Healthy Tips for Summer Travels
We are all excited to travel again, explore new places and see treasured faces, but are you concerned about interrupting your rehab or losing traction in your healthy exercise habits?
Are you worried that your knee, back, shoulder, or neck will be achy and or swollen after a long flight?
And how about worrying that you will just become a lazy blob on vacation and lose your exercise mojo? Even the most dedicated fitness buffs may have a hard time keeping up a bit of core exercise and strength training when away from home.
Here are a few tips I have passed along to clients over the years – things to pack or do to help stay feeling great so you can enjoy your vacation.
To help prevent or deal with aches and pains:
1. Take ANY medication or topical you might need for pain or swelling in your carry on bag. Airlines and airports are understaffed and overwhelmed, so bring what you need with you in case your checked bags are delayed. Wear comfortable clothes that are not restrictive and could double as exercise (or sleep!) wear if you get delayed.
2. Take 2 new, large ZipLock bags in your carry on. You can put one inside the other (double bag them) and use it for an instant ice pack, or put a hot washcloth or even hot paper towels inside for an instant hot pack. This is a lightweight, environmentally friendly, and super easy alternative to chemical ice packs.
3. Get up and move, as best you can, on a flight. If that is difficult, pump your muscles in your seat: circle and pump your ankles, lift/lower your heels, squeeze/lift your butt, roll your shoulders around, and for goodness sakes, take BIG DEEP BREATHS! Fully inhaling and especially fully exhaling tones your core muscles and supports pain-free posture.
4. If you have a connecting flight, use any extra time in the airport to stretch your legs, walk some laps, or do some standing Pilates exercises instead of plopping into a chair. Longer layovers are great to visit a gym in an airport hotel and get a good workout in (I did this in Toronto on a layover to Paris – super easy and a good way to interrupt all of that sitting!).
4. Pack at least 1 piece of exercise equipment: if driving, put your foam roller in the backseat; if flying, put a Fletcher Towel, piece of resistance band or Magic Circle in your suitcase. Rehabbing your shoulder? Put your pulley in your bag! Just seeing one small prop may remind you to do some part of your Pilates or rehab regime.
5. Have some online or recorded Pilates classes ready to do when the mood strikes you. One silver lining of the COVID pandemic is the astounding increase in web-based classes. Your favorite teachers are available anywhere in the world! I teach on a network called Be Well Stay Well, which is geared towards people “who’s bodies have been places!” Ada Wells, my friend and brilliant fellow Pilates teacher and physical therapist created this network and offers about 80 classes per month at a very low cost. Use my unique link to sign up: BWSW.net/KathleenMcD.
6. If you don’t have a roller, roll up a blanket or a couple of beach towels to a 6” X 36” fake roller. You won’t be able to roll back and forth, but you will be able to open your shoulders and elongate your spine.
7. Plan your stay near a good walking, hiking or biking route. The more work or effort it takes to get to a starting point, the more likely you might just skip it. If you can just walk out your door and get going, why not?!
8. Just because you are not at the gym doesn’t mean that you can’t do resistance training. Your body weight is your constant traveling companion, so use it! Wall push-ups, tricep dips, wall sits, calf raises and planks (with good form!) are all great ways to strengthen your whole body with good core control.
9. Show yourself (and your traveling companions) some compassion. Don’t beat anyone up if you didn’t get a chance to exercise today. Just do some deep breathing before bedtime and make a plan for tomorrow. It is also important to remember that your traveling partners (and that includes kids) are on their vacation too. Do your teens want to sleep until 11am? Maybe that is ok for them; you can take care of you and get up and take a walk/run/paddle in the early morning. We experienced this on the beautiful British Columbia coast a few years back, and it was a joy for my husband and I to ditch any frustration and go out early, explore, meet interesting locals (who invited us to row Dragon boats with them that evening!), let the boys sleep in, have a late breakfast and then head out on the day’s adventure. The boys were happy, parents were happy . It was a win-win.
10. Life is short. Travel is a wonderful privilege. Nothing is guaranteed. Make the most out of your precious travel time with your precious travel companions (including YOU and your body!). Get out there and have some fun adventures.