My airline nightmare and travel workouts and healthy meals
Wait til you hear about my airline NIGHTMARE that happened this past weekend...I think we set a record for most canceled flights and mechanical problems with planes in row! I'll also share the tricks I use to try to stay in great shape while traveling, dealing with food temptations, etc.
I was at a business conference in DC this past weekend, and was trying to get back home to Colorado on sunday. I was exhausted after a long 4-day weekend of the business sessions, and also all of the night-time parties and socializing. Yes, I know... as I've mentioned before, I'm not a fitness "robot" all the time, and I do drink moderately...
Here's my previous article on how to balance alcohol into a fitness lifestyle
back to my travel nightmare...
So it turned out that our first flight on sunday early afternoon was canceled due to some sort of mechanical problem with the plane. So they switched us to a different airline and got us a flight 5 hours later that day.
Then, we got on that sunday night flight, pulled out of the gate, and all of the sudden the captain came on the speaker and said that they just found something broken on the plane, so we pulled back into the gate. We sat on the plane for an hour and they still couldn't fix the problem. So then, they told us to de-plane and we waited at the gate for another 2 hours while they were trying to fix the problem. At a certain point, they said the problem couldn't be fixed until the morning and they had to put us in hotels for the evening and fly us out at 6am the next morning.
Frustrated that we were not going to get back to our own beds, we headed for the airport hotel, only to have to wake up at the ridiculously early hour of 4am. We get back to the airport and try to check in for the 6am flight, and now this new flight is canceled too for other mechanical problems! Are you kidding me...this is turning into a nightmare.
Next, they finally figure out how to change us over to another airline yet again and get us a flight out from DC to Denver at 9am. After 3 canceled flights in a row, we finally make it to Denver, but we still need to connect to Eagle-Vail airport, and there's a snowstorm coming in the mountains.
After a 3-hour layover in Denver, we're finally ready to board for our connection to Eagle-Vail. Not so fast! Can we possibly have a 4th flight with mechanical problems?!? Right as we're about to board, they make an announcement that the plane has a flat tire and needs to be replaced. Ok, now it's getting almost comical on our bad luck. All we can do is shake our heads.
But after another 45 minute delay or so while they changed the tire, we were FINALLY on our way safely back to Eagle-Vail, just beating the snowstorm that arrived a couple hours later.
All in all, that was FOUR flights with mechanical problems on THREE different airlines, an extra hotel stay that we didn't want, total lack of sleep, and didn't get home until a day and a half after we should have.
Travel nightmare over!
So how does this relate to staying in shape while traveling? Well, as you may have seen from past newsletters, I travel frequently for work and business conferences in the fitness world... probably about 10 days per month on average. So this means I need to find time in my busy schedule while on trips to squeeze workouts in and maintain somewhat healthy eating.
I do the best I can with hotel gyms, but sometimes I do better with some high intensity bodyweight exercise routines right in the hotel room. Most of the time, I try to squeeze my workout in right before going to a group dinner... that way, the dinner is like my post-workout meal and the carbs are utilized better since I just depleted muscle glycogen with the workout.
Some of the most unique bodyweight workouts that I've been playing with lately are from a program called, The Bodyweight-Blueprint, and these are fantastic and REALLY unique! Check it out and you'll see what I mean.
Sometimes our schedule is really tight on these business trips, and a full workout might not even be possible. For example, on saturday, I was in the conference until 630pm and then had a group dinner planned at 7pm. So what I did was run back to my hotel room and knocked out 5 minutes of super high intensity bodyweight exercises with absolutely zero rest in between exercises, just choosing exercises such as jump lunges, jump squats, and plyo pushups to get the highest intensity possible since I only had 5 minutes to workout and then jump in the shower before the group dinner.
But hey, I made an effort to at least get something in. This is a fitness lifestyle and I have a rule that I can't go to a high calorie restaurant dinner without getting some sort of workout in first.
Now what about food choices at the airports, etc?
Well, I try to do my best with this, but sometimes you only have time for a fast-food place instead of a sit down meal. I never ever resort to Mickey D's or any junk fast food places like that! However, here's a blog post I did previously that shows one of the healthiest fast food choices I've found while traveling:
I'll be back soon with more Lean-Body Secrets newsletters.
Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Personal Trainer
I was at a business conference in DC this past weekend, and was trying to get back home to Colorado on sunday. I was exhausted after a long 4-day weekend of the business sessions, and also all of the night-time parties and socializing. Yes, I know... as I've mentioned before, I'm not a fitness "robot" all the time, and I do drink moderately...
Here's my previous article on how to balance alcohol into a fitness lifestyle
back to my travel nightmare...
So it turned out that our first flight on sunday early afternoon was canceled due to some sort of mechanical problem with the plane. So they switched us to a different airline and got us a flight 5 hours later that day.
Then, we got on that sunday night flight, pulled out of the gate, and all of the sudden the captain came on the speaker and said that they just found something broken on the plane, so we pulled back into the gate. We sat on the plane for an hour and they still couldn't fix the problem. So then, they told us to de-plane and we waited at the gate for another 2 hours while they were trying to fix the problem. At a certain point, they said the problem couldn't be fixed until the morning and they had to put us in hotels for the evening and fly us out at 6am the next morning.
Frustrated that we were not going to get back to our own beds, we headed for the airport hotel, only to have to wake up at the ridiculously early hour of 4am. We get back to the airport and try to check in for the 6am flight, and now this new flight is canceled too for other mechanical problems! Are you kidding me...this is turning into a nightmare.
Next, they finally figure out how to change us over to another airline yet again and get us a flight out from DC to Denver at 9am. After 3 canceled flights in a row, we finally make it to Denver, but we still need to connect to Eagle-Vail airport, and there's a snowstorm coming in the mountains.
After a 3-hour layover in Denver, we're finally ready to board for our connection to Eagle-Vail. Not so fast! Can we possibly have a 4th flight with mechanical problems?!? Right as we're about to board, they make an announcement that the plane has a flat tire and needs to be replaced. Ok, now it's getting almost comical on our bad luck. All we can do is shake our heads.
But after another 45 minute delay or so while they changed the tire, we were FINALLY on our way safely back to Eagle-Vail, just beating the snowstorm that arrived a couple hours later.
All in all, that was FOUR flights with mechanical problems on THREE different airlines, an extra hotel stay that we didn't want, total lack of sleep, and didn't get home until a day and a half after we should have.
Travel nightmare over!
So how does this relate to staying in shape while traveling? Well, as you may have seen from past newsletters, I travel frequently for work and business conferences in the fitness world... probably about 10 days per month on average. So this means I need to find time in my busy schedule while on trips to squeeze workouts in and maintain somewhat healthy eating.
I do the best I can with hotel gyms, but sometimes I do better with some high intensity bodyweight exercise routines right in the hotel room. Most of the time, I try to squeeze my workout in right before going to a group dinner... that way, the dinner is like my post-workout meal and the carbs are utilized better since I just depleted muscle glycogen with the workout.
Some of the most unique bodyweight workouts that I've been playing with lately are from a program called, The Bodyweight-Blueprint, and these are fantastic and REALLY unique! Check it out and you'll see what I mean.
Sometimes our schedule is really tight on these business trips, and a full workout might not even be possible. For example, on saturday, I was in the conference until 630pm and then had a group dinner planned at 7pm. So what I did was run back to my hotel room and knocked out 5 minutes of super high intensity bodyweight exercises with absolutely zero rest in between exercises, just choosing exercises such as jump lunges, jump squats, and plyo pushups to get the highest intensity possible since I only had 5 minutes to workout and then jump in the shower before the group dinner.
But hey, I made an effort to at least get something in. This is a fitness lifestyle and I have a rule that I can't go to a high calorie restaurant dinner without getting some sort of workout in first.
Now what about food choices at the airports, etc?
Well, I try to do my best with this, but sometimes you only have time for a fast-food place instead of a sit down meal. I never ever resort to Mickey D's or any junk fast food places like that! However, here's a blog post I did previously that shows one of the healthiest fast food choices I've found while traveling:
I'll be back soon with more Lean-Body Secrets newsletters.
Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Personal Trainer
posted by Mike Geary at
7:19 PM
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