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Fitness for frequent flyers

Being on the move is no reason to forego exercise. In fact, training while you travel is easy and can make you more productive at home and overseas.

Sumit Chowdhury, chief information officer, Reliance Communications and CEO, Reliance Tech Services, Mumbai, agrees that exercise is an antidote to the weariness of travel. “I feel energized after the workout or the run,” he says. “The travel fatigue is gone. Mostly aches and pains of sitting in aeroplanes and taxis also go away when I exercise.”
Before you talk of gym opening hours, take heart from what Kiran Sawhney, fitness instructor and owner of Fitnesolution, a fitness centre in Delhi, says, “Exercising on the move need not necessarily mean getting to a gym: You can achieve a great workout anywhere. And your hotel room is the perfect place to start.” (see ‘Improvise…”)
Whatever your preferred style of activity, there are easy options.
Yoga for active alertness


What else can you do?
Kiran Sawhney, fitness instructor and owner of Fitnesolution, notes that it is a great way to get a little sightseeing in while you travel on business. Her suggestions: Ask for a map of the neighbourhood, check about safety issues and timings of local parks, and bring along your ID and some cab fare, just in case. Remember the water bottle, even if it is cold.

Turn to TV: “Wherever in the world you are, you can usually surf TV channels in the morning to find a fitness programme to follow instead of your workout,” says Sawhney. Keeps you far from bored as well.
Improvise: Your everyday workout, with no equipment [box]
Kiran Sawhney, fitness instructor and owner of Fitnesolution, a fitness centre in Delhi, suggests ways to exercise without your usual equipment when you travel:


• Use the belt from a hotel robe as a stretch cord.
• Instead of a stretch frame, attach your resistance band or stretch cord to the leg of a bed or a heavy sofa.
• Hold on to the back of a sturdy chair while you do squats and leg lifts.
• Two filled bottles of water can be used as hand weights.
• You can increase the impact of your walk by adding weights: a small backpack (not the laptop case) comfortably adjusted on your shoulders, centred on your back, should do it.
• If the hotel gym is closed, ask if you can borrow a set of weights to use in your room.
• A low, sturdy stool or ottoman can be used for step exercises. Make sure it is heavy and sitting on a carpet, so it won’t shift; or else put a towel under it.
• Spread out a towel or shower mat for yoga or floor exercises.