The Right Way to Break a Sweat on a Business Trip (And A Few Things That Won’t Help)
Back when I stayed home with my kids (not even a year ago!), I used to be secretly jealous of my husband’s work travel. The idea of flying somewhere by myself and staying in a hotel by myself (see a theme here?) seemed like a vacation from taking care of two tiny people. I knew that these trips are exhausting and lots of hours of work, but it still seemed pretty enticing when I was eating leftover macaroni and cheese at 8 p.m. after the kids went to bed.
Now that I’m back working full time at a job that I really enjoy, I do take the occasional business trip. I quickly figured out that one part of travel is really hard: finding time to work out! Don’t worry, I have a list of handy tips for you.
1. Find the gym. Yes, this sounds like the opening page to the Idiots Guide to Fitness, but it honestly makes a big difference. I swear that hotels like to hide their fitness centers (4th floor, 11th floor, who even knows?) and if you are trying to fit in a workout before your workday, you won’t have time to explore the hotel.
2. Have a plan. As part of Step 1, once you find the gym, look around and decide what you’re going to do workout-wise. When you’re on a tight schedule, you need to have a concrete plan. It doesn’t have to be elaborate or Pinterest-worthy; it just needs to be actionable and fit your time constraints.
3. Be territorial. In my home gym, I will do circuits with weight training and cardio (treadmill), but in a crowded hotel fitness center, you might not have that option. Pro tip: Get to the fitness center 5 to 10 minutes before the top of the hour because then you can claim your machine before the rest of the slackers show up.
4. Always look for a time to run. I never work out at night at home because it cuts into my time to see my husband, but since he’s not with me on work trips, I’ve often hit the gym at night, sometimes as late as 9 p.m. It’s pretty nuts.
Those four tips on how to make it work, so I’m going to counterbalance that with some tips on what won’t help:
1. Taking the stairs (at the hotel). If you’ve read pretty much any women’s magazine ever, it will tell you to take the stairs to “slip in” fitness into your day. I can say with a small amount of authority that many hotels do not have stairs that guests can take up to their floors. Of the last three I’ve stayed in, none of them had stairs that went up to my floor. I’m probably going to die in a hotel fire and my elevator-curated blubber will make me burn faster.
2. Ordering healthy food at business dinners. No. Just no. Fuck that so hard. I’m getting the shrimp and pasta, with some wine too.
3. Pack healthy snacks. Unless you’re traveling to some remote region, is there any reason you can’t just buy what you want as you need it? I’m not a squirrel, and I don’t need to stuff my cheeks with unsalted humanely harvested almonds before taking a three-day trip. I never pack any food and I’ve yet to go hungry or find myself face down in a pile of Slim Jims and regret because I didn’t cart around blueberries in my purse.
4. Avoiding moving walkways at airports. Those things bring me such joy. Team moving walkways for life.
I’m sure if you follow all of my tips to the letter, you’re going to be so fit as you travel. You’re welcome.
Do you work out on business travel? I could really streamline my packing if I didn’t! —Kara