3 Easy Ways to Get or Stay in Shape When Travelling

It doesn’t matter if it’s a well deserved holiday break, touching down in a new city for work or becoming a digital nomad and working remotely, you’ll be hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t love travelling and exploring new places.
However, there’s no shortage of people who hate the backward slide that inevitably hits your fitness. That feeling of taking 2 steps forwards only to take 3 backwards every time you travel is common for many.
No one wants to work so hard to get in shape only to return home feeling fat, bloated and weak. To hit that first workout and then ache for what feels like a week or longer…
So how do you avoid this? How do you actually stay or even get in shape when travelling?
Below are 3 foolproof tactics you can use whether you’re away for 5 days or 5 months.
Perform Body Weight Workouts
Chances are you won’t have access to a gym or at least not a very well equipped one, so don’t rely on this.
Don’t expect to be able to do your usual routine either, so abandon this thought and instead use your own body to perform 3 whole body workouts a week.
Why you ask?
Well, first and foremost because you will be where ever you go, so you’ll always be able to do a workout.
You only need a small space to be able to do press ups, squats, burpees and a whole host of other exercises.
It’s equipment free, which means you don’t need to worry about carry bits of kit with you or venturing out to find the nearest gym and dealing with all the hassles that brings.
Training 3 times a week is enough to challenge you and provide real progress for those travelling for longer periods and for those only away for a week or so it’s enough to maintain your current fitness levels.
It’s also infrequent enough that you won’t feel like it’s taking over your holiday time, because let’s be honest this is a real concern for a lot of people.
As for how you set your workouts up, that’s up to you but there are lots of options. You could:
- Do circuits for AMRAP (as many reps as possible)
- Do circuits for a set number of rounds
- Work with more advanced exercise variations for a rep goal
- Use a push, pull, legs split with a workout on Monday, Wednesday & Friday
- Use 2 workouts (upper and lower) on an alternating basis A,B,A then B,A,B on non-consecutive days
The important thing is to do something and not nothing.
My recommendations:
- Continue to apply progressive overload whether you’re striving for more reps, more rounds, less rest or more difficult variations
- Take a days rest in between workouts
- Try and workout in the morning, that way it’s done and you don’t have to worry about it
- Choose something that closely mimics your current routine, it will make easier to adhere to
Eat Mindfully
Let’s be honest counting calories, defining your macros and doing meal prep just isn’t going to happen when you’re on holiday, travelling for work or living as a nomad and working remotely.
Nobody has time for that.
Not to mention when you’re eating out a lot, shopping in remote places or eating foods you don’t normally eat it can be near impossible to find out the calorie amount even if you wanted to.
However, this doesn’t mean you can’t stick to your goals.
The solution is simple. Be mindful of what you’re putting in your mouth.
If all you do is knock by sugary cocktails and eat fast food everyday then no amount of exercise will save you. However, if you eat well the majority of the time with a couple of drinks and a serving of ice cream here and there you’ll be fine.
Note: If the whole purpose of your holiday is to let loose and drink/eat as much as you can then you WILL put on weight, there will be no escaping it. I would also suggest this behaviour is indicative of your current diet being too restrictive.
Use the same principles you do when at home with 70–80% of your diet coming from for lack of a better word “good” foods and the remaining 20–30% coming from high calorie foods.
Stay Active
The more active you are, the more calories you burn, the more you can eat without gaining weight.
It’s so simple…you don’t have to be an adrenaline junky or sports enthusiast.
It’s not ground breaking or ‘out there’ it’s a simple solution to avoiding weight gain when travelling, as easy as exploring your new surroundings by foot or bike.
Think about this…
I’m a little over 160 lbs at the moment and walking for 1 hour at normal pace (I walk a little faster than most but nothing crazy) I burn 300–400kcals as measured by my Fitbit Blaze.
So if you’re walking for several hours a day, taking in the sights, soaking up the atmosphere and stopping along the way for photos or food and drink the calories will quickly stack up.
Not to mention because you’re somewhere new and exciting it won’t feel like exercise.
Win, win!
Other holiday exercise ideas include:
- Renting a bike
- Swimming in the sea, river, pool or other body of water
- Hiking trails and going off the beaten track
- Climbing mountains
- Going for run on the beach or in the woods
Summing Up
Travelling doesn’t have to spell the end of your fitness journey. There’s no reason why you can’t return home just as fit or fitter then when you left.
Make it easy for yourself by using the 3 easy strategies laid out in this post and stop taking 3 steps backwards every time you go away.
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