Liberate yourself from the gym!

Today’s “staying alive” is about liberating yourself from the gym. Why, you ask?

Needing a gym for your workout gives you too many excuses for not working out at all.

I mean, let’s face it. We all prefer to stay at really fancy hotels with great gyms (why not a full spa!), and of course also prefer heading to that fancy hotel while still awake and that gym is still open. But reality often speaks a different language. The hotel might be nice, but it has no gym, or one that would rather not enter. Or it is full of sweaty old men… and even if there is a gym, chances are that it is closed once you return from the client site.

Introducing: The gym-liberation-set.

First. The mindset.
It starts in your head first. Don’t worry, in a minute I’ll tell you what you can do in terms of exercise and what equipment you might like to take with you – but we gotta take care of the attitude first. So let me make this clear. Sports-is-not-an-option. It is a necessity. Without regular exercise, you will end up out of shape (fat?), you will lose well needed energy, you will feel bad and you will look bad. It just comes with the demands of the job: At the desk all day, high stress level and a bad mix of fast food (before milestones) and very good food (after  reaching milestones).
Don’t make sports optional. Build it into your week. Twice, at least. Half an hour, at least. Good boy.

Second. Exercises.
You don’t need a personal fitness trainer to get good info on workouts that you can do with minimal or no equipment – the internet gives you an abundance of places to look:

• Hotel room workout tips from Work&Travel Magazine
• Hotel room workout from Times Online
• On the road? Don’t skip workout from CNN health
• A plan for the road from BodyBuilding.com
• The already mentioned hotel room workout video from cbathletics

Third. Equipment.
I said this was about liberating yourself from the gym, and now I talk about equipment? Right. You do not need anything except your own body (and willpower) for most of the exercises described here. But to expand your possibilities, you might want to take some things on your shopping list.

• Running shoes.
  Of course, your sneakers take you around the corner well, but if you pick up the good habit and get running (especially good when you get on a project on the countryside!), treat yourself for some good running shoes. Go to a specialized store. Don’t look at brands or design, it is about function only in that case.
• The Reebok Travel Gym.
  No, this is no product placement. I just happen to have gotten that as a birthday present from my loved one last Monday. It contains wrist weights, a skipping rope, a resistance band and a pair of hand grips – all in a little case that fits easily in your luggage. Can be obtained at various places, for example at Amazon - and I think it is great. With the pack you get a little leaflet that gives you many exercise options, which perfectly complement and/or enhance the exercises you can do in your hotel room without any equipment already.

There you have it. Now go, do something for yourself!

And once you tried out your new habit – come back here and share your experiences in the comments!