Just Exercise on the Road

“But you’re my only friend who doesn’t like to exercise”…Franny, Friends with Money

Being in the car for a long time is a killer. You get out to walk around after a few hours, and you feel as if your legs have turned to mush. On our trip, we tried to stop every few hours to do a short routine to get our blood flowing. Here is one of the variations we did.

Hill Sprints –At rest stops we found some hills and took turns doing sprints. We would run up and do a bear crawl down. For those not familiar, a bear crawl is just how you would imagine it to look. You get down on all fours and crawl like a bear. The other person would do jumping jacks while waiting.

Planks and Sit-up Variations – These are both great exercises that work your abs and core with no equipment needed. 

Kettle Bells and Mobile Equipment – I am lucky that I have a cute trainer boyfriend who has introduced me to these items. I had never heard of Kettle Bells before and they would have totally intimidated me. I have actually seen KB’s at Target, but he orders his through a serious company called Dragon Door http://www.dragondoor.com/shop-by-department/kettlebells/

Totally intimidating name, right? They’re really not. I’ll explain more about Kettle Bells later, but they are awesome and work your full body! Check me out in action:

Stretching - Last but certainly not least, stretch as much as you can. Your body gets tired from sitting all day whether at work or in a car. Stretch your legs, hamstrings, etc. as much as you can when you’re at a rest stop. My favorite is the downward dog:

Most importantly, do not be too hard on yourself. It’s tough to do it all. We tried to eat the best we could and manage to fit in some work outs but there were days when it just didn’t happen. We would get to our hotel late, and I wouldn’t have the energy to think of exercise. I was in a rush so I grabbed a protein bar at a local stop, and it turned out to have tons of chemicals in it. Word to the wise – always read your labels! So there were just days that we felt better than others. However, all our efforts paid off because following these simple principals made it easier to bounce back once my plane landed in NJ.