Nowadays, business trips are a normal part of young executive’s life. Rushing to and from airports, running in and out of meetings and jumping from one time zone to another can certainly take its toll on even the strongest body!
With little time and the high stakes involved when you are on such trips, how can you manage to keep lean and fit? Here are seven simple strategies you can use:
1. Watch the food
I know that while traveling, it can be tempting to gorge on fast food, candy and other quick snacks. After all, a chocolate bar or a pack of cookies looks pretty savory when you’re starving, doesn’t it?
Be wary of such habits. I personally try and eat lean meat and as much fresh fruits and vegetables as possible. For snacks on the go, I look towards nuts and seeds, since they are easy to carry and provide me with the quick pick-me-up I need during those long meeting hours.
2. Keep moving, use local amenities
You obviously cannot carry your home gym around the world with you. Many hotels will offer training facilities such as weight rooms, cardio equipment or good old fashioned pools. Use them! A 30 minutes training session will do wonders for you on your travel, helping you keep fit.
3. No gym? Improvise!
Your hotel has no training facilities at all? Not even a pool to swim in? Improvise!
Run up and down stairs to work your cardio. Use your own body weight and do squats, push ups and burpees to do a complete work out in your hotel room. You’d be surprised at the number of exercises you can do using only a few square feet!
4. Try and maintain proper sleep
While racing around the world in pursuit of your next dream, jetlag can really take you down. When landing in a new country, try and adapt to the local time as quickly as possible. Don’t sleep during the day and keep in the light to tell your brain it’s not night yet. On the first days of your sojourn, go to sleep early in the evening to help program the new rhythm in your system. Proper sleep helps you function better AND help keep your waistline in.
5. Breathe
Take a daily moment to do those simple breathing exercises. Most of us don’t know how to breathe properly anymore and deep belly breathing will make wonders! Those will help you keep calm during your meetings, reduce stress and lower blood pressure and heart rate, contributing to keeping you fit.
6. Stretch
After the breathing, do a five minutes stretching regimen. This will counter all those hours you were cramped in the plane and help alleviate muscular and skeletal pains. It will also prepare your body for all those long hours of sitting that may lie ahead of you.
7. Take 5 minutes and relax!
Finally, try and grant yourself a daily “off-switch” period. Be it 5, 10 or 15 minutes, it will relieve your mind and body and let you forget about your job even for just a little while. Read a book, write to your loved ones, whatever let’s you pull the plug. Stress hormones will stop pumping in your blood and you will feel refreshed and ready to tackle yet another day of heavy work!
This concludes my article! Use those seven tips to keep in shape while traveling and remember: being fit means being brighter, faster and better!
Tomi Kokko is the endorsed fitness and lifestyle coach of NIIM (Natural Institute of Integrative Medicine and is himself a successful business owner. With such feats as being an army sergeant, three times Finnish champion in Judo, winner of 27 gold medals in other national and international competition, the man breathes and live fitness and performance. Tomi now focuses on coaching business executives to improve their fitness and lifestyle so that they can achieve more in business and personal lives.
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