Get on plane, get off plane, walk around new city, go to sleep, go to gym, get dressed up for meeting, go to meeting, repack suitcase, repeat.  Welcome to my life for the past 7 days.  Since last Sunday, I’ve been in North Carolina, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, and New Jersey.  So, you could say I was a little bit all over the place.  I spent about two days in any given location, over 7 hours in the air, over 12 hours in the car, and I’m done.  But, I’m very happy to get all of those meetings and visits out of the way in one solid chunk.  Was it stressful, you betcha, but it’s nice to only have to disrupt my work flow one time instead of five.

I see a lot of people struggle with workouts when their traveling and think that it is impossible, but I promise you it’s not.  You just have to be adaptable and want to do it.  Was I more tired than usual during some of these?  Yes.  But I went in with the mentality that something was better than nothing and that was all I needed.

In North Carolina, my hotel gym was teeny tiny.  Two treadmills, an elliptical, and a recumbent bike all surrounded by about enough space for one human to lie down and that was it.  I didn’t really want to run since I had run a lot over the weekend and my legs were tired, so I got to circuiting.  Circuit workouts are the PERFECT on the go workout.  You don’t need any equipment, they can be done anywhere, and they are EFFECTIVE.  Set a timer for 10 minutes and pick four or five exercises to do.  For example: 15 squats, 15 burpees, 15 push-ups, 20 mountain climbers, 20 high knees.  Repeat that sequence as many times as you can in that 10 minute window.  Rest for a minute and repeat.  The burn will be realllll.

In Atlanta, I was met with a whole other issue.  When I got to my hotel on Monday night, I realized that it was tiny, old, and there was no gym (along with many other issues, but that’s a post for a different day).  I kind of panicked when I realized this.  I had scheduled my rest day for later in the week and although I would have loved to do a circuit workout in my hotel room, I didn’t trust the stability of the establishment and worried I might jump my way through the floor.  That or REALLY aggravate the person underneath me.  Solution: sign-up for a workout class nearby.  I had heard a lot about Orange Theory Fitness from my friends and had always wanted to try a class.  Lucky for me, they’re pretty much everywhere.  I typed in the zip code of my hotel and at least 5 popped up within a 15 minute radius.  It was super easy to sign-up and I scheduled an Uber to come and get me at 5:50 because I knew it would be too dark to walk.

The class consisted of a .10 mile sprint, 250 meter row, and then a run for distance until you reached the 5 minute mark.  I know what you’re wondering and, yes, I did fall off of the rowing machine because I got to excited and pulled back without my seat following me.  And, yes, I have two nasty bruises on my buttocks to prove it.  The second circuit was a reverse: 250 meter row, .10 mile sprint, row for the rest of time.  We did each of these sets twice and then spent the second half of class working on weighted exercises off of the cardio equipment.  The class sped by and I walked away really feeling like I got a killer workout.  Disclaimer: they give you a heart rate monitor in the class and it told me I burned 500 calories LIESLIESLIES.  Always remember at gyms like this or places that give you heartrate monitors, it is in their best interest to make you think that you’ve burned a lot more calories than you actually have.  Never rely on those outputs.  #Polarforlyfe.

When I walked out of class feeling all sweaty and renewed, I was just going to call another Uber, but the closest one was 10 minutes away.  I was only 1.2 miles from my hotel and knowing that given how my legs were feeling it would probably take me 9 minutes to do that distance, I decided to jog on home.  I’m really glad I did this because I got to see a lot more of Atlanta and pushed myself just a little bit farther outside of my comfort zone.

Thursday was a workout at my parent’s gym and was really nice because it’s the gym I grew up with and has EVERYTHING you could ever want (vibration plates, steam room, five different kinds of treadmills, Bravo on the TVs).  I miss it already.

Friday, my dad and I were down in Bloomington, IN staying at a good ole Courtyard Marriott.  Friday’s have been my rest days lately, but knowing that I had an impending four hour car ride to look forward to following my meeting meant that I wanted to move just a little bit.  I hit the tiny gym and just walked on an incline for about 45 minutes.  I didn’t go at a particularly quick pace, but I got my legs moving and set myself up for a good day.  It was too dark outside and we didn’t seem to be in a particularly scenic area, so getting my walk on this way was just sufficient enough.  Big plus was that I got to help my Dad.  He loves to workout and I send him a workout plan every two weeks for him to follow.  I helped him with his form on some of the moves, but overall he was a champion and really crushed it.  I’m always proud of watching him work to be healthy.

There were a lot of times while I was away that I thought, “Maybe I’ll just sleep in today and rest”.  But that’s not me.  I genuinely feel better and more prepared for the day when I workout.  If that means I have to get up a little bit earlier to get it in, so be it.  I could have made a million excuses for not hitting the gym, but instead I was adaptable and made the scenarios I had placed in front of me work.  Whenever you think you don’t have time, don’t have space, or don’t want to, think through it again.  Ask yourself, will I feel better after I do this?  If the answer is yes, get off your butt and get to the gym.

-sj