Hotel Gyms: Maximizing Your Time On The Road
When traveling for work or pleasure, it can be hard to motivate yourself to workout, particularly if there’s an early morning conference or a beach less than 100ft away.
Luckily most hotels are now equipped with at least some form of exercise room, and many are even making it a selling feature of their properties, such as EVEN Hotels. The Hyatt Regency Minneapolis boasts a 32,000 square foot facility, with many others making sure the gym isn’t an after thought.
As with any workout, usually the hardest part is getting yourself in the room. Once you’re over the mental hurdles, things start to flow and by the end you’re glad you made the effort, even if it’s just a 30-minute sweat to start or finish the day.
Below are a few workout ideas that should work in any hotels fitness room, no matter the size. Try to combine these in circuits to help maximize the space, especially if there aren’t the heavy weights you’re used to.
- Treadmill: 30 second sprints on high incline / high speed, followed by 30 seconds resting while standing on the sides
- Stationary Bike: 60 seconds of sprinting, followed by 60 seconds of slow riding to recover
- Eliptical Trainer: Avoid using the handles, focus on leg drive. 30 second sprints at a high difficulty, then lower the difficulty and recover for 30 seconds
- Plyometrics: Great for cardio as well as leg strength, especially if there are no weights available
- Standing jumps with hands behind head
- Split lunge jumps, alternating sides
- Single leg jumps, alternating sides
- Wall sits for 60 seconds
- Lateral lunge
- Pushups: 10 sets, first set do 10, next set 9, 8, all the way down to 1
- Clap pushups, focusing on explosiveness off the ground
- Side to side pushups, coming up and shifting to the left and right
- Spider man pushups – on the way down touching right elbow to right knee, alternating sides
- Dumbbells
- Walking lunges
- Single leg lunge with opposite leg raised on bench behind
- Dumbbell bench press, legs raised off the ground
- Shoulder press
- Lateral shoulder raise
- Bicep curls