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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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One of the most common reasons I hear not to exercise is lack of time due to work. People are always saying “I work too much, I can’t find time for a work out” when I tell them how I work out during the day. Even when I explain to them the benefits of working out and how it can actually increase productivity, they still don’t think their boss would ever agree. So here are a few things to consider.

The Rising Cost of Healthcare

Health care is one of the fastest growing expenses we have. Each year we pay more for our health treatment and our health insurance. Our employers here in the US bear much of that expense. A small investment in employee fitness and health can result in major savings for a company. The Boston Globe recently ran a piece about employers who provide health incentives and it found an amazing return on investment, in some cases as high as 10 to 1.

Team Building

How many times has your company tried various team building exercises and how many times have you thought they were pretty damn stupid?  Well, fitness can be an excellent team building exercise.  The weekly office soccer match, the afternoon group jog or the morning workout with coworkers are all group activities that build personal relationships while increasing fitness.

Productivity

One of the worst productivity breakers is stress, the feeling that we’re not getting enough done and never getting it done on time.  It’s a vicious cycle that feeds on itself as the stress causes us to complete even less thereby causing even more stress.  Regular breaks, even shorts one, tend to break down stress and make us more productive.  Short walks during which we don’t think about work help us refocus on our minds and make us more productive when we do come back to work.

Fear Is The Only Thing Stopping You

Yep, you’re afraid.  Afraid that your boss will think you’re lazy and just want to get out of work.  You’re afraid that your coworkers will think your ideas are stupid.  You might even fear losing your last remaining excuse not to exercise.  I suppose all of these issues could be true, I know some were for me.  Just remind yourself that your boss and your coworkers are in the exact same situation as you.  Some of them have found a solutions for their health, some of them are just as desperate for one as you are.  Even your boss might be wondering how to best shed those few last pounds he put on over the holidays last year.

So come up with a few ideas and pitch them to your boss and then to your HR department.  It doesn’t have to be something revolutionary like building an endless wave pool in the company lobby.  It doesn’t even have to cost the company much money.  Just make sure to show them what the benefits are and how this could help the company be more efficient and productive.

So How Can Employers Help?

Some ideas to suggest:

• Subsidizing gym memberships for employees - The company pays out a relatively minor amount of money for a potentially significant return in lower health care costs.  Find a local gym, ask them about membership prices and whether or not they have package deals.  You’ll usually find a great bargain for groups or companies.
• Subsidizing public transportation tickets - Encourage people to walk or bike more.  The cost is extremely low and your company could use the environmentally friendly PR.
• A weekly office sport - Perhaps a soccer or basketball game you play once a week at a regular time.  Those are easy to arrange, don’t require much equipment and almost anyone can play. Just find a local park or field and choose a time.  These activities require a very low level of effort to set up.
• A company hired personal trainer - No, I’m not saying the company should hire a trainer just for you.  Make it a team activity.  Company pays for a trainer and then sends multiple people to work out with that trainer once or twice a week.  It’s a great team building activity.
• Company fitness challenges - Get a group together and set up some kind of fitness challenge.  Maybe an interdepartmental competition of some kind.  Another great team builder with very low costs for the company.

Whatever it takes, find a way to make your employer see that employee health and fitness is something they should worry about.  It’s in their best interest to have healthy employees and if you can find ways to accomplish that for a relatively low resources investment, you’re likely to have a pretty happy employer.

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When people think of fitness and health they think of people moving about, working out and getting stuff done.  They think of a life lived at a fast pace and with lots of energy.  While this may be partially true, there’s also a part to living healthy which consists of doing nothing at all.

Taking Breaks

It may seem counterintuitive, but taking an occasional break is a good thing.  I’m not talking about a break from your workout routine or a break from work, I’m talking about a break in which you do nothing at all.  Go outside, sit on a bench and do nothing.  Go indoors, sit on your couch and close your eyes for 15 minutes.  That’s the kind of break I’m talking about.

The Stress Factor

Most of us are in a constant state of stress.  We’re stressed about our jobs, our families, our relationships, our health and a host of other things.  This stress is bad for us.  It’s bad for our health because it throws off the chemical balance of our bodies.  Stress can cause our bodies to manufacture hormones that trigger binging.  It can also cause higher blood pressure and a variety of other health issues.  Stress is like a constant weight that we carry, never noticing how much it slows us down.  Once in a while, we just need to put that weight down and reflect on who we are and where we are.

Put The Weight Down

Go somewhere relatively peaceful.  This can be anywhere from your living room to a bench at a park to a conference room in your office.  Then just sit down, close your eyes and relax.  Stop thinking about what you’re trying to accomplish and just think about something that relaxes you.  Perhaps that’s a fond memory or maybe it’s an image of a place you’d like to visit.  Whatever it is, just clear your mind of everything else but that.  Don’t feel guilty about this little time off, you deserve it and even more important, you need it.  So just let go of the stress and calm down.

Benefits

I think you’ll find that you’re recharged and far more productive after these little breaks.  You’ll get more done, easily compensating for the 15 minutes you took off.  You’ll also feel better mentally and physically.  Stress is a horribly destructive force in our bodies because it forces our systems to function in a sort of overdrive.  That’s fine for short periods of time but not as a normal state.  Short breaks can calm our bodies down and let it get back to a normal existence.

Summary

So stop reading this blog already and go take a break.  60 in 3 will still be here when you come back. 

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Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but it’s also the most hurried time of the day. We just woke up, we’re in a hurry, we’re getting dressed, looking for our keys and trying to make it out the door. Most mornings, I have about 5 minutes to spend on breakfast, if that. So how do you get a good healthy meal into that time?

The Fast and the Bad

Unfortunately, some of us choose to rely on fast food restaurants for our breakfasts. We go for things like the Egg McMuffin or a breakfast burrito. Most of these selections have too much fat and too many calories. Here’s a great example of something you shouldn’t be eating, the Hardee’s Breakfast Burrito.  Seriously, if you’re thinking of starting out your day with 920 calories and 60g of fat, well then, I just have nothing to say to that except that you’re probably reading the wrong blog.

Good Breakfasts Start At Home

For me, the best breakfasts are simple things that I made myself.  Here’s a good example:

1. Take one whole wheat wrap.  I like the smaller, taco shell sized variety rather than the larger, burrito sized variety.  These have about 60 calories and a decent amount of protein and fiber.
2. Crumble one hard boiled egg onto this wrap for another 90 calories or so.  The hardboiled egg can be prepared at any time.  You can make a batch of them and then store them in the fridge for days.
3. If you like warm food, microwave the wrap right now for about 20 to 30 seconds.  Otherwise, keep going.
4. Add a few leaves of spinach and some chopped up tomatoes.  Again, these are both things you can prepare ahead of time or things you can easily make in a few seconds.
5. Season to your liking.  I usually add a bit of Tapatio sauce because I like spicy things, but it’s good as is.

Nutritional Content

Total calories for this breakfast are around 150.  These calories come from a mixture of healthy carbs (the veggies and the whole wheat wrap) plus healthy protein and fat (the wrap and the egg).  You’ve also got a good amount of fiber in this breakfast (from the wrap and the veggies).  The carbs will get you the quick energy you need in the morning and the fat plus the protein will keep you satisfied for a while.

Convenience Factor

If you hardboiled the egg in advance then total preparation time is less than 1 minute if you’re not chopping up veggies and around 2 minutes if you are.  It’s even a portable breafast which you can take with you on the run.

Alternatives

If you’re not the biggest egg fan, feel free to substitute something else in there.  A bit of cottage cheese, a few pieces of lean chicken or fish, they all work.   Whatever you substitute should be a good source of healthy fat and protein to make this a balanced meal.

Summary

There’s no reason to start your day off at a fast food place or coffee house.  You can easily make a quick and healthy breakfast at home that will get you started and keep you going.

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If you’re like me, you know the biggest obstacle to overcome when it comes to working out is finding the time to do so. Sure, you can do an quick 10 minute workout in the morning, but anything more than that takes quite a bit of time. A good weights routine followed by a decent cardio workout, can easily last two hours when you toss in some time changing clothes and showering. So I’ve spent a lot of time figuring out little tips and tricks for maximizing my time at the gym, and here’s one of the best things I’ve come up with.

Rest Periods, A Necessary Evil

If you really look at where your workout times goes, you’ll notice that a lot of it is devoted to standing around and not working out. These times are rest periods and they are necessary if you’re doing a challenging workout with a good amount of weight, or are they? If you’re using a challenging weight and a good number of reps, you should be barely able to finish your set. For example, if you’re doing 15 bicep curls, then ideally, you should barely be able to do the 15th curl and you should definitely be unable to do a 16th. Now if you’re doing multiple sets, that means you need to rest between them. This rest period is only 1 or 2 minutes at the most, but it adds up.

My basic workout is 6 exercises in a day, 4 sets of 10 reps for each one. That’s 24 sets total. If I rest for just 1 minute between each one, I’m actually spending 24 minutes resting. The sets themselves take me around 45 seconds to a minute, but the rest periods are doubling the amount of time I need for a complete workout. In other words, I’m getting a good workout but I’m spending more time resting than I am working out.

But You Have To Rest, No?

Well, yes and no. You have to rest the muscles you just used, you do not have to rest your entire body. Let’s go back to that bicep curls example. A bicep curl gets its name from the fact that you’re curling your arm up using your bicep muscle. That’s relatively obvious. If you stretch out your arm in front of you, palm up, the biceps are the muscles on the top part of your upper arm. These are the muscles used to pull things towards you and to bend your elbow in. On the other side of your upper are is a muscle groups called the triceps. These are responsible for pushing things away from you and for straightening your elbow out.

The great thing about good exercises is that they focus on specific muscle groups. So guess what, those bicep curls focus on your biceps. They do virtually nothing for your triceps. So when you’re done with that 15th bicep curl, your biceps are worn out and need some rest, but your triceps are rested and ready to go. They haven’t done anything yet. So why are you standing around resting your entire body when it’s only your biceps that need rest?

How Do We Use This?

It’s simple. Alternate exercises so that different muscles are used in consecutive sets. In our previous example, I can do a set of bicep curls followed by a set of tricep extenstions. The triceps set takes 1 minute and that gives my biceps the 1 minute of rest they’re looking for. That means that, at the end of my triceps extension set, I can jump right back into biceps curls. Rather than 1 set of exercises every two minutes, I am now doing 2 sets every two minutes. The muscles being worked are still getting 1 minute of rest between each set because I use a different set of muscles every set. My workout time just went down to 24 minutes…

Different Muscle Groups On the Same Day

If you look at previous workouts I’ve discussed, like the 4 day workout, you’ll see that most days have two muscle groups in them. That means you can alternate muscle groups as you do your exercises. Even legs day can follow the same pattern since your legs have very different muscle groups in them. Do a exercise like the lunge, followed by a set of calve or thigh exercises.

Warning

I said before that you don’t need to rest your entire body, but that’s not completely true. Your body as a whole does get tired but at a much slower rate than individual muscles. So you may want to take some breaks. For example, I do 8 sets of alternating exercises and then a 1 minute break. Total workout time is still under 30 minutes but I don’t get completely worn out that way.

Summary

This is just one little trick to save time at the gym. If you have any others, please share them with us.

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One of the challenges we face in trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle, is what to do when traveling.  How do we eat healthy when we’re limited to airport food and business dinners?  How do we keep up our exercise routine when we’re on a plane most of the day or in meetings?

Business vs. Leisure Travel

First, let’s separate out vacations from business travel.  In a vacation you typically control your own schedule.  This means that you should have time to work out if you choose to.  If you choose not to, that’s your choice, but remember that taking a vacation should not mean abandoning all your healthy lifestyle choices.  Also, while on a vacation, you’re typically in control of your eating selections, much more so than while traveling for business.  Again, you can choose to eat unhealthy while on vacation, but why would you do so?  Once you realize that eating healthy can be very enjoyable and does not have to consist of a green salad for each meal, you’ll be just fine continuing your healthy eating habits while on vacation.  Basically, staying healthy on a vacation is a matter of choice.  It’s your choice to do so or not.

The Challenges of Business Travel

Business travel on the other hand, is different.  Your schedule is not your choice when traveling for business.  There are meetings to make, business dinners to attend and deadlines to meet.  Time is off the essence when traveling for business and it seems like there’s never enough time for health.  So how can you meet your work obligations while still staying healthy?

On the Plane

It starts on the plane.  A few tips for healthy plane travel which also apply to vacations.

• Don’t eat the airline food - Yes, it’s very tempting to take those peanuts or cookies or whatever the flight attendants are passing out, but don’t.  Those snacks are nothing but sugars and junk carbs.   The same goes for most full meals on a plane.  They’re low quality and unhealthy.  Pack some food ahead of time and munch on it if you get hungry.  Good choices are fruit or healthy sandwiches.  For example, I usually try to find a Subway sandwich store at the airport I’m flying out of.  I order a veggie wrap or two to go.  These are low calories (about 200 to 300 each) and relatively healthy.  Much better than the junk food on the airplane.  Takes me zero additional time since I’m waiting to board anyway.
• Get up at least once an hour - Get up once an hour and stretch.  In fact, you should do more than stretch, you should actually do a very light workout.  You can in fact exercise on a plane.  It requires a bit of improvisation and a friendly flight attendant, but it’s possible.  Exercises like squats, lunges and calf raises can all be done without any equipment.  You can also go through the movements of other exercises like shrugs, curls and triceps extensions without any weights.  Is this as good as a normal workout?  No, of course not, but it will keep you alert, active and moving.
• Try not to sleep - Sleeping on a plane is bad.  It’s usually very poor quality sleep in uncomfortable positions.  You’ll wake up feeling unrested and your body will ache.  Do something more productive instead.  Work, read, watch a movie, whatever it is, do that instead of sleeping.  You’ll feel better.

At the Hotel

• Bring your gym gear - Most hotels do have a gym.  It may be small and underequipped but it’s still a gym.  A simple workout doesn’t have to involve much equipment.  Pushups, situps, lunges, squats and other exercises can be done with just body weight.  Plus most hotels have cardio gear.  It’s not ideal, but I usually find enough time in the evening to catch up on my workout.  I won’t do a full one since I have emails to catch up on but I’ll spend 30 to 45 minutes in the gym on a short (15 to 20 minute) weight workout and a short (another 15 to 20 minute) cardio workout.
• Get some sleep - Resist the urge to stay up all night working.  You’re not being productive, you’re being destructive.  You’ll be sleepy and tired the next day, preventing you from doing actual work.  Get your work done on the plane if you can and hold off those emails for later.  You need a solid 8 hours of sleep a day for both your health and your productivity.
• Watch that room service - It’s easy to overeat while traveling on business.  Everything is paid for by the company, so why not splurge with that big steak and the cheesecake.  Well, because your health is not covered by your expense check.  Traveling on business is not an excuse to overeat.  Keep your portion size and selection normal.

Business Meals

Business meals come in two flavors, slow meals with customers or other coworkers where you spend hours at the dinner table or fast meals on the run where you’re in a hurry and need to eat something fast.

• Slow meals - You’ll usually have a good selection of food here so there won’t be a problem choosing something healthy.  However, you’ll also have the temptation of dessert and that endless wine bottle.  Yep, it’s hard saying no to those, especially if you’re with important clients or coworkers who expect you to indulge with them.  If you cannot avoid it, at least minimize the damage.  Go with the lighter desserts like fruit and cheese platters.  Order a wine instead of a mixed drink or beer.  It will have less calories and you can easily nurse it along for hours.
• Fast meals - You’re on the run, you need to catch a plane and you only have 10 minutes for lunch.  You need food now and you have no time to look for something healthy.  What do you do?  Two things to remember here.  First of all, healthy food does not have to be slow.  There are a wide variety of things that can be had quickly and are still healthy.  The Subway wraps I mentioned before are fast.  A Taco Bell bean burrito, not exactly the paragon of good health but still better than a giant burger, can be had quickly.  Mexican food in general can be healthy while still being quick.  Also, even if you go to a fast food place, learn to minimize the damage by picking healthier options.  Chicken sandwiches for example, are almost always better than hamburgers.  Fries are not a good option so lay off them, and don’t even think about the large soda.  Get your sandwich on its own with a bottle of water, and ask for your sandwich without all those special sauces, they’re nothing but fat.   As I said, it’s not exactly a healthy meal but neither is it a gut buster.

Summary

Travel, especially business travel, can be a bit of a strain on your healthy lifestyle, but it doesn’t have to break it.  Yes, you can be healthy while traveling and it doesn’t really take that much more effort.  The key point is to make smart decisions and not allow the travel to become an excuse for unhealthy habits.

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One of my readers asked for a list of 10 steps to good health. I provided it, but now I want to break each of these items down and give you more useful details. So here’s step 6, living an active life.

I’ve said over and over that being healthy isn’t about temporary diets and month long workout plans.  Being healthy and fit is about lifestyle.  It’s about choosing to live your life in a healthy way.  A healthy lifestyle means more than just being unhealthy most of the time and then trying to fix things during specific meal times and gym visits.  It means every moment of every day you make the choice to be healthy.  It can be big things or it can be little ones, but you always make the healthy choice.

I realized how important this was about a year after my health meltdown.  Of all the things I learned, this is the only one that I implemented all at once rather than gradually.  Simply put, once I realized what a healthy lifestyle meant, I just couldn’t live it gradually.  In fact, this is the only piece of information that was a bit of sudden revelation instead of a gradual learning process.

Visions in the parking lot

It all happened one afternoon as I was arriving at the gym.  I usually prefer to workout around lunchtime but this particular day I was arriving right before dinner.  The gym parking lot was packed and there were very few spots.  I found a spot at the far end of the parking lot but I decided to move and search for a better spot.  That’s when it hit me.  Here I am going to the gym in order to exercise and I’m going to spend an extra few minutes driving around just so I could avoid a bit of walking.  Does that make sense?  I was actually going to waste time (looking for a closer spot would have taken longer than walking in from the farther one) and money (gas) just to save myself a 60 second walk when I had come here specifically for a workout!

That was the key realization for me.  It make me understand that if I wanted to be really healthy then I couldn’t just add a gym workout and change my eating habits a bit.  Being healthy meant living healthy and it meant making choices like walking the extra 60 seconds rather than driving around looking for a closer parking spot.

What does it mean? 

Living a healthy lifestyle and leading an active life means taking every opportunity to use your body.  If you can walk rather than drive, do so.  If you can take the stairs rather than the elevator, then do so.  If you can get up and go talk to someone rather than calling them on the phone, then do so.  If you’re sitting at your desk and you’re staring at your screen trying to figure out what else to write on your TPS report, why not pick up a water bottle and lift it a few times?  If your dog needs to go outside then how about you go out there with it and play with him or walk him rather than take him to the dog park and watch him run around?

We make hundreds of choices every day and most of us choose to be inactive.  We choose to spend money on gas and electricity rather than take the time and be healthy.  Why not make a different choice?  Every time you rely on a car, on an elevator, on an escalator or on a phone, remember that you are paying money in order to be unhealthy.  Make the right choice and be active.

There are of course some exceptions.  When we moved into our new apt. on the 4th floor, I certainly wasn’t going to try carrying the sofa up four flights of stairs.  In the morning, I ride my bike to the train station but then ride the train most of the way.  These are common sense to me.  Riding my bike to work would take too much time.  Carrying the sofa up the stairs would have been nearly impossible and carried a high risk of injury.  So yes, there are times when you should take the elevator.  But for every sofa that needs to go up to the 4th floor there is also someone driving around in the gym parking lot trying to save himself a sixty second walk on the way to his workout.  That’s the choice that needs to change.

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