By Isabel Smith, MS, RD, CDN
You’ll never find me on vacation without my sneakers, my iPod and maybe a jump rope. Taking my exercise with me is key when I travel, and although my travel routine may be slightly different than my routine when I’m home, finding easy ways to move my body helps to keep me balanced, happy and fit.
To help you stay on track during your holiday traveling, here is an easy, body-weight (you don’t need any equipment for this except your sneakers and yourself) workout that you can do anywhere to target all areas of your body.
What you’ll need:
– Sneakers (athletic shoes)
– Stopwatch (you can use your phone)
– Water bottle (don’t forget to hydrate!)
Warm up (2 minutes)
Hardest: Easy jog in place for 2 minutes
Low Impact: March in place
Helps to: Warm your body up and get you ready for a workout.
Get started!
Cardio (3 minutes)
Hardest: Star jacks (think of an over-exaggerated jumping jack)
Modification: Jumping jacks
Low Impact: Remove the jump and simply move arms and legs in in the motion of the jack without jumping
Helps to: Get your heart rate up and get you warm.
Body-weight Circuit (3 minutes)
10 lunges: Alternate legs for a total of 5 on each side; to make this move harder add a jump after each lunge
10 squats: Focus on keeping your knees in-line with your toes; for good form, or to modify try couch squats; to make this move harder add a small jump or toe-lift after each squat.
10 push-ups: Focus on keeping your abs and glutes tight; to modify, try doing the push-ups on your knees, keep your stomach and glutes tight; if you’re unable to get onto the floor try wall-push-ups.
Note: To make this circuit harder try doing 15 or 20 of each (lunges, squats, push-ups)
Cardio (3 minutes)
To get your heart-rate back up jog, march, or walk in place for three minutes.
Body-weight Circuit (3 minutes – repeat body-weight circuit)
10 lunges: Alternate legs for a total of 5 on each side; to make this move harder add a jump after each lunge
10 squats: Focus on keeping your knees in-line with your toes; for good form, or to modify try couch squats; to make this move harder add a small jump or toe-lift after each squat.
10 push-ups: Focus on keeping your abs and glutes tight; to modify, try doing the push-ups on your knees, keep your stomach and glutes tight; if you’re unable to get onto the floor try wall-push-ups.
Cardio: (2 minutes)
To get your heart rate back up, do two more minutes of jumping jacks (or add in star-jacks to make it harder), or if you’re more comfortable, jog, march or walk in place.
Abdominals (1 minute)
Plank: Hold a plank on your hands or forearms for one minute (or if you’re unable to get onto the floor, try a wall-plank or try a mini-circuit of 10 secondsplank, 10 seconds rest for a total of five times to total one minute.
Cool down (3 minutes)
Stretch: Make sure that you stretch and take time to slow down after your workout; it is also important to rehydrate properly by drinking 64-80 oz of water every day.