Easy 20-Minute Hotel Workout

Whether you are traveling for a conference or for a family get-together, your workouts should not take a back seat.  Traveling can be a stressful and tiresome endeavor, but exercise can help relieve this stress and help maintain your energy levels.  Exercise is known to lower blood pressure and stress levels while improving cholesterol levels, body fat values, and cardiac output.  Knowing this, why would one stop working out due to travels?  Listed in this article are exercises that can be mixed together to create an effective and complete workout when traveling.  No equipment is needed except your body weight so this should not be an issue regardless of your room’s dimensions.

1. Jumping Jacks: These are great for warming the entire body and are great for elevating the heart rate and preparing the body for exercise. Perform two sets of 60 seconds with one minute of rest in between sets.  (3 minutes)
2. Air Squats. Working the lower body is pretty cut and dry when no equipment is available.  In your hotel room, the air squat (also known as the body weight squat) is effective at shaping and toning the entire lower body.  Perform two sets of as many as possible in 60 seconds with 60 seconds of rest between sets.  (3 minutes)
3. Push-ups. The push-up is one of my favorite hotel exercises because of the efficiency with each rep.  When performed properly, the push-up works the chest, biceps, triceps, trapezius, rhomboids, latissimus dorsi, abdominals, deltoids, and to a lesser extent of the quads, hamstrings, and calf muscles.  Simply put, the push-up is the one exercise you ought to do when in your hotel and when you hit the gym back home.  Perform two sets of as many as possible in one minute and rest for 60 seconds between sets.  (3 minutes)
4. Mountain Climbers: This total body exercise is perfect for strengthening the core while working the upper body.  Perform two sets of 30 seconds with one minute of rest in between sets.  (2 minutes)
5. Lunges. Performing a lunge is a great way to strengthen the quads and hamstrings and is great for increasing muscular endurance in runners.  It can be performed in any hotel room, which is why it is a perfect hotel exercise to perform.  Perform as many as you can in one minute on one leg and switch legs.  Complete a second set, trying to complete as many as possible in each leg in one minute.  (4 minutes)
6. Crunches. The crunch is one of the simplest and best exercises for the core one can perform regularly, especially in a hotel room.  Do as many as possible in a full minute for two complete sets, rest 60 seconds between sets.  (3 minutes)
7. Hip Bridges. Hip bridges are the compliment to the standard crunch.  They are effective at working the core, especially the glutes and hamstring muscles.  Perform a standard hip bridge while lying flat on a firm surface with the arms to the side.  Lift the hips to the ceiling and hold for a second or two.  Complete as many as possible in 30 seconds and rest for 60 seconds before starting the next set.  (2 minutes)

Staying with your workout routine should not take a backseat during travel.  Completing a quick, effective workout which lasts only 20 minutes can help keep the body engaged in exercise and will help regulate stress in a healthy and efficient way.  Regardless of where you may be traveling, exercise can be completed without equipment or machines and hotel workouts such as the one listed above can help keep you on you on your routine.