•BLUF: It’s hard to stay motivated to workout while traveling, don’t let limited access to gym facilities stop your routine. The world 🌎 is your gym!
•I always find it hard to keep up my workout routine while traveling, especially international travel. Between the long flights, the adventure packed days, and the lack of access to gym facilities my motivation tends to wane during my trips. The thing is, it doesn’t make sense to workout super hard to look good for the trip, then get to your destination and waste all your hard work.
“So the question is how do you stay motivated while traveling? “
– I get my inspiration from my surroundings.
Jamaica vs. Brazil
•THE TRIP: This past June I traveled with friends to the South of France to see @chinyeluasher play for Jamaica’s women’s national football team in FIFA’s Women’s World Cup. Through a combination of planes and trains we made our way from Paris to Grenoble, Nice and Reims watching these beautifully strong, freakishly talented women play soccer.
The first match was in a stadium in the mountains of Grenoble. I’ve never been to a professional soccer match before, so sitting in this beautiful stadium surrounded by the French Alpines, watching these girls display crazy skill, endurance and speed, had me beyond motivated to get up and workout, but I didn’t have access to a gym. At least that’s what i thought until i laid my eyes on the Promenade des Anglais 😍!
•THE GYM: In between the Grenoble and Reims matches, we took a 3 day diversion to Nice. The Promenade des Anglais is a 7 km walkway sandwiched between southern France shops, bars, and restaurants, and the Mediterranean Sea. It’s prime real estate for running, swimming, volleyball and really any other other activity that only requires open space and award winning views.
THE WORKOUT: The promenade immediately gave me track vibes. With 7km of well paved sidewalk surrounded by rails, benches, and stairs we were able to put together a HIIT circuit.
-Warm up- Stair climbs 5 mins
-100 m sprints, on the way back to the starting line lateral squat jumps, high knee taps using the rails, and elevated bench pushups. 30 second rest repeat 5x
Jump rope & elevated plank holds (30 sec) 3x
-Cool down- stretching on the rocky beach. (The rocks weren’t really conducive to stretching but the view was 🤷🏾♀️)
•EZ TAKEAWAY: The French Riviera did not disappoint as far as unique ways to get a workout in. In addition to working out on the promenade, we walked it’s full span experiencing restaurants and clubs along the way. Castle Hill is an old military citadel just off the promenade. We climbed it’s 92 meters of stairs which led us to the best panorama views Nice had to offer, and since we were feeling daring we traversed the rocky beach to enjoy the refreshingly icy waves of the Mediterranean Sea. There were also several courts hosting spontaneous volleyball matches along the beach. The fact of the matter is that I was limiting myself by being stuck inside the box of needing a facility to workout in. The gym doesn’t have to be an actual “gym”. Wherever you are can be your gym. Step outside your comfort zone and be limitless on vacation!