A Working Man’s Guide to Staying Healthy on the Road

Dylan Reddinger
Sep 5, 2018 · 7 min read
A photo I took flying out of San Jose, CA on my Samsung Galaxy Note8

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor or health professional and everything I say here are merely suggestions based on what I’ve found to work best for me…

Introduction

As the summer comes to a close and my Outlook calendar slowly begins to fill, I realize that I’m in for a lot of sitting for Q4 of 2018. Sitting at my desk, sitting on a plane, sitting at conference booths, sitting in ride shares, and sitting in meetings. Combined with a continuous traveling between time zones and bottomless continental breakfasts, I’ll be lucky to reach 2019 without stepping into a new pant size.

Fortunately in today’s world there’s no shortage of information around fitness, sleep, and diet that you have access to at the click of a button. If you’re anything like me you also have a catalog of podcasts queued up at any moment to work on “optimizing your life”. However, I realize that some people don’t have the time to listen to 500 hours of Tim Ferris and Joe Rogan interviews to cherry pick up a handful of tips and tricks to apply to their own lives. Luckily for you I’ve taken the first half of this year to do just that and have created the guide below to keep you healthy while out on the road.

Fitness Equipment

If you’re living out of a bag the last thing that you want is to add a collection of dumbbells to that carry on you’re wheeling across the airport every other week. In fact for the safety of everyone around you while you’re dragging it out of the overhead bins post-flight, I’ll ask that you don’t. There are plenty of tools out on the market these days that will both give you a better workout and keep your bag under that 50lb weight limit.

TRX Training GO Suspension Trainer Kit

There’s one piece of equipment I’d recommend over everything else on this list, and it would be the TRX Training GO Suspension Training Kit. Step into any gym around the US and chances are you’ll see a version of these hanging from pull up bars and random pipes jutting out from the ceiling. That’s because with one of these you’re able to get a full-body workout without anything other than your own body weight.

This is the lightest and most compact version which folds into a mesh bag no bigger than a small dinner plate. Even more you’re able stuff all of the other gear mentioned here in it to save space while packing. You can find workout routines for suspension systems across the web, but here are a few to get you started:

Yoga Strap

Step off of a non-stop flight from Seattle to Atlanta and you’ll be feeling like the Tin Man before Dorothy came along with an oil can. The best way to combat this stiffness is to pack a yoga strap in your bag to limber up after a long flight. It helps you get those deep stretches you normally wouldn’t get while just trying to touch your toes alone, especially if you’re a little out of practice. Here’s a list of stretches you can do once you reach your hotel:

Jump Rope

When you’re working with limited space and limited time a good jump rope will wear you out faster than you’d like to admit. Sure as a kid you were able to spend hours jumping rope with friends while making up rhymes and games, but 10 minutes with a jump rope as an adult and I bet you’ll be lucky to get through a haiku without running out of breath.

Swimming Goggles

If you have the ability to power through the chemicals and urine of a hotel pool you can get a full body workout in every morning. Put in 20 minutes of swimming before you leave for your first meeting and chances are you’ll be the only one there with enough energy to make it to lunch without a sleep nod.

Diet

Eating right and on a steady schedule tends to seem near impossible when you’re a mile high at any given day of the week. On top of that the options at the airport or quick stops in between meetings rarely include an organic salad and grass-fed steak. There are a few things you can do to ensure that you don’t pack on the lbs and maybe even lose a few in the process.

Vitamins

It’s recommended that you get all of your vitamins and minerals through a healthy and well-balanced diet. Unfortunately I’ve never seen the food necessary to do that between the Belgian waffle maker and cold cereal dispensers in a hotel lobby. A great way to combat this is by supplementing your diet with daily vitamin packs. Pack one for every day that you’re on the road and you’ll be in great shape to stay in great shape for years to come. Here are some options to choose from:

Reusable Water Bottle

Having a reusable water bottle on hand is a great way to keep hydrated while traveling. Airports nowadays have fill-up stations near every bathroom and will keep you from buying a plastic bottle at every stop. I usually fill my Yeti with ice before I leave and fill up with water every chance I get.

Healthy Snacks

To keep me from reaching for the complimentary trail mix and cookies on every flight I make a point to pack two things that keep me full and satisfied:

Keep a few of these in your carry-on, and when the flight attendant asks if you need anything you can grab a water and sink back into your chair without having to clean the orange “cheese” dust off of your fingertips.

Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting is a great way to help manage your circadian rhythm (explained below). An easy way to think of it is as a controlled period during the day in which you eat, and don’t eat. For example, some people only eat within a 10 hour window which means that the other 14 hours of they day are spent drinking water and longingly staring down the food on other people’s’ plates. If you can adjust your eating schedule to the time zone you’re heading to, it will help prevent jet lag and keep you feeling normal.

Here’s a popular guide to getting started with intermittent fasting: https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/a-beginners-guide-to-intermittent-fasting/.

Sleep

Your circadian rhythm could be best understood as your biological clock that slowly tunes in and out with the mornings and evenings. It can control everything from when you wake up, when you go to bed, when you feel hungry, or even when it releases important hormones. As you can imagine a 3 hour shift in either direction can really put your body in distress. Here are a few things you can do to help your body adjust and combat the dreaded jet lag.

Sleeping Mask and Ear Plugs

Truly, these should be a given. If the guy with the window seat doesn’t keep you up with his constant staring at the clouds, then the child a few rows down that can’t clear its ears at altitude will. Keep these on hand whether you’re on the plane or at a hotel and you’ll sleep like a baby (even if the babies around you won’t).

Avoid Drinking Coffee on Planes and in Airports

Drinking coffee whenever you reach a new destination or on your way to one is a bad habit that some travelers fall into. The fact is that when you drink coffee too late in the afternoon or regularly throughout the day, you often end up burning the late night oil regardless of if you wanted to. Keeping that caffeine spike to the mornings will ensure that your head pops off the pillow in the morning with a full 8 hours of sleep under your belt.

Don’t Sleep on Your Daytime Flights

Unless you have a late or overnight flight, there’s no real need for you to sleep on an airplane. Use that time to write that SOW you’ve been putting off, read a few articles, or watch “ Paddington 2” for the fifth time on the 6” screen in front of you. Just like intermittent fasting, you should adjust your sleep schedule to fit the time zone that you’re you’re traveling to.

Best Practices

  • Get the aisle seat on planes so that you can stand up and walk the length of the plane every half hour without disrupting those sitting next to you
  • Use f.lux and the blue light filter on your phone and computer to help with eye strain and falling asleep at night
  • Pull over every half hour while driving to take 5 minutes to stretch and walk around
Dylan Reddinger

Written by

Find me in the office, in the mountains, or on a plane headed somewhere remote. IG:@dylanreddinger

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