MYPROTEIN Deals – Help me release UNIGAINS Apparel!

 

If you have a job which requires travelling then the following scenario will probably at some point apply to you:

 

It’s time for change. You have started going the gym and have got through the first month; it’s finally starting to become a habit – Good! Your diet is also on point and you feel like you are getting into your stride – You’re unstoppable!

 

But then…. work trip. *dun dun duuuuuun*

 

This is the sort of unwanted interruption which just ruins your momentum, often throwing many people off the rails.

 

Luckily for you, you have me, and I am on a work trip right now (in the comfiest Premier Inn bed that I’ve ever been in!)

 

Let me tell you how I keep my fitness in check whilst travelling.

 

1. Losing Weight

 

Simple, check out my article on intermittent fasting here. I believe this is great when travelling as a lot of the time you will be going out for dinner, and the calories are probably going to be on the higher side; making a tactical choice to avoid breakfast is a wise choice to help maintain your deficit.

 

Also, use a calorie counter such as MyFitnessPal; it has a massive database of foods including most chain restaurants; it is likely that you will be able to find the exact calories of the food you are about to eat!
If not, there are often very similar dishes from other restaurants to chose from which will probably be nutritionally similar (be honest with yourself!) – the more you get used to calories counting the more you will start to be able to gauge the nutritional values of different foods, making your job a little easier.

 

2. Gaining Weight

 

You are in paradise – there are plenty of high-calorie foods and expensive steaks and other proteins to chose from, without having to worry about your wallet (I assume you have a dinner allowance). The only downfall I can think of is.. nope I can’t think of any – if you’re gaining weight then this should be a breeze, as long as you’re working out properly and not overeating.

 

3. Working Out

 

So here is the point where I think most of you hit the brick wall – you have no gym.
Now if you are lucky and have a gym in the hotel, then great! You might not have access to the same equipment that you may be using for your workouts (for squat, bench, deadlifts etc.), however you can still get in there and create a make-shift workout to help continue your progress physically and mentally (if you need help to design a hotel workout email me at mike@unigains.com).

 

Now if you do not have a gym this is where the hustle begins – it’s back to bodyweight.

 

My standard hotel routine is:
-3 sets of pushups to failure
-tabata squats
-a plank for abs
-3 sets of supermans (or variations) to failure

 

It’s simple, but it is effective enough to keep applying stress to your muscles to ensure you are still stimulating your muscles to adapt.

 

With the sets of pushups and supermans, I vary them up each set to make them as hard as possible to make them interesting. I will normally vary the intensity throughout the set, such as starting with clapping pushups and ending with normal ones. I also vary the tempo of them too to help increase the difficulty.

 

Tabata squats are where you set the timer to 4 minutes and do as many squats as you can in 20 seconds then rest for 10, and repeat. This absolutely kills your legs and makes squats interesting (when you can do 50+ it just get boring as hell)

 

With the plank I will just hold it until my abs break – I don’t really set a timer, however, this would be a good move if your mind gives up before your body.

 

I’m not going to lie to you – I’m demotivated as fuck when I’m travelling – I really love going to the gym! However, you have to push through and at least do something.

With fitness, every little helps – and ensuring you’re making efforts to develop your body in sub-optimal conditions will help a great deal to stay on track and achieve your goals.

 

-Mike