Hotel Room Workouts: Exercising While You Travel

Traveling, whether it's for business or pleasure, can cut into your workout regimen in a really bad way. Along with proper dieting, your regular workout routine goes right out the window when you're on the road. The most common excuses include:

• Not having enough time in the day.
• The inconvenience of working out in an unfamiliar area.
• No access to a proper workout facility.
• Feeling too tired from excessive travel and a busier schedule than usual.
• The desire to just focus on the purpose of your trip, whether you're on business or vacation.

You can eliminate most of these excuses by following a few simple workouts that can be done from the convenient location of your own hotel room.

Upper Body Workouts

Here is a list of exercises that will focus on some of the major muscle groups in your upper body. These are simple exercises that can be done in your hotel room and do not require any sort of fitness equipment. Better yet, these workouts can be performed almost anywhere, even while you're at the office.
Push-ups: The push-up is one of the most effective and simplistic exercises out there. This well-known exercise targets the chest and triceps, while the shoulders and core get a nice workout as well.

1. Start with your outstretched body lying flat on the floor, with your hands at your shoulders and your palms flat on the floor.
2. With your feet together, parallel to each other, push your body up off the floor until your arms are straight.
3. Lower your body back down to the floor while keeping everything straight except your arms, which should bend back to the starting position.
4. Repeat the motions, and try to keep your head looking up instead of at the floor.

Chair dips: Another great workout for your chest, triceps and shoulders are chair dips. The only thing this exercise needs is a chair, which virtually every hotel room comes furnished with. If your hotel room does not include a sitting chair, you can try and use the edge of your bed as a substitute.

1. Sit on the edge of a chair. Make sure it is sturdy and can support your weight. If you don't feel safe using the chair or bed in your hotel room for this exercise, you can skip this exercise and just stick with push-ups.
2. Place your hands on the side edges of the chair, right next to your hips. Lift off the chair, using your arms and hands on the chair for support.
3. Move the rest of your body in front of the chair, slightly. Keep your knees bent and make sure your hips are positioned slightly in front of the edge of the chair.
4. Bend your elbows, allowing the rest of your body to dip towards the floor. You'll want to lower your body as far as your arms allow.
5. Once you've gone as far down as possible, push up with your hands still fixed to the edge of the chair. Return to your starting position with your hips just in front of the edge of the chair and repeat the motion.

Crunches: For many people, a sit-up is difficult to perform without the assistance of another person. Crunches, on the other hand, can be easily performed by yourself, without the need for any exercise equipment. Work a set of crunches into your hotel room workout to target your mid-section.

1. Lie flat on your back with your knees hunched towards your stomach and your feet flat on the floor. Your feet should be about a shoulder-width apart.
2. Place your hands behind your head or crossed over your chest with each hand gripping its opposite shoulder.
3. Curl forward, lifting as much of your upper body off the floor as possible. Tighten your abdominal muscles as much as you can.
4. Once you've lifted as far up as you can, lower your upper body back to the floor and repeat the motion.

Lower Body Workouts

Here are exercises that will work out the lower section of your body and can be performed in your hotel room without the need for any fitness equipment.
Bodyweight squats: Most people think squats need free weights or some other piece of resistance equipment to be effective. The truth is, squats are such an amazing exercise, they can be performed with just your own bodyweight and still be quite effective for working out practically all of the muscle groups in your lower body.

1. Start from a standing position with your feet shoulder length apart, and your toes turned outward at a slight angle.
2. Put your hands behind your head, with your elbows bent and spread outward. Alternatively, you can but your arms straight out in front of you, or directly to your sides.
3. Squat downward, bending your knees and pushing your buttocks behind you until you've lowered yourself as far as you can go.
4. Push yourself up through your heels until your legs are straight again. Repeat the motion to continue the exercise.

Calf raises: This is another lower body workout that utilizes your own bodyweight and is great for your calf muscles. You can do this in your hotel room or any other location where you have space and feel comfortable performing the exercise.

1. Stand in a relaxed position with your feet spread shoulder-width apart.
2. Lift your heels off of the ground until you're being supported by the balls of your feet. You're basically standing on the tip of your toes.
3. Hold this extended position for as long as you can, then lower yourself back to the floor. Repeat the motion as many times as you can.

A good rule of thumb is to interchange these workouts, switching from upper body to lower body each day. By using these workouts, you can exercise your entire body in your own hotel room without the need for any sort of exercise equipment. These workouts are also quick and easy, meaning you get more time to yourself while traveling.