Hotel Workouts (#40)

How to workout on vacation and on the go

I’m a big believer in training becoming just a thing you do. You don’t need to motivate yourself to brush your teeth or watch game of thrones, you shouldn’t need to rely on motivation to workout either. This means getting it in on vacation. My first recommendation would be to look for gyms in the area you’re visiting to drop in on. However, this isn’t always possible due to time or logistics.

Most of us know the feeling of checking out the hotel gym and just seeing something like this:

A hotel gym won’t have anywhere near the level of equipment you need. Usually, you’re constrained to cardio machines and dumbbells. If you’re lucky, you may have a cable stack and a kettlebell or two. Here are a couple of concepts to take with you to create an effective hotel training routine to get you through a couple workouts on the road.

Pre-Exhaust

This is a method I’ve discussed in previous articles. It’s something bodybuilders back in the day would use frequently along with john meadows to some extent with his pre-pump phase. Perform high reps of a similar muscle group before performing your primary movement, this will simulate the primary movement being heavy and force you to recruit more motor units, in turn this means you’ll recruit more muscle fibers.

Example:

A1. Pushup x AMRAP

A2. Dumbbell Bench Press x 10-15 to failure

Another pre exhaust method could be an isometric like a wall squat to induce fatigue before squatting.

A1. Wall Sit x Max Time

A2. Goblet Squat x 10-15

Higher Heart Rate

You won’t get an ideal workout in a hotel gym since you don’t have the equipment, so I recommend more variations and keeping the heart rate high. I recommend using the format below to setup a giant set.

A1. Bodyweight Movement

A2. Weighted Dumbbell Movement

A3. Burner

A4. Mobility / Corrective exercise

A burner is any movement that elevates the heart rate. This could be a burpee, mountain climber, squat jumps, or a quick sprint on the treadmill to name a few. The mobility or corrective exercise should be done for about 30-60 seconds, this is essentially active recovery. I recommend selecting where you are most tight, experience the most joint restriction, or have general weakness in.

Full Body

Full body everyday is what I recommend for hotel workouts most of the time. Do the above template for a lower body movement and then simply perform another giant set with the same outline for the upper body. Finish with 5-10 minutes of core and you’re done.

Example

A1. Wall Sit 3 x Max Time

A2. Bulgarian Split Squat 3 x 10-15

A3. Squat Jump 3 x 15

A4. Perfect Stretch x 5 / side

B1. Pushup 3 x AMRAP

B2. Incline DB Bench 3 x 10-15

B3. Dumbbell Thruster 3 x 15

B4. T-Spine Rotations x 10/e

Core & Circuit

C1. Burpee w/ Tuck Jump 5 x 5

C2. Leg Raise 5 x 10

C3. Russian Twist 5 x 10/e

One last method (Bonus), timed sets are also fun to try out. Simply select 4-6 movements and perform them for 40 seconds on and 20 seconds rest. Do 3 to 5 total sets. 5 Movements for 5 sets will take only 25 minutes and will hit you with a lot of volume.

40/20 Training

A1. Pushup x 40 sec, 20 sec rest

A2. Alternating Reverse Lunge x 40 sec, 20 sec rest

A3. Half Kneeling Overhead Press x 40 sec, 20 sec rest

A4. Dumbbell Row x 40 sec, 20 sec rest

A5. Plank x 40 sec, 20 sec Rest

5 Rounds

Do the most you can with the least. Don’t overthink it, make a plan while warming up with a walk on the creaky treadmill and bang out a sweat sesh before starting the day.