On The Road – Day 6

Ready for Day 6 of my week-long business trip?  No, I’m not going to start talking about the business issues – but hopefully the past several posts are giving you ideas you can use the next time you travel. You are probably also seeing that while I’m far from perfect, I take my fitness and eating very seriously.  My point being that being fit, strong, heart-healthy, low-fat, muscular, and healthy overall isn’t a part-time thing.  Perfection isn’t required, but dedication is.

If you are already fit, you know this.  If you aren’t, then perhaps you can see that some extra effort is sometimes required.  I’m not going to lie to you and tell you that being in great shape is easy.  It’s not.  And while your workouts are important, they aren’t as important as your eating.

And unfortunately, eating right is a lot harder than exercising.  (At least for most people.)

What I’d like to hear from you on, in comments for this post, are you own ideas and experiences about how to eat right and get in good workouts while traveling.  You don’t need to write a lot – just join in and share some ideas.

Day 6 – Eating

I was speaking today at a conference so I knew that eating was going to be a challenge.  But, like I keep saying, all it takes is good planning ahead of time.

My breakfasts were just like yesterday in the sense of lower quantity because I’m on a lighter day, and similar to the other days in terms of content (lots of eggs, veggies, some oatmeal, banana, milk – across two meals).

For my lunches, one was just a protein/carb drink after my workout.

I also should point out that I drink a ton of water every day.  While I do this at home (including seltzer water), it’s especially important while traveling because I find hotel rooms really dehydrating.  But you do have to be careful because drinking tons of fluid increases your bathroom trips – tough when on planes!

My second lunch was a treat, but a good one:  cold shrimp plus some fresh, authentic tacos (a great taco shop in San Diego here).  I wish the tacos had more veggies, but they did have tomatoes and onions, and I ate an apple I carried with me.  (I was prepared.)

I was able to get a decent first dinner, some really yummy and lean chili and a huge serving of asparagus.  By the way, bodybuilders are always talking about broccoli, and when at home I probably have about 4 cups of broccoli every day.  But asparagus is a great way to mix things up.  Request it steamed, no butter.

then my second dinner was my old standby, made possible because I had a fridge in my room and I stopped at a grocery nearby:  cottage cheese with chocolate protein powder, plus some raisins added.

So, a lower calorie but very satisfying food day.

Day 6 – Exercise

This is yet another hotel with a lame gym (though it’s better than my last one) so I found another 24 Hour Fitness (which I’m really appreciating because of their hours of operation).

I planned to run there and back since it was about 1 mile away but I got lost on the way there.  So I ran longer and then my lifting time was thus shorter so I could get back in time.

That meant squeezing a 1-hr lifting routine into 45 minutes.

Here’s the magic tip:  alternating sets.

(This is in addition to the fundamental tip of “be flexible”.)

This was an upper body day.  But if I wanted to lift heavy, that meant resting between sets.  Normally, I do all sets of an exercise, then move to a new exercise.  I find that’s better for mental focus and for strength workouts.

But in this case I alternated.  For example, I did a set of bench press then a set of chin-ups then a set of bench then a set of chins, etc. until both exercises were done.  This way, I could keep my rest at 30 seconds are so.

Some guys do all their routines this way, but as I said, I don’t find it generally to be as effective.  That said, I had to shave 25% of my time off and so this was my only choice.  If I tried to go with only 30 seconds between sets without alternating muscle groups, then that would become an endurance workout, not a strength workout.

Even still, with only 30 seconds between, I was having trouble lifting as much weight as normal and found myself more out of breath than usual.

With my lifts done, I ran back to the hotel to finish my workout.

Next up:  Day 7 – last day, and a 15-hr travel day….  wish me luck!

What I’d like to hear from you on, in comments for this post, are you own ideas and experiences about how to eat right and get in good workouts while traveling.  You don’t need to write a lot – just join in and share some ideas.

Just starting out with weightlifting? Want to get bigger muscles this winter?
Get my full-body lifting routine here: FullBodyAttack!

Related posts:

1. On The Road – Day 7
2. On The Road – Day 1
3. On The Road – Day 2

Tags: diet, traveling workouts