Ask a Trainer: 90-degrees on vacation

Q: I’m going to be out of town quite a bit during the summer visiting family and may not be able to do my regular routine at the gym. I’ve kept a pretty good routine since making my New Year’s resolution and don’t want to lose the momentum. What are some things I can do to keep up with my workouts without having a gym on vacation? — Janet W.

A: Janet, we have a lot of people asking this question right now since so many people are vacationing during the summer. First, let me say how jealous I am that you’re going on vacation! I want to go! Take me with you! Got that out of my system. I think I’m better now. Secondly — and more seriously — there are countless low-impact exercises that you can do to keep fit and not interrupt your routine during the summer. Plus, you can get your family members involved!

Since you won’t have machines to work with and isolate the muscles we’ll start with a lower body movement that draws on all of your leg muscles and you don’t even need weights. Walking lunges are a great way to engage your entire lower body and your core. With your hands on your hips, take a large step forward allowing your leading leg to form a 90-degree angle at your knee. Your calf should be perpendicular to the ground and your quadriceps should be parallel with the floor. Your lagging leg should be almost straight, with a slight bend at your knee. Pushing up with your leading foot and bringing your lagging foot up next to the leading foot, you should come back to a standing position. In your next movement, your lagging leg will now become your leading leg and you’ll alternate legs with this movement for four sets of 10 reps of each leg. You can add weight to this if you want, by simply grabbing a gallon jug of water or two. Remember that a gallon of water weighs about 8.3 pounds.

Another great lower body workout that will engage your leg muscles and your core is the squat. Standing with your legs shoulder width apart, squat down until your knees are at a 90-degree angle. Remember to keep your shoulders back, your head up and your core engaged for proper form throughout the movement. You can do this without any weight or bring those gallons of water back into the mix.

Those gallons of water a great way to workout your biceps and chest, too! The handles on the gallons of water make them easy to do bicep curls and chest presses. Even chest flyes! With the chest press and chest flyer you’ll want to be sure that you lay on the floor. Bring your triceps down until they’re parallel with the floor and then press your arms up until the gallons are above your chest, and squeeze at the top. With chest flyes, you simply pretend that you’re giving a big bear hug! Remember to keep a slight bend in your elbows throughout the movement and, again, squeeze at the top.

If you need to lighten the weight from the water gallons, simply drink some! It’s not a perfect science, but it sure is good for you!

Working your triceps is as simple as finding a chair. Sit in the chair and slide your back side off of the chair with your hands on the front side of the chair. Walk your legs out until they are at a 90-degree angle, your back side is off the chair and your hands are on the front of the chair holding you up from sitting on the floor. Dip yourself down until your elbows are at a 90-degrees and push yourself back up until your arms are almost straight. Continue doing this for four sets of 10 reps. You can increase the difficulty by walking your legs out closer to them being straight or put your feet on another chair in front of your if you’re really feeling strong!

If you noticed, there are a lot of 90-degree angles in all of these movements. Overextending can put unnecessary pressure on your joints and lead to injury. Keep your movements controlled and deliberate for the best results and to avoid injury.

One more thing that you can do and you may want to start with this one: look for an Anytime Fitness close to where you’re travelling! The search bar at anytimefitness.com is super helpful with finding the closest club to where you’re travelling. If you’re a member with us at the Anytime Fitness in Winter Park, you’re a member with all 3,000 Anytime Fitness clubs worldwide! Your membership will get you into any of them 24 hours a day at no additional cost and you’ll be able to keep up with your regular routine.

If you have any questions about any of these movements or want us to show you some more, we offer a complimentary personal training session to anyone in the area. Just contact us via the information in my bio. And have a happy and health vacation! See you when you get back!

Patrick McGaha Jr., member experience manager at Anytime Fitness, Winter Park, is dedicated to building a welcoming environment in the club, conducive to helping members and clients reach their health fitness goals. To get your fitness and nutrition related questions answered by a certified personal trainer, or for a free personal training session, call us at 321-972-5833 or email [email protected].