Travelling does not have to interrupt your fitness routine. Here are five portable exercise equipment that allow you to stick to your regimen if sweating it out at the gym is not an option.
TEXT: ALYWIN CHEW
Going on business trips can sometimes throw a spanner in the works when it comes to exercising, especially if the hotel doesn’t come with a decent gym or if you’re pressed for time.
The solution? Fire up your muscles in the comfort of your own room with these lightweight and nifty workout tools that will fit in your luggage.
Don’t diss the humble skipping rope. If you’re cooped up in a small room while travelling and need to get the heart pumping, a skipping workout is an ideal way to torch fat. Research has shown that even 10 minutes of skipping is equivalent to 30 minutes of jogging. Besides, a skipping rope weighs almost next to nothing!
If you think that the trusty chin-up bar offers just one exercise, think again: You can also perform a variety of ab workouts while hanging. If you’ve always struggled to perform a single chin-up, condition your arms simply by hanging for as long as you can or by performing a negative pull-up – knees on a chair below the bar and pull yourself up slowly.
At less than $20, this apparatus offers a major bang for your buck when it comes to sculpting a set of washboard abs. For beginners, hold the wheel in front of you while kneeling a metre away from a wall. Exhale as you slowly roll the wheel until it hits the wall, then roll it back to the starting position. Be sure not to drive downwards with your hips – you might hurt your spine.
Lightweight and portable, these bands are the perfect way for travelling fitness junkies to shed calories through effective, low-impact workouts. If you’re looking for a stern challenge, resistance band sets that offer a variety of weight levels can be conveniently purchased online. But if you prefer to travel light, a single band can be used to perform a wide variety of exercises.
It’s amazing how many exercises one can do with an inflatable ball. From tricep dips to crunches, squats and overhead presses, this lightweight fitness item can be used for a full-body workout. It can even double up as a makeshift chair that helps you maintain good posture while rushing out that business report in your hotel room.
