How to Stay in Shape While Traveling Long Term

Just in time for your New Year’s fitness resolutions!

DISCLAIMER: I am not a trainer, doctor, physical therapist, or any sort of “fitness professional.” I have zero formal training in anything related to strength and conditioning, biology, physiology, etc. I have played sports my entire life and have an interest in fitness, so I may know more than the average Joe/Jane … but I’m by no means a professional in this field. So please take the information in this post for what it is: basic tips for how to stay/get in shape while traveling long-term from someone who has done it/is doing it. As always, do what is best for you and consult your doctor or physician prior to engaging in any physical fitness program. 🙂

So, you’ve decided to do some long-term traveling (congrats!) but you want to make sure you stay in shape while doing it. Or perhaps you’re like me and have been wanting to focus more on your fitness goals. Good news … it can be done! Below I’ve broken the info down into three main sections to describe some tips for heading into your trip prepared (The Warm-Up), how I have been managing while on the road for the last eight months and some tips for how you can as well (The Workout), and some stats to see how it’s working so far along with some final recommendations (The Cool-Down).

The Warm-Up

A very important place to start is with your expectations. My advice here is to understand what realistically you can accomplish while on the road and what you’re willing to sacrifice for that. Set your goals from there based on your general plan, and be prepared to adjust on the fly. If you’re planning to pack on muscle, you may want to look for accommodations that have a fitness center or are near a local gym. You may also want to look for supplement shops or pack your own protein as it can be expensive and hard to get enough protein in your meals in some countries. If you want to focus on your mobility, what types of equipment can you fit in your luggage? This is also a great time to try something new, and your goals don’t have to be insane. Maybe you want to be more flexible, so you start with 15 mins of stretching, 3x per week. For me, my goals were to lean out while maintaining as much muscle mass as I could; work on my mobility; learn to manage stress, sleep and recovery; and most importantly, not let my fitness get in the way of enjoying this experience! I was not willing to miss out on trying certain foods and I did not want to be so sore/tired from workouts that I didn’t have the energy to go out and explore our surroundings.

Now that you’ve got your main goals and priorities set, spend a little time figuring out what you can take with you. I packed in a 45L backpack for this trip, so my space was pretty limited (check out my full packing list if you’re interested in more detail). I wanted to keep things small and lightweight so I packed the following items: red & black resistance bands from a set like this one, mini band set, and a lacrosse ball. I also ended up purchasing a Morpheus M5 band during the trip, which I recently got my hands on and have been loving so far. Other great workout gear for the road includes a suspension trainer, jump rope (I love my Crossrope), yoga gear (block and/or mat), self-massage tools, stretching straps, fitness sliders, and many more items depending on your luggage capacity and fitness goals.

The Workout

Now you’re on the road! This portion is going to look very different for everyone based on what you’ve decided in the warm-up section, so I’m going to take you through what I did and give you some tips that may help.

I started off doing a mixture of yoga, shadowboxing, and bodyweight and/or resistance band workouts a few times per week. I also worked on controlling my portions (remember my goal was to slim down). I don’t count calories daily, and I haven’t eliminated any food groups [clearly pictured above]… I want to experience all the delicious foods I can on this trip! I do, however, try to eat as many vegetables as I can, limit my liquid calories, eat enough protein, and drink a lot of water. A nice perk to this is it also helps with your budget while traveling!

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I take advantage of inexpensive day passes at local gyms whenever possible and also keep an eye out for outdoor workout areas. These are fairly common in some countries and typically include pullup bars, dip stations, and some bodyweight machines [pictured above left]. I’ve even used my bands to load up these bodyweight machines in some cases [as seen above right with the bands around the lower portion of the leg extension machine]. I highly recommend utilizing whatever is available to you in a new place. It helps keep things fresh and is a great way to mix up your workouts. I also am a big advocate of being creative with your workout tools. I did not pack fitness sliders for this trip, but have often used a small pillow or towel on a slick surface and it works great!

Some YouTube channels and websites I really like for workouts and fitness content include Yoga with Adriene, The Ready State, and BJ Gaddour. Again, going back to tempering your expectations … it was tough for me to switch to band and bodyweight workouts. With my background in sports, I’ve always been partial to lifting weights and bodyweight/bands just seemed a little weak to me. That was purely ego. Anyone who doesn’t think bodyweight workouts can be challenging enough, please check out BJ Gaddour’s “Wicked Wall Workout” on YouTube and let me know how you feel when you’re done. That said, it did take a while to learn a new training style, but I’m enjoying it now and it works for me. I’m able to push myself physically without wearing myself out to a point that I’m painfully sore and don’t feel like doing that awesome hike tomorrow morning.

Speaking of hikes, definitely don’t underestimate the power of general activity. This was something I had to retrain myself on as well. I discounted the calorie-burning power of hikes and walking. I still don’t consider an easy hike or added walking a “workout” because I believe programmed workouts provide additional benefits besides burning calories (mobility, proprioception, strength, etc.). However, the additional calorie burn does add up. Also, depending on the difficulty of the hike … that may fit the bill for my workout that day. Take the Dent de Jaman & Rocher de Naye hike Megan and I did in Switzerland for example: 6.4 miles, 2,300 feet of elevation gain, over 1,200 calories in around 4 hours. By comparison, I usually burn anywhere from 300-600 calories in a 30-45 minute circuit workout. Although the hike is not as time efficient, it’s tough to beat those views [pictured above]! (Check out the full post on the hike here for more photos and details). Also, at the end of the day, what is the point of being “fit” anyway if you aren’t going to get out and use it?

I eventually signed up for BJ Gaddour’s monthly workout program and am still currently using his programming. I also mix in some hiking or low-intensity workouts on off days, mostly focused on mobility, flexibility, and strengthening some imbalances to deal with a little knee pain. After getting my Morpheus band and beginning to learn about recovery, I’ve been focusing more on sleep and accounting for the other stressors in life (travel can definitely stress the body!). I’ve also accounted for the fact I walk a lot more than I used to. Megan and I set a daily goal of 5 miles and we hit it more often than not. All that extra movement adds up! The key here is to find what aligns with your goals and do what you can.

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Which takes me to my next point: improvise and be flexible. You’re going to have to be creative to get things done [see above photos of band anchors]. Some days (especially travel days), you may not be able to get in that killer workout you planned to. For those situations, anything is better than nothing. There was one such day where I had 15 minutes between late-night work calls and all I could squeeze in was about 10 minutes of bodyweight exercises in a circuit and a 3-minute shower. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing. This is also why I like having three main workouts per week. If I absolutely can’t get to my Monday workout, I can shift it to Tuesday. This gives me a lot of flexibility week to week.

The Cool-Down

So how’s this working for me you ask? Not too badly to be honest! I don’t have access to a scale most of the time (and I’m not so much interested in how much I weigh as what that weight is composed of anyway … but that’s a separate conversation), but I know I have slimmed down. When we started this trip, I was around 225 lbs, somewhere around 13-15% bodyfat. I was in decent shape, just not exactly where I wanted to be physically despite killing myself in the gym. I was having a bit of knee pain on and off, but otherwise I felt pretty decent.

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After about 6 weeks of traveling I got on a scale and I weighed in at about 215 lbs. I have no way to measure my bodyfat percentage now but I know a good portion of that weight was fat loss. Realistically, some of that was also probably muscle mass, but I can live with that at this point in my life in exchange for taking some load off my joints. Since then I’ve probably dropped a few more pounds and I can see the difference in the mirror. More importantly than how I look though, I FEEL much better. I’ve learned a lot about improving my mobility, exercise selection, managing stress/sleep, what works for me and my body, and recovery. I’m still learning a ton, but I’m moving better, sleeping better and feeling better than I have in a long time.

So to wrap things up, it can be done! Don’t fall totally off the wagon during your trip … you can strike a balance with some planning and creativity. Do some research, try things out on shorter trips before your big adventure, be willing to adjust on the fly, and BE PATIENT. Remember, life is a marathon (but thank God we don’t have to run the whole time), so pace yourself and keep your eye on the big picture.

Have you done any workouts on the road that I missed? Any other tools or equipment I’m forgetting? Any questions? Please feel free to drop them in the comments below or send me a message!

Featured image: Running some hill sprints in the High Tatra Mountains near the Slovakia/Poland border