Best travel workouts

I travel a lot, and I love it for all the novelty, but I like having a health routine - healthy breakfast + exercise, wherever I go.
Exercise is my number 2 priority (sleep is #1), so I always make time for it - I still like to optimize that time and make it short enough to enjoy people, work and do other things.

Everyone can give 1 hour of their day for exercise (except for a few travel days here and there) no matter what the trip is about. The only trouble for women is having to wash your hair everyday which ruins it - I am very lucky I have decent hair, but there is always redken to save the day, so do not use this as an excuse, because it IS an excuse.

Running

Running is the most obvious workout for travelers, you can do it anywhere and all you need to pack is some clothes (or many depending on how cold it is in Zurich) and running shoes (granted, they take some space when you have big feet).

But running alone only helps you sweat and feel fit, it doesn't actually help you exercise all your muscles and get toned. But it's still my favorite given the right playlist (you can always try mine if yours sucks), and apps such as Nike+ make it all the more fun and challenging.

Running itself would be enough to keep you from gaining travel weight, which is a win in itself when you love wine and manhattans as much as I do. But with running you are also dependent on weather and terrain - and trust me I am not fussy, I'm ok with english winter rain, brazilian hot thunder storms and munich snow... But when the sun is strong or the hills are steep, I usually chicken out.

Insanity 

Insanity (pronounced insaaaaaaaaaanity), as the name suggest, is insane. It's so insane... That it's perfect.

I was introduced to it by a friend who travels even more than I do and who's as obsessed as me with being fit. As he described it at the time, it's a very "cheesy" workout - the typical american exercise video, only this one is really worth looking like an ass in front of the other hotel guests. The shorter videos start at about 35min and can go up to 1h - I sweat even more than I would running because it pushes me into intensive cardio circuits of 3 min with only 30 second breaks.

You work every single muscle in your body, and you get two full stretch sessions in it (yoga style). And the best thing - you don't need anything at all, you could do this barefoot on a stretch of green in a bikini (only if you have the body for it - please make sure you keep your problems to yourself), just as long as you have your computer or a phone to watch the videos.

I initially dismissed the whole "You Can Do This!" calls from the leading fitness instructor Shaun T as ridiculous, or "not for me". But the truth is that he grows in you and you end up liking him telling you to "dig deeper" - and it actually makes you work harder at it in time. Needless to say, Shaun T talks about himself in the 3rd person the whole time... Jo likes it.

Skiing/Kiting/Kayaking/All the fun stuff

All the fun stuff is super fun, but let's be honest, it's not a real work out unless you spend hours at it. And even then... A week skiing has never made me any fitter. And kiting is the same - the more you suck at it, the better workout you get. The better you get at it, the least you sweat, and the more the apres-ski hits the hips...

There is snow kiting now - I guess if you suck at both skiing AND kiting it could be a good workout... Might not be very safe though.

So if I travel to go kiting I'll still do insanity or go for a run, or both (when  the wind is down). Skiing is more complicated because there is little time between slopes and apres-ski... And of course the fun stuff requires gear and time, so I can't rely on it during my travels.

Running X Insanity

Insanity beats running in terms of fitness, but not in terms of fun - running is still the best way to discover a new city/town/forest, AND there is no insanity marathon (or at least I hope there isn't because I would sign up for it and probably pass out). But to enroll in fun trail runs, duathlons and marathons you need to train...

Now the good news: I spent the past 3 months doing insanity most days and running very little (twice a month maybe). This week I went for two consecutive runs, and I can attest that my insanity training has made me a faster runner (proof on the left), and a much less fussy runner - I now enjoy the uphills because I have the muscles to take them. I still hate the downhills though, but I'll embrace them on a marathon or some other race.

This means insanity can be a great training method for running :-)

Two very fit ironmen friends did insanity with me and they both struggled, but enjoyed it - it IS a good work-out.

Conclusion

The best of all work-outs still is to go dancing with friends. Or with my friends at least - we know how to make the most of the dance floor and we always make sure we use all muscles so they all ache as much as our heads the next morning.

But what I did this week while the wind decided not to be my friend during a kite trip wasn't bad either - work + run + insanity.

Yes, work. Working your brain actually makes you spend more calories than you can imagine (most nobel prize winners are skinny) - embrace it. My knees hurt a bit from the mix of run + insanity, but I tried the following and both worked well:
1 - 7k run followed by an almost full insanity workout (skipping the warm-up)
2 - insanity warm-up + stretch followed by a 6k run

I unfortunately don't have time for both on a regular basis, so I will stick to insanity on a daily basis and leave the fun run for weekends or ideal weather days in ideal terrain or beautiful cities - ideally with great friends.