Fitness while traveling can be a challenge. We’re out of our normal routines, we’re away from our gym or our instructor or our equipment. We may have to deal with jet lag.
This is where our adaptability comes in.
If we’re traveling for work, we can maintain some of our normal frameworks and habits. We can seek out places to stay that include some way to work out, whether that’s a hotel gym or a pool or just a neighborhood where we can walk or run.
Pleasure travel is a different animal. We’re going to relax or to experience new things or both. We want to see what there is to see, do what there is to do, and try all the fabulous foods. I find that I generally get in a lot more steps when I travel than I do at home and I do a whole lot less weight lifting, even if there is a gym in my hotel. It is absolutely all right to have vacations as vacation. I do notice, however, that as we get more fit, we tend to choose more active kinds of vacation. We’re inclined to walk through the cities we visit or we seek out the scenic hike or we decide to swim in a different ocean than our usual.
As always, we need to use our good judgment about how much we move and how much we eat. And, if we blow it and eat our way through our trip, we need to accept the consequences, return to our healthy habits, and avoid punishing ourselves.
