Whether you’re moving to a new location, traveling for work, or embarking on an adventure, we often encounter circumstances that are less than ideal for catering to our health and fitness goals. We simply can’t have access to a good gym, a park or trail where we can jog or hike, and healthy food all of the time. Let’s consider three easy ways to stay healthy and physically fit– no matter where we find ourselves.
Walk More, Uber Less
In a time when getting a ride across town is as easy as taking out our cell phone, the temptation to avoid walking more than a few blocks has never been greater. Yet the health benefits of walking every day, even for just 30 minutes, cannot be overstated. Walking helps our cardiovascular, and pulmonary health, assists in the management of conditions such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes, reduces our risk of heart disease and stroke and burns body fat. Not to mention it’s a great way to get a feel for a new city, especially if you can arrange to go on a walking tour.
Do Some Resistance Training Twice a Week
When we think of resistance training, or “strength training,” we usually think of weights, dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells, and other unwieldy pieces of equipment—nothing we’d pack away in our carry-on. However, this doesn’t necessarily have to be the case. Resistance training can take many forms, whether it’s simply performing exercises using our own body weight or utilizing some form of training equipment.
Whether it’s in a hotel room, an apartment, or at the local playground, we can easily set aside a few minutes to perform lunges, push-ups, sit-ups, or crunches. If your level of personal fitness requires greater resistance than your own body weight is capable of providing, there are dial-in resistance tube systems compact enough to fit easily into a backpack or purse, which can be great for athletes on the go, eliminating the need for multiple pieces of equipment.
Party Like a Professional
Although we may not often think of partying as being beneficial to our health, the fact is that going out, socializing, and “blowing off steam” is an important part of a healthy lifestyle. We need to find a way to balance the stresses associated with moving, travel, or work with healthy outlets that allow us to connect with others. In fact, a study performed by the University of Gottingen claims that going out and socializing with friends (new or old) can reduce our stress levels substantially, which affects everything from hormone production to immune system function.
The downside is that going out and partying can often lead to our engaging in behaviors such as binge drinking, as one drink tends to beget another. Whereas having an occasional drink has been shown to lower the risk of heart disease or stroke, as well as giving our brains’ dopamine production a leg up, chronic binge drinking can have serious and adverse effects on our health.
The good news is that we can keep fit without sacrificing the fun of a night out. Simply drinking a glass of water between drinks and again before bed will have tremendous advantages. It may not be convenient, but your body will thank you in the morning.
Another good practice is to log the amount of alcohol you have in the evening, and then add a predetermined number of reps into your exercise regimen the next day for each of those drinks. If you wake up to find you’re doing 100 extra crunches that day, you may think twice before ordering another round next time.
Health Starts at the Table
While it’s true that diet is a complex and nuanced topic, almost all healthy eating advice comes down to the same basic principles:
- Eat mostly vegetables
- Include protein in your diet, whether it’s from meat, poultry, fish, or legumes
- Don’t neglect eating some fruits and nuts
- Moderate your intake of bread, pasta, and liquid calories
Even on the road, when options are sometimes limited, there are always going to be slightly healthier options available.
Just being mindful and doing our best with what we have will ultimately go a long way toward maintaining or even improving our health, regardless of where we find ourselves.
