Fitness on the Road

RunnerDude's Travel Workout Kit

One of the challenges that many of my clients face is work related travel interfering with their workout routines. Sometimes a hotel will have a great fitness center or provide access to a local gym, but more than not, there is either no fitness center or what's there is comprised of a treadmill and some dumbbells.

Several clients have asked me to create a travel workout plan that they can use on the road. Initially, I created full-body circuit workouts that contained exercises using only body weight, not knowing what, if any, equipment they'd have available to them.

Just recently, I put together a workout for a client (Marie) who is an international flight attendant. Her workout incorporated body weight exercises and some using a resistance band. When other traveling clients found out about Marie's plan, they too wanted a plan to take on the road.

My answer to this need is RunnerDude's Travel Workout Kit. The 10-exercise circuit workout hits upper-body, core, and lower-body and includes three resistance exercise bands (light, medium, heavy).The circuit design let's you get in a great workout without taking up a lot of your time. The great thing is you can just toss it in your suitcase. No need to pack awkward or heavy equipment. It's also great to keep at home when you're just not able to make it to the gym.

The Travel Workout Kit includes

• 10-Exercise Full-Body Workout (printed on a heavy-duty laminated card for long lasting durability)
• Pre and Post Workout Stretching(printed on a heavy-duty laminated card for long lasting durability)
• 3 Exercise Bands (light, medium, heavy)
• RunnerDude's ABCs of Fitness
• Information on Exercise and Aging
• All packaged in a plastic zippered pouch perfect for tossing in a suit case.

To learn more about or to order the Travel Workout Kit [click here]. While you're there, be sure to check out the Beginning Running and Fitness Walking Kits as well as the GYMBOSS interval timer (perfect for the beginning runner and/or for circuit training).

Ramp-Up Your Metabolism Workout for Runners!

Earlier this week, I posted on reasons why runners may have stagnated in their running and why they might even be seeing some weight gain. As promised in that post, below is a workout perfect for upping your metabolism, increasing your caloric burn, and increasing your lower-body strength. The extra testosterone (men) and human growth hormone (women) produced from these lower-body exercises will also help offset the cortisol release from your long slow runs which will help preserve your muscle mass and keep your metabolism going strong.

Remember that adding this workout along with a speed workout once a week (on separate days) into your running routine will help make you a lean, mean, running machine. Well, maybe not mean, but you get my drift. The lower-body workout is perfect to add to a day you're doing an easy short to mid-distance run.

If you're currently in training for a big race, I recommend holding off on adding the lower-body workout to your routine until after the race. With anything new, your body will go through a period of acclimation and you may even experience a short period of slower running as your body adapts to the workouts and speedwork. Once you do start, stick with it though and your body will recover and get stronger and faster.

Full-Body Circuit Workout for Runners

Last week, I posted a workout video clip for strengthening a runner's core. This week I have a full-body circuit workout to share with you. It's funny sometimes how timely things can be. The day I taped the workout, I received the newest issue Runner's World and right on the cover it says in big letters, "Totally Fit: 10 Ways to Improve Core Strength, Flexibility, Endurance, and More." So, I guess, I'm on the right track.

Runners have strong conditioned legs as well as strong aerobic fitness, but to help prevent injury as well as to become an overall stronger and more efficient runner, some attention to all the muscles groups is important. The tiny little stabilizer muscles in the upper and lower legs are often overlooked as well as the adductor and abductor (inner/outer thigh) muscles. When a runner stumbles, steps off a curb the wrong way, or hits a pothole in the road, those little muscles and rarely used muscles are slow to react, because much hasn't been required of them in the past. The old say, "Don't use it, you lose it." applies here. That's when injuries often pop up and usually at the most inopportune times.

Runners that don't incorporate other forms of exercise (i.e., cross-training and/or resistance training) often have an imbalance between their hamstrings and quads (quads usually being too dominant) which can lead to pulled hamstrings and even knee issues. Weak anterior tibialis muscles (the little muscle running down the front of the lower leg) can often lead to shin splints. The exercises in my full-body circuit involve several lower body unilateral movements (1-legged exercises). Unilateral exercises require those little stabilizer muscles to kick-in to help keep your balance. There's also some plyometrics to help increase leg power as well as upper-body and core exercises to help you keep a strong running form and fight off fatigue.

The circuit is designed to be used during the base-building phase (that period of time when you're building a solid base of mileage) before you begin your official fall marathon race training. The circuit is intense and should not be used during the training phase when you'll be doing more intense aerobic workouts. Used during the base-building phase, however, the circuit can get you into tip-top muscular and endurance shape prior to your training. Start out by one cycle of the circuit. Over a period of several session, try to work up to three complete cycles of the circuit.

So, give it a try and let me know what you think.