Tips for training while travelling

Keep Training While You Travel

Rest days are good, but you don’t have to give up on your training if you don’t want to, just because you’re going away. Whether you’re travelling for work or going on a holiday, there are ways to make sure you don’t fall behind on your training progress.

Take Your Workouts on the Road

You can still access CFFG Workouts on our app or website while you’re away and can often adapt the workout to suit wherever you happen to be. One trick I also use is when there’s a workout that I like that doesn’t use much equipment, I save it as a possible travel workout to do in the future. Here are some different options to explore:

Make the Most of the Hotel Gym

If the place you’re staying has a gym, that’s an easy option – you can substitute barbells for dumbbells if you need to. Even in small gyms, there are likely to be basics like bikes, treadmills or pull up bar that can be enough for you to adapt a workout to.

Beach and Outdoor Workouts

I prefer to use the outdoors if possible! It’s surprising how many movements you can get in at the beach or a park – remember those pandemic workouts?! For one beach workout I did while away, I used a driftwood log in place of a box for triceps dips, along with pushups and air squats on the sand – so simple but very effective, and with an ocean view.

Outdoor Movement Ideas

Inverted row: like ring rows, but you can use an outdoor walkway or stair rail to get parallel under and work those pulling muscles.

Monkey bar pull ups: these can be fun to do with kids! While not as tall as a rig, you can still use monkey bars or other cross bars at the playground to get some pullups in.

Stairs: scale your push ups using stairs, do calf raises, or run up them – so many options with a simple set of stairs!

Your basics: burpees, squats, lunges, running, sprint intervals, push ups, sit ups, plank, object carries, jumping onto something… the list goes on for movements that you can do anywhere.

Get a Custom Plan from Coach Ben

We’re very lucky to have such a knowledgeable head coach who does our programming. If you’re going to be away for awhile and have something in particular that you’d like to work on, you can ask Ben for a specific training plan that you can focus on to work on over that time period. Could be building capacity on specific movements like double unders or handstand pushups, or could be something like increasing pulling strength or improving mobility.

Drop In at a Local CrossFit Box

This is another option I love – try a drop in if you’re somewhere with CrossFit gyms around! Even better if you can get a recommendation from a local, but it’s really interesting to check out other gyms when you’re away on a trip. You can either try out their programming or ask to use their space to work on your own training plan. You’ll find a wide range of options from tiny boutique city gyms to huge industrial warehouse spaces but it’s great to see another slice of the global CF community, and it adds a whole different dimension to your travels. I’ve found my home gym away from home gym this way, and a ready-made community in different cities and even different countries - shout out to CrossFit SFS in Canberra and CrossFit 1855 in Ottawa! And you never know what kind of experience you might have – once I almost ended up partnered with Tia-Clair Toomey for a partner WOD…

Keep Your Gains on the Go

So don’t forget to pack your training gear next time you go on a trip (sometimes my gym bag is bigger than my overnight bag) and give one of these options a try to keep the gains going while you’re on the road – and let me know how it goes!

Coach May

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