Home Workout : The 20-Min Hotel Routine
Photo by Aro Ha
Sometimes, you just plain find yourself stuck in a hotel room. Maybe you can find the hotel gym, but I bet it’s terrible! It probably has 2 machines, a broken treadmill, and no free weights.
Ugh.
Instead, how about a 20-min workout you can do in the room itself! Utilize the furniture to its full potential.
#1) Always start with a warm-up (to get your core temperature up and muscles loose):
Jumping jack: 25 reps
Bodyweight squats: 15 reps
Push-ups: 10 reps
Lunges: 10 reps (each leg)
Hip raises: 10 reps
Do one exercise right after another – this should take you probably 3-4 minutes.
Next set your watch/laptop for 15 minutes and do as many full circuits as possible in that time frame, using PERFECT FORM for each repetition. Try to move from each exercise to the next without stopping.
I’ve also split the workout into three levels – beginners should start at level 1 until they feel comfortable enough to advance to levels 2 and 3.
Level 1 Hotel Room Workout
Body Weight Squats: 20 reps(you don’t need a chair like in video, that’s just if you need help)
Incline Push-Ups: 15 reps (feet on floor, hands on edge of bed or desk)
One-Arm Luggage Rows: 10 reps (each arm, use your suit case as your weight)
Reverse Crunches: 10 reps
Level 2
Overhead Squats: 25 reps
Push-Ups: 20 reps
Inverted Rows: 10 reps(using the desk in your hotel room…just don’t break it!)
Reverse Crunches: 15 reps
Level 3
Jumping Squats: 25 reps
Decline Push-Ups: 20 reps (feet up on bed or desk chair)
Inverted Bodyweight Rows: 10 reps (with feet elevated onto desk chair)
Reverse Crunches: 15 reps
After your workout (you should be sweating like crazy if you did it right), ALWAYS remember to stretch.
Now, I know when you’re traveling it can make the best excuse to not workout.
but the thing is you should, and here’s why:
1. The Mental Release
Pounding the pavement or retreating to the weight room can work wonders when you’re feeling a little extra anxiety. “It clears my mind of past and future stress and helps me focus more on the here and now,” says Jay Cardiello, strength and conditioning specialist and fitness expert, who’s worked with celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and Julianne Hough. When the pressure of city life gets to be too much, Casey Schreiner, founder and editor-in-chief of Modern Hiker, hits the trails. “Hiking is a form of walking meditation – a way to focus on the present moment and not waste mental energy worrying about the future or replaying the past.”
2. The Ability to Say ‘Yes’ to Adventure
You want to be able to tackle all the cool opportunities life presents you, right? “Go for a hike? YES! Go skydive? YES! Go backpack across Europe? HECK YES!” says Dai Manuel, a CrossFit coach and author of the upcoming book The Whole Life Fitness Manifesto. “Without a strong foundation of health, fitness and wellness, the ability to do the things we want most in life becomes more and more difficult. Don’t miss out, allow yourself the power to choose what you do, rather than letting your health decide for you.” Paige Kumpf, the voice behind Your Trainer Paige, definitely doesn’t want to miss out on the fun in her home also state of Colorado. “There’s so many outdoor activities and adventures, and staying strong and fit allows me to trust that my body will be able to take me through all of them,” she says.
3. The Whole Body Benefits
The quest for better health is the primary reason why Krysten Siba Bishop, the blogger behind The Misadventures of a Darwinian Fail, hits the gym. Bishop lovingly calls herself a “Darwinian fail” because she has both a rare arrhythmia in her heart and the BRCA1 gene, which increases her cancer risk. “I don’t have the luxury of taking my health for granted,” she says, so she’s dedicated to maintaining a healthy diet and exercise. For blogger Katrina Pilkington, certified personal trainer and group fitness instructor, exercise helps keep her blood sugar in check. “Diabetes runs on both sides of my family so I try to be proactive, balancing exercise with a proper diet so my body uses ‘fuel’ properly,” she says.
4. The Joy Factor
Thanks to the flood of endorphins, working out can literally make us giddy. “It doesn’t matter if I’m sad, tired, angry, uninspired. When I walk away from a workout I’m a different person. I call it the ‘joy factor,’” says Holly Rilinger, a personal trainer and FlyWheel instructor. Brian Kelly, the blogger behind Pavement Runner says, “I wouldn’t do this if there wasn’t some sort of joy or happiness that came from it.”
5. The ‘Whoa, Look What I Can Do,’ Feeling
The human body is an amazing machine. “There’s rarely a day that goes by that I’m not in complete awe of what my body is capable of doing,” says Harrison. “It’s continually challenging myself, exploring what my body can do on a given day and playing with those edges [that motivates me].” Over the last four and a half years, Erica Giovinazzo, a Head Coach at Brick CrossFit in West Hollywood, has continued to surprise herself. “I’ve gone from not being able to do a pull-up to being able to do a muscle-up; from doing an overhead squat with an empty barbell to being able to squat my body weight for multiple reps,” she says. “We are limitless. Every day I train and every accomplishment I reach reminds me of that.”
6. The Mental Strength
When you work out, you flex more than just your physical muscles. “When I hit a wall in my workout and feel like I can’t possibly keep going, but then I force myself to push past it, there’s a radical shift in my mentality,” says Adam Rosante, celebrity trainer, wellness expert and author of The 30-Second Body. “I start to question what else I’m capable of in other areas of my life. It’s a game changer.” That empowerment can translate to success outside of the gym, too. “You learn so much about yourself, about discipline, about pushing your limits and about your capabilities when you train,” says Dan Trink, strength coach, nutritional consultant and personal trainer at Peak Performance in New York City. “And these traits are very easily carried over to your job, your relationships, your abilities as a parent and so many of life’s daily challenges.”