For the most part, traveling and fitness aren’t usually seen in the same sentence - it’s always one or the other.
Prevailing wisdom suggests that we should give up on our fitness goals while traveling because exercising on the road is difficult, impossible even.
The truth is, with the right tactics and some special tools, we can have excellent workouts on the road.
To that end, here is a list of four solid reasons why exercise bands are incredibly valuable, especially when it comes to staying fit on the road.
- Exercise Your Entire Body On The Road
Most bodyweight activities like squats, push-ups, jogging, and crunches only train a specific muscle group - for example, push-ups primarily train the chest.
So, having to rely on one or two activities to stay fit on the road isn’t exactly the best way to go about it because you can’t effectively train your entire body.
Exercise bands, on the other hand, offer the ability to train every muscle in your body, so having them with you is a great way to bang out a great full-body workout, no matter where you are.
- They Are Affordable, Light and Easy to Carry With You
Unlike most fitness equipment, exercise bands are quite affordable, and you can easily get yourself a couple of pairs without having to invest much money.
Exercise bands are also incredibly light (you won’t even notice that you’re carrying them), and quite portable.
All in all, given how versatile they are and how easy it is to carry them around, exercise bands make for the perfect companion on the road.
- Work On Your Mobility
Exercise bands are incredibly useful for mobility and flexibility purposes because they allow us to perform various stretches on our own. For the most part, we are limited by our flexibility and mobility, so we can’t perform all stretches effectively without the help of a second person.
But, we can use exercise bands to create extra pressure and stretch our muscles adequately without external aid.
For example, you can use long resistance bands to stretch your hamstrings from a lying position. You can also tie a loop band on something like a resistance band door anchor to improve hip and ankle mobility for squats and deadlifts.
- Use Them As an Addition To Your Hotel Gym Workouts
While exercise bands offer us the ability to have excellent workouts, nothing is to say that we can’t use them in combination with other pieces of fitness equipment or as an addition to a solid bodyweight routine or something similar.
For example, you can perform a bodyweight circuit program in your hotel room and sprinkle banded exercises like bicep curls, tricep extensions, lateral raises, and chest flyes for a complete full-body workout.
Alternatively, you can also use bands in combination with other fitness equipment (for example, in your hotel’s gym) for better muscle activation.
A good example here is to use bands in conjunction with barbells and dumbbells for simple exercises like bicep curls. That way, you’ll challenge yourself more and strengthen your muscles better due to the increased resistance near the top-end of the range of motion.