Destination Fitness ; Going on Vacation Doesn't Mean You Have to Sacrifice Your Exercise Routine
Posted on: Monday, 30 June 2008, 09:01 CDT
By Jane Kwiatkowski
Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is a challenge, but taking your fitness routine on the road can become a downright drag in unfamiliar surroundings that often mean overeating and under sleeping.
Don't let it happen! Pack a fitness itinerary along with your guidebooks and sunscreen.
"Much like you have a travel itinerary, you should also have a health itinerary," suggested personal trainer Dan Mitchell of Soap Box gym. "Think about it. Nobody gets on a plane without first planning their trip."
What "destinations" should be on your fitness itinerary?
"Prevention, maintenance and progress -- in that order," Mitchell stressed. "Often people get the order of priority reversed. They think they will pack their gear and go to the gym when they get to the hotel, but they don't address any of the preventive or maintenance issues before, and their health continues to slide."
With in-room fitness kits offered by hotels, downloaded fitness routines available for your iPod and an old but reliable step counter called a pedometer -- more people are managing to stay fit while they travel.
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Walk off the wait
Work up an appetite, not a restaurant tab while you wait for your next flight connection at Buffalo-Niagara International Airport, suggested C. Douglas Hartmayer, director of public affairs for the Niagara Frontier Transit Authority.
"Walk the concourse back and forth once and you have completed one-third of a mile," pronounced Hartmayer. "Make it nonstop, round trip and power walk -- like many of our employees and passengers."
Hartmayer, of course,is referring to ticketed passengers who have already passed security. Walking the concourse three times (back and forth), he said, equals one mile. What's more? It will burn calories.
While you're walking any airport, steer clear of cheeseburgers, chicken wings and salt-laden potato chips. Sodium will only dehydrate you, and that chocolate bar may look appealing, but eat one on an empty stomach and you'll have a sugar craving for the rest of the day.
"There are plenty of healthy choices in airport terminals," Mitchell noted. "Pretty much all of the terminals have some form of Subway that offers healthy alternatives. That's key for nutritional strategy in travel, to maintain an awareness of the desire for comfort foods because we're in strange surroundings."
A slice of cheese pizza could do the nutritional trick, considering it contains a vegetable (tomato) and the mineral calcium (cheese). Don't grease it up with pepperoni. Protein bars can also be healthy quick hits, provided they are low calorie and lack chocolate.
Once you've boarded the plane, continue the health zen with 30 minutes of yoga. The only equipment you need is an iPod, headphones - - and, of course, you must purchase the workout for download beforehand.
"Airplane Yoga -- Soaring With Freedom" ($14.95) features instructor Amy Ippoliti leading you through a series of stretches performed from your airplane seat. Arm raises, spinal extension and deep breathing should leave any traveler rejuvenated, relaxed and ready for repeated rounds of sightseeing.
"Airplane Yoga" is also available in 10- and 20-minute segments at www.iamplfy.com. Modification of the routine -- lower arm raises, for example -- may be necessary to accommodate cabin size -- not to mention that passenger sitting by your side. Loose-fitting, comfortable clothing is a must!
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Avoiding injuries
Mitchell said preventing injury to body and mind should be a traveler's top concern -- one that should be addressed well before embarking on any vacation.
This involves three components:
Hydration -- "People get severely dehydrated when they travel," said Mitchell. "Why? Most people don't want to use public restrooms. They don't want the hassle of stopping, so they don't drink that extra glass of water. But they will drink a lot of coffee on the road to stay awake, which further dehydrates the system. A dehydrated system is not a functional system."
Structural alignment of the spine -- Call it posture. If shoulders are slouched, a chemistry is released that causes us to become apathetic, and could lead to detachment, said Mitchell. There is no coincidence that most meditative practices -- yoga, tai chi, Qigong -- stress the importance of a straight back. "When the integrity of the spine is broken," Mitchell said, "it puts a lot of stress on the system, and your mind wanders."
Deep breathing -- "Often when people travel they tend to get a little anxious because they're in unfamiliar surroundings," Mitchell cautioned, "so the parasympathetic digs in and we start to breath shallow. We need to breath deep to oxygenate the system."
Maintenance, the second stop on Mitchell's itinerary, focuses totally on nutritional strategy.
"Health maintenance is nutrition," Mitchell explained, "small amounts of good healthy food throughout the day. Stay away from the big meals, eating like a snake just once a day. For a human, eating once a day blows the metabolism."
Finally, you're ready to exercise.
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In-room fitness
If you want to stay really fit on your vacation this summer, go on a cruise.
"They offer anything that a sports enthusiast may want from rock climbing to mini-golf to basketball," said Shaun Seufert, public affairs assistant for the American Automobile Association of Western New York. "Pilates and aerobics, too. The cruise industry has really evolved to meet those demands for exercise, especially activities that are family friendly."
If cruising is the last thing you'd do on a vacation, consider your hotel room a fitness palace -- especially if it offers an In- Room Fitness Package, like the Marriott in Amherst does. Included in the Marriott package, according to general manager Dick Schroen, are:
BodyRev: Created by a former Navy SEAL, the portable exercise device (resembling a paddle board with handles) includes a 15- minute video routine that delivers a full-body aerobic and strength- training workouts.
BodyWedge21: Foam incline targets abs, buttocks, thighs, triceps, chest and lower back during a series of 21 exercises.
Traveling Trainer: Resistance tubes work on strength, balance and energy.
Say your hotel does not offer an in-room fitness package, and its exercise room is less than inviting. What's an endorphin-starved traveler to do? Reach for her iPod, and download another routine from iamplify.com. Here, the choices are many and include: "The Road Warrior's Workout,""Portable Pilates" and "Cardio Hotel Room Workout," all for $4.95 each.
If your laptop travels with you, bring an exercise DVD or two. Leah Garcia's "Hotel Room Workout" combines cardio, Pilates and strength training routines on two discs.
And just say no to your hotel check-in clerk when she offers the mini-bar key. You'll not only save money, you'll save your diet. Mini-bar snack choices can be far from healthy.
Finally, your hotel room chair can be a great source of exercise inspiration. Think of all the tricep dips you can do, not to mention lunges and squats.
Your body will thank you.
e-mail: jkwiatkowski@buffnews.com
Originally published by NEWS STAFF REPORTER.
(c) 2008 Buffalo News. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
Source: Buffalo News
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