Last Updated on February 20, 2024 by Talita

Taking a quick vacation over the weekend? Packing up for a week-long conference abroad? Don’t worry, you can still keep up with your workout routine.

There are so many effective yet quick and simple exercises you can do anytime and anywhere. In this post, we’ve rounded up the best workouts for travelers. Keep pushing, you’ve got this!

 

 

   1. Burpees

Touted as one of the best body exercises, “burpees” is a classic, full-body functional workout that you can do anywhere, anytime. This exercise is pretty simple. The basic burpee involves taking your body all the way down to the flow, followed by a high jump. 

Nevertheless, you shouldn’t underestimate this exercise. It’s an explosive workout that engages all muscle groups. It also challenges your heart, lungs, and strength.   

This brutal workout has many forms. Some of the most popular are split-leg burpees, reverse burpees, and burpees with mountain climbers. Depending on your fitness level, you can switch to the variations or stick to the standard form.

A popular burpee workout is the “Death By Burpee.” Many celebrities and athletes swear by this workout. You don’t need anything, just the will to suffer. 

Death by Burpee is a three-minute interval challenge. In the first minute, you complete one burpee. In the second, you do two, until you can’t complete the required burpee amount in a minute.

 

   2. Mountain Climbers

Another simple yet super effective workout that’s ideal for travelers is “mountain climbers.” This workout strengthens your arms, shoulders, back, core, and legs. It also increases your heart rate, which helps you burn more calories.

Like burpees, mountain climbers have different variations. You can mix different variations in a single workout. To further boost your cardio, try jogging in place for a count of 10 before switching to another variation.

If you’re a beginner, start by doing 10-15 mountain climbers in one set. If you’re a little more advanced, go for 25-30 per set. You can have three or more sets in between 30-second rests.

 

   3. Push-ups

Vacations can involve lots of food. To stay in shape, you want to incorporate more demanding exercises into your workout routine. 

Like burpees and mountain climbers, push-ups are highly effective in burning calories and working out many muscles in the upper body. In particular, it works the muscles in your shoulders, chest, triceps, back, and abs.

If you’re a beginner, you can start with wall push-ups or half push-ups where your knees are bent. As for speed, there’s no reason to pound 30 push-ups in a minute. You can always take it slow. What is more important is you observe proper form. 

Traveling is fun but it could be stressful too. Make your push-ups meditative by focusing on your breathing. Breathe in when lowering and breathe out when you push yourself back up.

 

   4. HIIT Workout

HIIT is a broad term for workouts that involve short periods of exercise with short recovery periods in between. The best thing about HIIT is you get maximal benefits in minimal time. This means you can squeeze a HIIT routine into your tight schedule.

Gym mats are a great way to prevent slips and falls when working out. They provide you with an extra layer of safety, which can help ensure that your session goes smoothly without any major accidents occurring! 

A 20-minute HIIT workout is all you need to strengthen your body and burn fats (lots of them.) You can combine different intense exercises like the ones above. You don’t need any exercise equipment although a mat is helpful especially if you’re doing floor exercises.

Here’s a 20-minute beginner HIIT workout that comes in handy when you’re traveling:

Do three rounds of following workouts for 45 seconds each, 15 seconds rest.

• Push-ups
• Squats
• Butt kicks
• Tricep dips
• Side lunges

 

   5. Shadowboxing

Even if you’re staying in a very skimpy hotel room, you can work out your entire body through shadowboxing. This intense yet quick exercise will surely make you sweat. The best part is, you don’t need any equipment for it, not even an exercise mat.

Shadowboxing is a cardio and fat-loss drill that challenges your power while skyrocketing your heart rate and helping you burn fats. 

This workout is easy. Simply mix jabs, hooks, crosses, and uppercuts in any pattern you like for two to three minutes straight. Rest for 30 seconds and repeat. You can do five to 10 reps, depending on your fitness level.

While it’s easy, you might feel uncoordinated if it’s your first time doing it. It might feel weird but just keep pushing. You’ll get used to the beat.

If where you’re staying has a gym or fitness room, you can level up your workout by doing some traditional boxing workouts. You only need minimal boxing gear to get started, such as a pair of gloves and a punching bag which most gyms have.

 

   6. Jogging

Jogging is the ultimate bodyweight exercise that offers instant cardio health benefits. You can do it anywhere – in your hotel room or outdoors. If you’re in a room, jog in place instead. Time yourself for at least fifteen minutes or more if you’re at an advanced level.

When casual traveling, wear your running shoes and workout clothes so you can do jogging and brisk walking whenever you can. It’s a great way to tour around a new city or place while getting your heart pumped up.

To make your jogging routine more fun and challenging, you can incorporate other exercises like jumping jacks in between. You can also do sprints which are explosive yet very effective in boosting your cardiovascular health.

If you’re running the treadmill at the hotel gym, you can run shorter and swap the last mile or two doing strength and core exercises while you listen to a fun playlist or interesting podcasts.

   7. Tabata

Tabata workouts are among the easiest and most effective workouts for travelers for several reasons. One, they can be done with no equipment. Two, they can take as little as four minutes! Furthermore, Tabata workouts are highly effective cardio workout.

Tabata isn’t actually a single workout, but a format of workout in which you can plug in a “high intensity” exercise.

Like a HIIT workout, you can choose different intense workouts, perform 8 rounds of each for 20 seconds each, followed by 10 seconds of rest. You can repeat the exercises as you wish.

It’s very similar to HIIT, only that Tabata has shorter intervals. Here’s a sample routine you can try:

• Burpees
• Squats
• Mountain climbers
• Pushups
• Crunches
• Reverse lunges

4 Tips When Exercising on a Travel

Sticking to your fitness regime while on travel can be challenging. Here are some tips to help you out:

• Keep it short. Say “bye” to lengthy workout sessions for now. Commit to just 20 or 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous workouts.
• Bodyweight exercises are best. You don’t need equipment to do push-ups, burpees, and sprints. These workouts are intense enough to get you sweating. If you choose to incorporate weights, you can use water bottles, books, or even your luggage bag.
• Eat healthily. It’s fine to try calorie-dense and not-so-healthy food when you’re traveling but try to incorporate some healthy options in your meal. For example, you can order some fresh vegetable salad or slices of fresh fruits along with your chosen meal for lunch.
• Walking counts as exercise too. Go on a walk to explore hidden backstreets, use the stairs instead of the elevator, and take a stroll along the beach. The key is to keep moving.

In short

The 7 simple exercises travelers can do anywhere, anytime are:

1. Burpees
2. Mountain climbers
3. Push ups
4. HIIT training
5. Shadowboxing
6. Race
7. Tabata

 

Takeaway

Staying fit even when traveling is possible. You don’t need a lot of time, you just have to carefully pick the workouts you’ll do. For a satisfying workout routine, go for intense exercises that require no equipment.

Happy vacation!

Planning your next trip?

Then don’t forget travel insurance! You don’t want to get stuck paying a ton of money and ruining your trip if you get sick or have an accident without travel insurance. Our page with The 3 Best and Cheapest Travel Insurance on the Market can help you choose the right plan and will give you some discount coupons for the biggest insurance companies!

 

 Already reserved your hotel or hostel? If not, our article with The 6 Best and Cheapest Websites to Find & Reserve Accommodation can help you out. You’ll also find some promotions and discount codes.

 

 Still haven’t booked your plane ticket and want to save big? Take a look at our page with 16 Tips to Save on Flights where you’ll also find the 4 best websites to buy your plane tickets. 

 

And finally, will you need to rent a car during your trip? Then surely our page with The 5 Best and Cheapest Websites to Compare and Rent Cars Around the World will help you choose the best rental car and find a good deal.