The Traveling Man

Sticking to your workout is hard enough when you''re close to home. But when you throw in an out-of-town conference here, a weekend excursion there, a regular exercise routine becomes even tougher to sustain.

If travel is a regular part of your job, you have some inkling of what we''re talking about. When you travel to another city, you''re in unfamiliar territory and often an unfamiliar time zone. Fatigue takes its toll on your plans for an evening run; daylong meetings quash your opportunity for a morning workout.

"If you''re trying to stay fit, travel''s tough on you," says Sandra Fisher, exercise physiologist and owner of New York City''s Fitness by Fisher, an exercise consulting firm. Fisher works closely with corporations whose employees travel a great deal and devotes much of her practice to helping busy executives exercise on the road. "It''s not just the issue of making time for exercise while you''re traveling. Just as big a question is: Where can I go to exercise?"

Taking Your Workout on the Road

Fisher calls them the twin demons of travel fitness—finding time to work out, and finding a place to work out once you do find the time. But you can exorcise these demons once and for all with a little ingenuity. And we''re not just talking about calling ahead to make sure your hotel has an exercise facility (although that''s a great idea). One of the factors that made man the dominant species on the planet was our ability to adapt to changing surroundings, improvise with the materials at hand and overcome the obstacles to our survival.

And so it is when you''re on the road and there isn''t a barbell around for miles. Now, the point isn''t to try to duplicate your at-home workouts. The idea is to do enough substitute exercise so that when you can resume your regular exercise routine, you won''t have lost any ground on your physical fitness. If you want to ensure the survival of your fitness in those situations, try these expert tips.

Pack for a workout. The easiest way to miss out on exercise is by conveniently forgetting to pack appropriate exercise clothes. "I''d make it a habit to always keep workout clothes in one of your suitcase pouches," says Fisher. "If they''re always in that pouch, you''ll never have the excuse that you forgot your clothes." Wrap the clothes in a plastic bag, though—you wouldn''t want your suit smelling like sweat socks.

Ask at the front desk. If your hotel has a weight room and a couple of stair-climbers, or a pool where you can do a few laps before bedtime, then you''re set. But even hotels that don''t sport these healthful facilities do have at least one useful exercise resource—the concierge.

"It never hurts to ask at the front desk where you can go for a workout," says Fisher. At the very least, a concierge can direct you to the local YMCA or the nearest squash court. And if you are an outdoor exerciser, the front desk can certainly tell you the safest places to do your exercise—an important consideration in a strange and unfamiliar city.

Walk when you can. One problem with traveling is the fact that we become overly reliant on vehicles to move us from place to place—the company car, the red-eye flight, the express train or bus. "It''s easy to forget you have your own two feet to help you move around," says Charles Kuntzleman, Ed.D., adjunct associate professor of kinesiology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

So walk when it''s practical. Take the stairs instead of the hotel elevator. Walk around the terminal while you''re waiting for your connecting flight. Stop the car every two hours and saunter around the rest area. If you''re taking a cab back to the hotel after your meetings are finished, have the cabbie stop about five minutes before you get there, and just hoof it the rest of the way. "Slip in a few minutes of walking here and there. If you tally it up at the end of the day, you might be surprised to discover you got 20 or 30 minutes of exercise," says Dr. Kuntzleman.

Seek out a partner. It may help to remember there are others of your kind—traveling men who would like to stick to their workout. "At conventions, I encourage people to check out the message boards you always see in the lobby. Lots of times, I''ve seen messages announcing a morning fitness walk, or that someone was looking for a running or exercise partner," says Fisher. And if you don''t see any messages, post your own. If you''ve made arrangements to meet someone to work out with, you''ll be more likely to exercise than if you tried to go by yourself, says Fisher. "Plus, it''s a novel way to network and make new contacts," she adds.

Visit the local clubs. If you belong to a fitness club at home, remember that membership may have its privileges, even when you''re out of town. "A lot of health clubs have business relationships with clubs in other cities," says Fisher. Ask your club for more details; usually they can give you a list of affiliates where you can work out for a nominal "drop-in" fee or even at no extra cost. "Ask at your hotel, too," says Fisher. "Many of them have deals with local fitness clubs so that guests can exercise."

Make an appointment. At home, exercise is simply part of your routine—something you do at a set time everyday. When you''re on the road, you don''t have a routine, you have an itinerary. "You''re on a travel schedule, so the routine goes out the window. It''s easy to forget exercise. That''s why I''d suggest actually scheduling exercise time. Put it in your daybook like any other meeting," recommends Dr. Kuntzleman. By actually building exercise time into your schedule, you''re more likely to find time for it.

Exercising in Exile

Even when there''s no weight room at the inn, and no fitness club where you can drop in, you can still get together a halfway-decent weight-training regimen. "Of course, you can always do exercises where you''re using your own body weight as resistance," says Dr. Kuntzleman. "But over and above that, you can use items in your hotel room to help you do a makeshift workout."

But before you begin, a note of caution. Some of the exercises suggested here call for using furniture or hotel-room accessories that weren''t designed for exercise. If we suggest using a bed, make certain the mattress is firm. If you''re using a chair or luggage rack to do an exercise, test them, shake them, do what you need to do to ensure that they''re stable and sturdy enough to support your weight. If they''re not—or you''re not comfortable using them—then skip the exercise.

"There''s nothing wrong with being inventive and trying to develop a workout using materials close at hand. But it''s important that you use common sense and be safe about it," says Dr. Kuntzleman. With that in mind, try these.

Hotel-Room Push-Ups

Like the standard push-up, this exercise works your upper and outer pectorals. For this exercise, you''ll need two beds side by side. If the beds are so far apart that you can''t position your hands properly, then use two sturdy chairs.

Stand between the beds and get yourself in standard push-up mode—legs extended behind you, toes touching the floor. Place a hand flat on either bed, fingers pointing straight ahead—your hands should be about shoulder-width or slightly wider apart. Your arms should be extended so your upper body is elevated slightly above the level of the bed.

Now slowly lower yourself down toward the floor. Keep your back and legs straight and bend your arms; your elbows should be close to your sides. Lower yourself so your chest is in line with the beds. Pause, then raise back up.

Reverse-Grip Dips

This dip works your lower pecs and triceps. Start by standing between the beds or two chairs.

This time, your legs will be straight out in front of you, toes pointing up, heels touching the floor. Place a hand on each mattress and extend your arms so you''re holding your butt off the ground. Your fingers point straight ahead, parallel to the sides of the bed.

Now slowly bend at your elbows and lower your butt toward the floor—but don''t let it touch. Pause just above the floor, then raise yourself back up to the starting position.

Note: If the mattresses aren''t firm enough, slide your hands under the mattresses and support yourself on the box springs.

Luggage Rack Shoulder Raises

For this exercise, which works the top and back shoulder muscles, you''ll need one of those fold-out luggage stands (check the closet), which will act in place of a weight bench.

Note: Test the rack to make sure it doesn''t wobble and that it will support your weight. If you don''t think the luggage rack is sturdy or large enough to support you, do these luggage rack exercises on the bed, working one arm at a time. If you haven''t brought a set of light weights with you, use a couple of heavy books, like the telephone directory or the Bible in the nightstand.

Kneel facing the luggage rack, using it to support your upper body. Let your arms dangle off either side of the stand. Hold a weight in each hand, palms facing inward. Your arms should be fully extended. If your arms are long enough to touch the floor, raise them slightly so they''re no longer touching the floor.

Now raise the weights in a semicircular motion, keeping your arms as straight as possible without locking your elbows. Raise your arms to shoulder height, then lower and repeat.

Luggage Rack Flies

You''ll need the luggage stand and a chair for this pectoral exercise. If the stand is not sturdy enough, do this on the bed, working one arm at a time.

Push a chair up to one end of the luggage rack. This time lie on your back on the luggage rack, with your knees bent so your feet are touching the floor. Support your head on the chair. Extend your arms up so you''re holding the weights above your chest. You should be holding the weights so your palms are facing each other.

Keeping your arms as straight as possible (it''s okay if they bend a little), lower the weights in a semicircular motion out to either side of your chest. Lower until the weights are even with your chest, but back slightly so they''re in line with your ears. Pause, then raise the weights back up. Repeat.

Behind-the-Wheel Shoulder Shrugs

Try this exercise the next time you''re caught in traffic—it not only reduces stress but it also works the trapezius muscles of your shoulders.

Hold the steering wheel with your left hand on the nine o''clock position, right hand on the three o''clock. Try to keep your arms as straight as possible.

Now raise your shoulders. When they''ve reached the highest point, rotate them forward, then roll them back to the top and toward your back. Lower and repeat.

Push-Ups

There are darn few hotel rooms too small for you to stretch out on the floor and do some push-ups. "That''s the great thing about push-ups—you can do them anywhere. And you can modify them to work different parts of your arms and upper body," says Dr. Kuntzleman. Just squeak in a quick 10 or 20 before you jump in the shower every morning. You''ll get your engine revving, you''ll be ready to start the day and you''ll have had a little exercise to boot. If you can''t do regular push-ups, Dr. Kuntzleman suggests doing bent-knee push-ups or inclined push-ups.

Crunches

Same deal. You have the time, so do them slowly and carefully. Mix up your abs exercises to get a complete workout. That means reverse crunches, oblique crunches, cross-over crunches, raised leg crunches, frog crunches and so on.

Jump Rope

When you''re packing your workout clothes, make sure you slip a jump rope into that plastic bag. "It''s the perfect exercise equipment for traveling," enthuses Dr. Kuntzleman. "You can slip it in your briefcase, and you don''t need a lot of space to get a great workout, just jump rope for 20 or so minutes." Hint: Do be mindful of your fellow travelers, especially the ones trying to sleep in the room below you—they might not appreciate the rhythmic pounding overhead.

Stretches

Stuck in a hotel room for an hour with nothing to do and no one to do it with? Do a slow, relaxed, whole-body stretching routine. We assume that since you work out, you know the basic stretches. But this time, instead of hurrying through them to get to the rest of the workout, make the stretches the entire workout. Take a few minutes to give each muscle group a slow, careful stretch. Just don''t overextend—your body may not be used to the pressure. A well-done 30-minute stretching program can give you a far better workout and relaxation response than you might realize.