When you travel, do you still look for ways to exercise or stay active? Just because you travel, doesn’t mean you have to stop exercising. As long as you have some small but portable exercise equipment, or nothing at all even, you can tweak your exercise routine for your travels. This post will show you how you can still exercise while traveling.

Walk Everywhere

This is one of the best ways you can exercise and explore an area at the same time. Walking is great for your health and you don’t need to do or buy anything extra to do it. You can speed up to get more cardio benefit or take that slow, leisurely pace. If you have the option to walk anywhere (as long as it’s not too far), definitely walk as opposed to taking the bus or other means of transportation.

Go on Hikes

If you’re visiting a location that has stunning views and trails, go on a lovely hike! Not only are you taking in the beautiful views of nature but you’re also getting a great workout! Especially if those trails have inclines, your butt and thighs are going to feel it!

Cycle Around The Area

Cycling around is another option of getting exercise and staying fit. You can cycle in any way that’s comfortable for you. If you’d prefer cycling through a city, sightseeing and getting your bearings, that’s one way to go. Or, if you’d prefer cycling on trails or in the mountains, that’s a good option as well. Either way, you’ll get in an awesome lower body and cardio workout.

Go Swimming

Traveling to the beach or to a lovely hotel with a pool? Then go swimming! It’s a great total body workout that provides resistance from the water and compound movements. Even if it’s for 30 minutes, trust me, you’ll get a workout in when you go swimming.

Use the Gym

If your accommodation has a gym in it, or if the location you’re staying in has a gym which you’re a member of, then take advantage of it and use the gym. The gym provides you with equipment you probably wouldn’t have easy access to otherwise.

Equipment from dumbbells to the treadmill, elliptical, resistance bands, and other machines are accessible in gyms. They provide you with options to chose from when doing your workout so you can maintain your routine while traveling.

I love strength training and if I can, I utilize the free gyms in my accommodations so I can continue to lift weights without losing muscle mass. Nomadic Tactics has a great blog and podcast where he details weight lifting tips for digital nomads. I highly recommend you check it out as he provides a lot of great tips and information on how to maintain your routine while traveling. I’ll leave the link here for you to check it out.

Use Resistance Bands

This is something I used when I went to Las Vegas and wanted to incorporate some resistance in my routine. Resistance bands are very light, easy to pack and travel with, but also provide you with more resistance when training or working out.

If you don’t have access to the gym or dumbbells to do some weight lifting, then you can replace the dumbbells or machinery with resistance bands. They get the job done and you can take them anywhere!

Do Bodyweight Workouts

Doing bodyweight workouts is another great option if you don’t have access to the gym, equipment, or resistance bands. You don’t need a ton of space either to do bodyweight workouts. All you need is a little room (i.e. a small bedroom, living room) and your own drive to challenge yourself.

I love doing bodyweight workouts. They can be as easy or as hard as you need them to be. Since you’re working against your own strength, it should be a challenge even for the most fit person. The program I use all the time for my workouts is Fitness Blender. They provide over 500 free workouts and tons of bodyweight exercise routines which vary in intensity and duration. It’s called Fitness Blender because the workouts usually combine multiple types of exercise. You can do a HIIT routine combined with pilates and strength training in under 40 minutes. I highly recommend this if you’re looking for free workouts for all fitness levels.

Do Cardio or HIIT

This goes hand in hand with bodyweight workouts mentioned previously. You can incorporate cardio or HIIT (high intensity interval training) into your travels to ensure your cardiovascular health is up. The benefits range from increased metabolic rate to increased oxygen levels, losing body fat, and toning your body.

There’s a variety of cardio or HIIT exercises you can do while traveling. This ranges from running to jump rope, riding a bike and more. You can even do more traditional cardio or HIIT exercises like jump squats, jumping lunges, high knees, and more.

Go Jogging or Running

Are you a jogger or a runner? Just because you travel that doesn’t mean you have to stop. If you want to continue to jog or run, then do it! Find a little trail, a park, a beach, or a quiet area to do your jogging or running. I can’t tell you how many people I saw jogging or running through the aforementioned locations.

Participate in Activities

Traveling is the best time to try out new activities, sports, or existing activities/sports you like. For example, if you visit Key West in Florida, try out a water sport! You’ll get lots of exercise and an adrenaline rush as well. Or you can do some rock climbing on cliffs when you visit mountainous regions. Maybe kayaking on a river? The possibilities are endless.

Check out Trip Advisor, Groupon, Viator, and other websites/apps for a list of activities in your area. Once you see something you like, take the leap and participate in that activity!

As you can see, exercise doesn’t have to stop while you’re traveling. With a little bit of creativity, space, and options, you can still get in a great workout while traveling and having fun! Even if I don’t manage to go to the gym and strength train, I still do a lot of activities and things to keep active while traveling. You can, as well as myself, still burn some calories even when you least expect it.