Workout of The Week (#81)

Hotel Workouts

With summer approaching I have a lot of clients traveling. Nowadays most hotels will have a gym and usually that includes some dumbbells, bands, and if you’re lucky some kettlebells and a cable stack. I wanted to write this article to give you some workouts you could hit on the road. Usually when I travel i’ll look up pictures of the hotel gym and nearby gyms. If i’m able to swing it, i’ll just drop into a local gym but otherwise i’ll make sure the hotel gym has the essentials before booking it.

When i’m traveling I prefer to spend about 30-45 minutes in the gym so i’ll typically stick with the format below unless i’m afforded more time. Here are a couple of principles to keep in mind:

1. Keep it Stupid Simple

2. Hit Everything

3. Rest Minimally

At the bottom of each session you’ll find a session duration. This is calculated by adding the time it takes to complete all reps (tempo, Ex: 3010 is a 4 second rep in total), the rest period, and then multiplying it by the total number of sets. Hit a 3-5 min aerobic warmup on the bike and rower and maybe 1 warmup set of 15-20 reps with bodyweight or some weight before getting started.

Beach Pump Special

If you’re traveling and plan on having your shirt off most of the time then this session is for you. If you just like high volume training then this also could be a great option.

Training Method: 10 x 10

If you have less than 39 minutes, i’d recommend just hitting 8 sets of 10 or skipping the arm work at the end.

Make It Feel Heavy

For those that want to continue lifting heavy but don’t have access to barbells like they usually would, I recommend this method. You’ll often be confined to just using up to 40-50 lb dumbbells, so let’s make them feel heavy.

Training Method: Pre Exhaust Agonist Superset

You can modify the pushups to overhead presses and the presses to lateral riases if you want a more shoulder intensive session. Follow the tempos, they’re probably slower than you’re accustomed to, this is a perfect time to just experiment with new training methods to get a taste for them.

Cardio Bunny

If you’re trying to keep your heart in tip top shape and stay jacked or maybe you had too many margaritas by the beach and you hate how tubby you look, then this ones for you.

Training Method: Circuits

These sessions are pretty short but feel free to remove a round if you’re in terrible shape or swap some exercises if you prefer pumps in other muscle groups.

Hotel Room

This is for you if your hotel gym is a closet with a treadmill in it and you’d prefer to just workout in your room. Maybe you just want to get sweaty in your hotel room because the gym downstairs is too crowded, whatever. Knock this sucker out if this is for you.

Training Method: Tabata Style Circuit

One of my clients went to Tampa Bay before and told me he didn’t workout because he couldn’t find a gym. That’s a lie. He just didn’t plan and prepare to workout. If you want to workout while on a trip, make the commitment to do so. There are gyms everywhere, go to google and find one near you. Don’t say “i’ll try to get a workout in” because that never works. Wake up early and train, or don’t. Either way, be happy with your decision.