The Improvised Workout

The hotel I spent the last two days in had no exercise room. That’s rare these days, almost every hotel targeted at business travelers has some kind of gym, but this one didn’t. Going outside to run was out of the question since the roads near the hotel had no sidewalks and were covered in ice. While I may think that exercise is good for me, I don’t believe in putting myself in danger of being run over for the sake of a good cardio workout. Instead of skipping my workout, I came up with this improvised one:
Back and Abs

• 20 crunches
• 20 dead lifts with no weights (essentially toe touches)
• 20 lying leg lifts
• 20 more dead lifts

Cardio

• 50 jumping jacks

Legs

• 20 lunges
• 20 squats
• 20 calf raises
• 20 thigh adductions
• 20 thigh abductions

Cardio

• 50 jumping jacks

Biceps and Triceps

• 20 curls while holding my backback (about 10lbs worth of computer and books inside).
• 20 standing tricep extensions while holding the backpack
• 20 dips between two chairs

Cardio

• 50 jumping jacks

Chest and Shoulders

• 20 pushups
• 40 presses using the backback again as a weight
• 20 weight pullovers using the backpack while lying on the bed.
• 20 indian pushups

Cardio

• 50 jumping jacks

If you want to learn more about these exercises, take a look at these previous posts from 60 in 3.
I did all of these with relatively few breaks in between. End result, I was out of breath, heart rate elevated and my muscles were tired. Exactly how I want to feel at the end of a good workout. The workout took about 45 minutes total and required absolutely no special equipment, unless you count a backpack as workout gear.

What’s The Point?

The point is that you shouldn’t use a minor setback like a hotel with no gym as an excuse not to workout. A workout basically means moving your body around and that you can do with or without a gym, with or without equipment and with or without a lot of time. Just stop looking at workouts as something you HAVE to do. When you do that, you see them as a chore, a thing you dislike but must do. That means you’ll start trying to find excuses.

Change your outlook and start thinking of workouts as something you choose to do. They’re something you want to do because you want to be healthy. You choose to do them because you want to spend a lot of healthy years with your kids. You choose to do them because you need a good break to clear your mind of work. You choose to do them because you to feel good about your body. Whatever it works for you, use it. You’ll find yourself improvising workouts rather than excuses to avoid them.

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