost and don't want back.

5) Jumping Jacks - Yup! You did them in 4th grade for a reason. Idiot proof and dead simple. You could do burpees instead, but I don't personally like what high rep burpees do to my knees. These are a great way to get your heart rate up and get the blood pumping. Throw a few dozen in between your sets of regular exercises at the gym next time. See if you don't start sucking wind real fast!

Hope that helps you with a place to start. Next time I'll talk about basic routines you can do while traveling. Travel safe and try and enjoy the trip as much as the destination.

J

PS The Starbucks line  was longer than the security line this morning...I can see where every ones priorities are at 5am.

Making due with what you've got...

How to make due with what you got...

So here I am in a hotel in Norfolk VA for the next 5 days. I went down to the hotel "gym" hoping against hope that it wouldn't be as bad as I expected...

Here I am surrounded by 3 aging elliptical machines, a broke seated bike, 4 treadmills and a miserable rack of dumbbells. The dumbbells only go up to 40lbs. After a moment of anger and disappointment I decided to use this as a chance to talk about making due. Often as a traveling trainer one has to do exactly that. Make do.

One caveat before we begin. If your someone like me (i.e. enjoys heavy strength training using fairly large weight) these kind of workouts are not going to help you progress in that manner. Nothing you can do with a 40lb dumbbell is gonna help your 405lb bench press. Situations like this can give you a chance to focus on conditioning for a while and then you can step back into the "real gym" leaner and more fit than before. Unless your a pure super heavyweight powerlifter that is very rarely a bad thing! Think of this as taking time off the big goal to focus on a side project that will have carry over benefits later.

If like most of the Traveling trainees of the world you can get some good work out of this situation. You just have to be willing to use a little "strategery" (PS Thank you W for the greatest presidential quote in 30 years)

So what can we do with a little weight, some cardio equipment, and a bare floor? We can do circuits training my friend, oh yes we can!

So circuit training in 20 words or less...

The use of multiple exercises organized back to back with little or no rest between sets. (16 not to bad!)

In most cases you will pick anywhere from 5 to 7 exercises you can move from quickly and efficiently. You will do a number of repetitions that is far below your maximum with that move or weight. So if you wanted to use pushups (and you should) you would do maybe a set of 15 reps. You should pick a number you feel you could handle with one foot in the grave. If we do this right you'll feel like that at the end anyway. We will then perform one set of each of those exercises back to back with as little rest, preferably none, as we can manage until we reach the end.

These kind of workouts are best if you go for a whole body workout approach. So for example my basic "stuck in the wilderness with no weights in sight" circuit is:

7 rounds of 5 moves. Push up x 15 Crunches x 30 Body weight squat x 15 Plank x 30 sec Burpees x 15

The nice thing is that this is, to a degree, self regulating. You just go until you need a break. Then you rest as little as possible and keep pushing. Ideally you should pick a number of reps that is not extremely hard out of context. If it's taking you 45 min to finish this circuit your doing it wrong. You should try to keep it under the 15 -20 min mark. These are short intense workouts that don't waste time. If your stopping to take a call from mom, and you never break a sweat your also doing to wrong. Go hard, go quick, and get done.

The wonderful thing about these is the ability to scale it to your individual level of fitness. If you're weak in the upper body you can do kneeling pushups. Have lots of experience? Add a weighted vest or more reps. These workouts can be tailored to you, so everyone gets a good workout. The other up side is you can do these kind of things outside. I'm a big fan of outdoor exercise whenever possible. I just enjoy the idea. You can also do these in your hotel room alone. If you're a shut in...

So there it is. Circuit training FTW! As always feel free to comment / email me (sinfoniaopera@gmail.com) with comments, questions, or concerns. Have a great day and travel safe.

J