We can all probably agree that travelling is one way to keep the soul alive! Exploring different cultures, taking a break from our inbox, eating amazing food, escaping the weather and taking some time out to completely relax is truly medicine. However one of the potential cons of travelling is that it can often interfere with all the healthy habits we cultivate and maintain while we are in our routines at home. While travelling, our sleeping pattern is often out of whack, we often drink more alcohol, and do a whole lot of eating with no exercise in between, causing us to feel sluggish, lethargic, and come home with a bit of extra baggage. And no – we’re not just talking about the suitcase!
Our tendency to completely tap out of exercise and healthy eating while on holidays because, “Hey – we’re on holidays!” is always pleasurable at the time, but returning home from the trip is like taking five giant steps backward on our health. While relaxation is paramount for a successful trip, this doesn’t mean that we have to completely abandon all of our healthy choices and exercise routines!
At Kaya, we understand that while you’re traveling, the LAST thing you want to be thinking about is being cooped up in a gym somewhere, when you should be out exploring your new surroundings. So we have compiled a list of the best travel-friendly workouts that you can do anywhere you are! You don’t need any equipment, except for a yoga mat, so you can perform these moves anywhere your travels take you—a hotel room, the corner of an airport terminal, or even at a highway rest stop. And the best part is – you will return home feeling even more alive and invigorated, with all your health in check!
YOGA:
While travelling is enjoyable most of the time, it’s safe to say that there are some parts that we don’t particularly enjoy. Feeling super cramped and uncomfortably sandwiched between strangers on long plane rides, sitting for hours on a train, time zone changes, sleeping in new places and not to mention dragging a heavy suitcase around, it’s all enough to cause muscle tension, fatigue and stiffness in your body. That’s where yoga Prahran can help.
Finding time to centre ourselves and practice yoga Prahran from wherever we are everyday will not only calm us down and stretch out any body stiffness, but it will enhance our travel experience, allowing us to recharge and create more meaningful memories. Yoga Prahran is renowned to relax us, and when we are relaxed, we are able to experience each travel moment more fully. Benefits: Opens your chest, shoulders, back, and hamstrings. Perfect for: Relieving lower back pain after hours spent sitting in an uncomfy plane, bus, or train seat.
Here are some of the best yoga Prahran poses for travelling:
Half Dog (Ardha Adho Makha Svanasana): Half Dog is a great pose for relieving lower back pain after hours spent sitting in an uncomfortable plane, bus, or train seats. It opens your chest, shoulders, back, and hamstrings, allowing you to have a deep torso stretch.
Chair Pose (Utkatasana): While chair pose is definitely a pose that burns the quads, it’s a great Yoga Prahran pose to do while travelling as it strengthens you shins, legs, glutes, core and arms, improving your overall strength for all the stairs you might be walking and suitcases you might be carrying! Chair pose also invigorates the parts of your body which don’t get enough blood flow when you’re strapped into a seatbelt for an extended period of time.
Cat and cow: We all know how stiff our spine can get on those long hauls. Cat and cow is the perfect way to stretch out your spine and relieve any tightness in your back.
Warrior II: After being sandwiched between two strangers, Warrior II is a great way to find freedom in your body again. It opens inner thighs, strengthens quads and calves, and improves ankle and core stability, whilst awakening the slow-twitch fibres in the torso.
PILATES:
While we often wish that we could carry around a reformer machine with us while we travel, mat pilates classes is such a great method of exercise because it’s easy to do on the go and the optional pieces of equipment it may require are super portable.
For those of you that like to travel really lightly, just bring your mat, and focus on doing poses that use the natural body weight for resistance. If you don’t have a mat you can always throw a hotel towel down on the floor to serve as a makeshift mat, which also works well.
You can also pack a magic circle and/or resistance band, which only add an infinitesimal amount of weight to your luggage and hardly takes up any space. Packing these won’t only add extra challenge to your workout while you practice, but also raises the commitment factor, as making the effort to pack them will most likely encourage you to make the effort to actually use them!
HIIT:
High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is a proven method for blasting body fat quick, strengthening and toning the body and improving your cardiovascular endurance. The best part is – it can be done without equipment. With HIIT workouts, you can expect to burn 8-12 calories per minute, which is a perfect way to burn off all of that vacation food and room service!
Some of the best HIIT movements to do while travelling include mountain climbers, burpees, body-weight squats, jumping jacks, push ups, sit ups, leg raises, oblique crunches (each side), bicycle crunches, alternating lunges, inchworms and plank!
If you have stairs nearby you might want to add in some step ups, and you can always get creative and use water bottles for hand weights!
The best tips for your travel workouts:
At Kaya, the best tips we can give you for keeping fit while travelling is to put in the effort, don’t get too fancy with moves (basics work best), alternate your workouts and make sure you are getting enough rest in between.
For those of you that want to stay fit on vacation but don’t want to feel like you’re working out, opt for fun vacation activities such as surfing, walking tours, bike riding and swimming!
The benefits of keeping an exercise regime while on holiday are endless and your body and mind will thank you for it! There are so many workouts you can do whilst on the road that will complement your travel lifestyle, provide an opportunity to connect with your body, stretch out any pain cabin stagnancy and keep you strong and flexible, allowing you to enjoy your holiday even more!
