You’ve finally started working out more. You feel those pounds leaving your body and your calories keep on burning. You are so high on your fitness journey that you forgot about your actual journey two weeks from now. Oh no, what if for the next few weeks, you’ll be traveling constantly? Well, don’t worry. Mankind has lived thousands of years without gyms and you only need to tap into that primal resourcefulness to know that no gym is not a problem.

Break the Routine

Working out from the comfort of your own home works because there’s no need to worry about anything. Nobody will gawk at you at your local gym for doing squats and you know the safe routes to jog in your hometown. 

Yes, that’s not going to happen when you’re traveling. When you’re traveling, there are simply too many variables at play. It’s not exactly easy to start doing jumping jacks at the airport or pull-ups at the local playground. You have to be smart about where and how you work out. This article will prove useful in that regard.

Use Bodyweight Exercises

No dumbells, kettlebells, or even barbells? No problem. The world’s best weight equipment is your own body. By utilizing the natural weight of your body in your workout routines, you can stay fit without all that fancy gym equipment. In addition, most bodyweight exercises only take between 30 minutes to an hour. No matter how hectic your travel schedule may be, there’s always 30 minutes or an hour to spare for your health to do the following exercises. Remember to warm-up with some stretches before doing these exercises, of course.

Sit-ups

Sit-ups are one of the most long-standing (well, sitting) exercises for a good reason. They are easy to do, practical, and can be done almost anywhere. All you need to make the best out of it is doing them a lot. 

Sit-ups can work out your core strength, improve hip flexibility and posture, and most importantly, tone your abs. 

Push-ups

If sit-ups are the bread, then push-ups are the butter of exercise. A sit-up is probably the other exercise most fitness trainers will tell you to do. Moreover, it is a popular punishment in the military. 

Anybody can push up anywhere, it’s just a matter of how many they can do before their arms give out. Push-ups build your shoulders, pecs, and back muscles, as well as activate the full body. With proper form, push-ups and sit-ups will make up the brunt of your upper body workouts.

Planking

No, it’s not that old trend where the kids lie straight down on things for attention. These planks are an exercise where you push up and simply don’t go down. Easy, right?

As it turns out, it’s not that easy. Planking is infamous for being one of the most intense core exercises you can do. It strengthens your core’s endurance to make it tougher for future workouts and activates the entire body for a workout session. It may be difficult, but it’s crucial for building up endurance. Being good at planking will build you the foundation for future bodyweight exercises.

Squats

All of these exercises have been focusing on the upper part of your body, but where’s the love for your lower body? Well, truth be told, with all the walking one does while traveling, the only other exercise you need at this point is the squat. 

It’s easy to think of it as the standing plank. While the plank will strain your upper body and core to its limits, the squat will test the limits of your lower body. It doesn’t just build up endurance and muscle in your legs but also improves your core and posture due to its rigid nature. Martial artists and athletes, in particular, find squatting for long periods to be a great way to improve endurance.

Burpees

Despite the admittedly silly name, burpees are a relatively recent invention in the world of exercise, only coming into existence around the 1940s. It’s also the quintessential body workout. It was named after the American physiologist Royal H. Burpee, who first invented the exercise. It was created to showcase a quick and simple way to determine a person’s fitness. 

However, it has evolved today into one of the most physically taxing exercises one can do without equipment. The burpee is the culmination of the fundamental exercises above, being a combination of planking, push-ups, and squats. If you can’t do any other exercise on this list, the most practical and rewarding one would have to be the burpee.

The Basic Routine

Now, let’s combine all those exercises into one smooth routine. Remember, this is only a guide and you should listen to what your body tells you it can and can’t do. Fitness is a gradual process. You can do this every other day or even just twice a week. What’s important is that you do it.

• 2 sets of sit-ups, 10-20 repetitions each
• 2 sets push-ups, 15-25 repetitions each
• 2 sets of planks, 30-60 seconds
• 2 sets of squats, 10-15 each
• 2 sets of burpees, 5-10 each