Words by Matt Dursum
Photos by Samantha Demangate
Fitness, like overall health, is one of the pillars of a good life, especially while traveling abroad long term. Whether you’re backpacking through villages or riding overnight buses through the wilderness, your body will need to stay strong and healthy to make the most out of the journey. Fortunately, there are easy and creative ways to utilize your body weight, travel gear, and environment to get the workout you need even without a gym.
Your Body
There’s one piece of equipment that’s always available: your body. There are almost limitless exercises that utilize your body weight, from push ups to planks.
For me, the base of my fitness while on the road revolves around a morning and evening routine. I start my day by doing a thorough warm up with a series of stretches. After my muscles are warmed up and I’ve increased my heart rate, I go for a short run and follow up with a push-up and squat routine. If there’s an evenly level and sturdy branch or metal bar nearby, I’ll throw in some pull ups, making sure I’m following proper body mechanics at all times. In the evening, I like to wind down with a long yoga routine that alternates between my favorite poses.
Even mundane activities can become valuable workouts. Something as simple as hand washing your own clothes can be one of the most rewarding bodyweight exercises. Think about all the motions your laundry machine uses, assuming you have one. By using proper form, getting in a low squatting position, engaging your core, and using your limbs to wash, rinse, scrub, and repeat several times over will exhaust even the most fit travelers.
Taking five minutes out of your busy schedule and giving your temporary dwelling a good mopping by hand can be incredibly beneficial to your health too. Get down low to the ground and stretch your legs out like a spider. Keep good posture and with a wet rag begin scrubbing the floor. Not only do you earn a bit of humility, your entire body, especially your core muscles, will be engaged.
Your Gear
Your greatest tool for fitness training is the one you’re connected to the most: your backpack—or rollies or other types of luggage. These can hold large amounts of weight in the form of clothing or even books. Make sure to follow proper body mechanics and gradually increase the weight you add to your gear. I like to wear my backpack snuggly, filled with heavy books and fit to distribute the weight over my core. I then engage in squats, dips, pull ups, and pushups. The weighted bag not only maximizes the results of the exercises but mimics the motions used in everyday traveling. By keeping proper form and weight distribution in mind, you’ll be helping to decrease the risk of injury on your journey as well.
Other lightweight and portable gear that helps to have on the road includes jump ropes, yoga maps, and stretch bands. This fitness equipment takes up minimal space and is essential for many exercise routines. Of course, your gear is dependent on your itinerary. I travel with a 6’ 2” surfboard and wetsuit. It’s clunky, annoying to fit in taxis, and an all-around pain in the ass. It is, however, essential if surfing’s your passion and there are waves.
Your Environment
Often, everything you need for fitness is right at your doorstep. Many cities are already equipped with running paths, swimmable bodies of water, and stationary objects that you can pull yourself up and hang on. Mexico City has a vegetated walking path on Condessa neighborhood’s Amsterdam avenue. Dense subtropical trees and shrubs surround the path, making it feel like running through a greenhouse. Another plus are the exercise stations set up along it. These pit stops have pull up bars, ropes, and rings perfect for pulling exercises.
My favorite running path happens to be on the other side of the world where the Hapsburgs used to bask in opulence as they governed half of Europe. The Donauinsel In Vienna, Austria is a long green space stretching for miles along the Danube River. Here people can run, rent bicycles, swim, or even rent rowing craft. It’s an outdoor enthusiasts paradise, right in the middle of the city.
Maintaining General Health
No matter how creative and persistent your fitness routine is while traveling, nothing is more important than maintaining general good health. One of the main struggles in many parts of the world is water intake. Let’s face it, many places lack access to clean water. This is one of the world’s biggest problems. By bringing a canteen or water bottle with you and filling it with gallon jugs of filtered water or better yet, public water stations, you can maintain a healthy intake of clean water.
Another issue for many people is gut health. One of the pillars to gut health, keeping a diverse diet, is easy while traveling. Yet, the other half, making sure it’s largely plant-based, is unfortunately not. This is where being creative helps. If you buy fruits and vegetables at local markets, make sure they have thick skins so you can peel them and avoid ingesting any pesticides and bacteria that may lurk on the skins. You can easily peel and wash foods like oranges, avocados, radishes, and eggplants.
Other ways to help your good gut bacteria flourish includes movement and meditation to reduce stress. Like many parts of our body, our digestive system goes haywire when stressed. Although traveling is by nature a stressful activity—nobody is relaxed boarding a plane or bus, NOBODY—we can do things like breathwork, meditation, or even play music to calm the nerves.
Exercise too is also linked to improved gut health, so the more you exercise the more positive effects you’ll have on your digestive biome. Afterall, your body is a complex system. There are no one-size-fits-all regiments or diet cheats. If you treat it as such, you’ll be able to live the lifestyle you want for longer, including living on the road.