Dynamic Dialogue with Danny Matranga - 263: Staying in Shape While Traveling

Episode Date: February 14, 2023

There is NOTHING more valuable to a podcast than leaving a written review and a 5-Star Rating. Please consider taking 1-2 minutes to do that (iTunes) HERE. You can also leave a review on SPOTIFY!Train with Danny on His Training App HEREOUR PARTNERS:  Ice Barrel: The best cold water immersion and recovery solution on the market HERE! Use the CODE: Danny to save $125!Legion Supplements (protein, creatine, + more!), Shop (DANNY) HERE!Melin makes the BEST hat's on earth. Try one using the CODE DANNY to save 20% HERE!Get Your FREE LMNT Electrolytes HERE! Care for YOUR Gut, Heart, and Skin with SEED Symbiotic (save with “DANNY15) at SEED.COM Take your love of sports to the next level with UNDERDOG FANTASY and play with danny HERE! (CODE: DANNY for first deposit match up to $100!)RESOURCES/COACHING:  Train with Danny on His Training App HEREI am all about education and that is not limited to this podcast! Feel free to grab a FREE guide (Nutrition, Training, Macros, Etc!) HERE! Interested in Working With Coach Danny and His One-On-One Coaching Team? Click HERE!Want Coach Danny to Fix Your S*** (training, nutrition, lifestyle, etc) fill the form HERE for a chance to have your current approach reviewed live on the show. Want To Have YOUR Question Answered On an Upcoming Episode of DYNAMIC DIALOGUE? You Can Submit It HERE!Want to Support The Podcast AND Get in Better Shape? Grab a Program HERE!----SOCIAL LINKS:Follow Coach Danny on YOUTUBEFollow Coach Danny on INSTAGRAMFollow Coach Danny on TwitterFollow Coach Danny on FacebookGet More In-Depth Articles Written By Yours’ Truly HERE! Sign up for the trainer mentorship HERESupport the showSupport the Show.

This episode is brought to you in part thanks to some of our amazing partners like LMNT. LMNT makes the best electrolyte product on the market. In fact, I've actually started drinking my LMNT each and every morning before I have coffee so as to optimize my circadian biology, make sure that I'm hydrated, and make sure that I'm getting ahead on my water intake throughout the day and not reliant on stimulants, but instead being somebody who's reliant on hydration and the proper balance of minerals and electrolytes. If you want to feel your best all day, mentally and physically, it's imperative that you stay hydrated. LMNT provides a balanced ratio of sodium, potassium, and magnesium to support brain and body hydration. This combination of

electrolytes improves health performance, body and brain performance. Mind you helps to reduce cramps and soreness and get you more hydrated. There's no sugar. Elementia is sweetened with stevia. It's perfect for exercise and perfect for the sauna because the flavors are natural, tasty, delicious, and not overpowering. And if you're like me, you'll use them multiple times a day across your training sessions to get hydrated early, to replenish after sauna use. And again, it's not just me. LMNT is the official sports drink of Team USA Weightlifting, and it's used by athletes in the NBA, NFL, Major League Baseball, as well as athletes like you and I looking to take

your fitness to the next level. My favorite flavors are definitely the raspberry and citrus. When I put a box together, I try to load up on raspberry and citrus. And when you put your box together, you can get a free sample pack containing all of Element's amazing flavors like mango chili, citrus, raspberry, orange, and more. To get access to this free gift with purchase, scroll down to the show notes and check out using the special link for Dynamic Dialogue listeners. This episode is brought to you in special part thanks to our awesome partners over at Ice Barrel. If you're like me, you want to get the absolute most you can out of your fitness and out of

what it is that you're doing in life. I like to make sure that I'm recovering well and prepped for hard workouts. I like to make sure that my cognition is sharp, and I like to make sure that I'm doing what I can to maintain my long-term health. And cold water immersion is a phenomenal tool I use and have used for a while to help me do this. Cold water immersion or taking ice baths is a great way to improve your recovery and performance. Just a few short sessions a week can really make a difference

in how you recover. It can increase and improve your heart rate variability. It can enhance performance. It improves mood and brain function. It also provides an awesome boost of energy and focus because when you hop in an ice bath and you get this amazing vasoconstriction effect and your body starts releasing epinephrine and norepinephrine, it kind of lets you reenter the world awake, energized, excited, and enthused. And I would much rather take an ice bath in the mid-afternoon, especially if I had a hard training session in the morning, than consume more caffeine. Ice Barrel allows me to do this in a super sleek, aesthetically

pleasing packaging. It's a beautiful barrel that comes with a matching lid for keeping the ice cold and water inside clean, a nice step-up stool, a cover. It's portable and durable, and it comes in a beautiful matte black and a gorgeous tan. I have the matte black out on my patio, and I absolutely love the way it looks with the fencing I have around the yard, but you can put this inside, outside, on the front porch, on the back porch, in the side yard. It's quite portable. It's very durable. Like I said, the design is super, super sleek, and it's very easy to drain to make sure that you are only getting in to cold, clean water designed to help you improve your performance, improve your recovery, enhance the way your brain feels and functions throughout the day.

This is an amazing one-time cost tool that once you have it, you use it a couple of times a week. It is one of the best investments you can make in your health. And again, if you want to improve your cognition and performance, and you have those midday lulls, or you want to be more present for your family or for your friends when you get off of work and you don't want to caffeinate, temperature modulation like ice baths or cold exposure or sauna heat exposure can be really valuable for increasing that subjective sense of well-being and bringing you back to a place of alertness in a really chaotic world. It's also great for just cultivating

resilience. I find I'm much tougher. Again, this is a more anecdotal thing, but I find that I am much tougher, ready to face the day's tasks when I am consistently exposing myself to the elements. Call it bromeopathy, call it anecdote, but I will tell you one thing is for sure, cold water immersion has made a huge difference for my health and well-being in just a few short sessions a week, and Ice Barrel is the sleekest, best-looking, cleanest, and most affordable way to do it reliably. You can head over to icebarrel.com slash Danny to take advantage of their 100% satisfaction guaranteed with again, a 30 day money back guarantee and save 125 bucks on your ice barrel using the promo code Danny. So again,

icebarrel.com slash Danny and check out using the promo code Danny to save 125 bucks. This podcast has some awesome partners. And one of my favorite, of course, is Legion Athletics. Legion is my go-to supplement manufacturer for what I like to call my big rock supplements. This would be my protein powder, my pre-training formula, my post-training formula, and creatine, and my kind of ancillary vitamins and micronutrient protection. and my kind of ancillary vitamins and micronutrient protection. So why do I like Legion so much? What sets them apart? It's quite simple. Legion uses all natural ingredients. All the formulas include natural coloring and natural sweeteners, no artificial sweeteners, just stevia. And every single formulation, be it a pre-workout or a vitamin contains clinically effective dosages

of ingredients shown to work in humans in clinical research supported by robust trials. No filler, just legit ingredients in each and every formulation proven to work. The whey protein isolate is so light. It's fantastic. It mixes in water. It tastes amazing. And I drink it every day, even as somebody who's lactose intolerant. That's just how high quality this whey protein is. And it's sourced from Irish dairy cows that are raised well, eat their natural diet and packaged in climate friendly packaging. I love their plant protein too. For those of you who like something that's a little on the thicker side and you aren't a fan of animal products. Also, I love Legion's pre-workout, but specifically the pre-workout that does not

contain caffeine. That would be their Stem Free Pulse. I'm a huge, huge fan of beta alanine and L-citrulline, but I don't like taking in wildly high amounts of caffeine. So if you are somebody who likes pre-workout with caffeine, you can try Pulse. Or if you like it without caffeine, because you maybe want to enjoy your morning coffee or monitor your caffeine consumption, Or if you like it without caffeine, cause you maybe want to enjoy your morning coffee or monitor your caffeine consumption, try the pulse stim free. My favorite flavors there for sure are the new grape and the amazing, amazing tropical punch. As for my creatine, I get that from legions recharge five grams each and every day. I take it on the days I train as well as the days I do not because recharge also contains L carnitine, which can help with promoting muscle

recovery and decreasing soreness, as well as some ingredients to help with creatine utilization. And of course, my favorite supplements for my ancillary micronutrient health are Legion's multivitamin and Legion's greens powder. Not only do these two products contain a ton of high quality vitamins and minerals, they also contain unique adaptogens like KSM 66 ashwagandha and reishi mushroom, which I like to take each and every day to promote my health. If you want to cover all your bases with a high quality protein, creatine post-workout or the ancillary micronutrient health stuff like greens, powders, and multivitamin, I encourage you to go over to legionathletics.com and check out using the promo code DANNY. That'll save you 20% on your first order and you'll rack up points that

you can use the same way as cash every time you use the code and you'll also be supporting the show. Welcome in everybody to another episode of the Dynamic Dialogue Podcast. As always, I'm your host, Danny Matranga. And in this episode, I'm going to be sharing with you exactly how I optimize my fitness routine, my health, and maintain my progress, even gain progress while I travel, while I go on vacation, while I have to go places for events. All the tips, all the tricks, all the tactics. We'll talk about how to pack for various trips, how to find and locate gyms, how to stay fit and active if you don't have access to these things while traveling,

some big rock stuff you can do with food, as well as what I've done that's worked for me in the past and just having a good, thoughtful discussion around how to incorporate fitness and health promoting behaviors while you're traveling, whether that be for work, whether that be for leisure, vacation, et cetera. And so the first thing I have to say before we even get started is that many of you don't get the opportunity to take too many vacations. And for those of you that have families, a lot of times those vacations are kind of built around being with your family. So please don't hear what I'm not saying. I am not saying that you should forego enjoying your vacation and enjoying your trip so that you can get in one extra little workout or two extra little workouts that in the long run probably won't make a huge

difference. This has to do more with building a thoughtful toolbox for yourself and giving yourself all the equipment you need to be able to travel and stay fit and most importantly, maintain a good perspective around your health. I think too many people come completely unhinged when it's time to travel and they get really worried about losing their progress and not being able to reenter into a fitness routine. And one thing I see a lot with the clients we work with is that getting back into your routine is a lot easier when you maintain some health-promoting behaviors while traveling, but it's not altogether impossible. So I don't want any of you to ever sweat about your ability to maintain fitness if you just want to take a trip to totally, totally unplug and totally stay away.

I want to start the episode with two stories about two separate trips, one to Mexico and one to Hawaii that I think by and large represent the two most common situations that people will experience while traveling for leisure and specifically while traveling for work. And that is having access to a hotel slash resort gym or having no access to those things and needing to find a gym. So when I traveled to Mexico, I go to a all-inclusive resort. It's pretty bougie. You have the ability to order basically whatever you want to your room and there's lots of healthy options. And the crazy thing is I don't usually engage with those options. I try to enjoy myself, but they do have a gym that I think is pretty indicative of a lot of the gyms you'd find at resorts and hotels where you have a decent amount of dumbbells. You might even have a couple pieces of free weight equipment, maybe a

barbell, maybe a cable machine, but usually aerobic equipment and dumbbells. This is pretty standard. This is what you're going to find at most resorts and what you're going to find at most hotels. And when people travel more often than not, they're staying at resorts and hotels. A lot of people will stay at short-term rentals using websites like Verbo or Airbnb. And that probably is going to, that's probably going to be a situation where you don't have a gym included. Although I do know some people that do fitness specific short-term rentals. And I've even been thinking about eventually turning my residence into a fitness short-term rental since it has a cold plunge sauna and full gym. But most of the time, you're going to be going out to the gym in that situation or traveling

with some of the equipment we'll recommend. But if you are traveling to a hotel or resort that has dumbbells and aerobic equipment, you're going to be completely, completely fine. Okay. You might not have access to all the machines that are in your program. Like if you're on our elite physique program, you might have to make some concessions. If you're on our home heroes program, you're going to be completely fine. But if you have some barbell work, you might have to make some substitutions. So barbell cleans and snatches might be dumbbell cleans and snatches. Barbell presses can be dumbbell presses.

Barbell squats and deadlifts can be done with dumbbells or adjusted to unilateral variations of hinging and squatting, like lunging and B stance work. And a lot of those machines will make for great occasional kind of add-ons. You know, Hey, I normally hit leg extensions. They have leg extensions or, you know, finding a close substitute. I want to go heavy on squats. Don't have that. So I'll go heavy on this selectorized leg press, knowing when to make swaps and substitutions can make traveling to any resort or hotel that only has dumbbells and aerobic equipment a lot easier. Now we'll talk about a trip that I'm taking at the time of recording this. It's February 8th, but the last

week of February, I'll be on the big island of Hawaii with my partner. We're going out there. Her and I have never been together. She's never been to Hawaii, so I'm really looking forward to it. But the condominium we'll be staying at does not have a gym. So to stay fit, I'll have to pack some equipment or I'll have to get a week pass at a gym. And something I definitely recommend doing, if you want to maintain your fitness while you travel, you do not have to do this. With the clients we work with, we don't always recommend this for every client. Some clients are absolutely going to train while they vacation. For some, it's a great time to take a break. But I will call around. I have a gym that I like on the big island,

so I know who to call. But if I go to an area for longer than three to five days and I want to have access to a gym, I will call ahead and ask about the day pass or week pass policy. Chicago is a city I really enjoy. There are some incredible gyms you can go to. And for many of you, you might even build your vacation around visiting certain gyms. I know when I travel to Mexico, it's to Cancun, which is about an hour and a half from Tulum. And Tulum has a solid wood gym on the beach that people travel just to Tulum to use. So if you're traveling to a major city, you can even check in advance what the best gyms are in that city and try to get a day pass. Even if it's just for one to two days, it could cost

you $10 to $30 for a day pass. And that might be an enjoyable way for you to actually add to your vacation. Say, hey, we're going for seven days. I'm going to sneak away for an hour and a half and check out this gym. One day, do a total body workout this gym. Another day, do a total body workout. Or I'm going to do upper this day and lower this day. As long as your intensity's above like an RP six or seven, and you're doing one to two sets every couple of days, you're probably going to maintain most of the muscle performance and strength that you have just getting a couple gym workouts in. Now, when I go to Hawaii, I really enjoy to maintain my workout routine. It's part of my mental health routine. People train for the Ironman there.

So I'll get a full week pass for me and my girlfriend to go there and drop in more days than we don't for 40 to 45 minutes, catch a quick pump, go get an acai bowl by the beach, get some poke. These are largely health promoting behaviors that just feel natural and enjoyable for me. And a week pass usually costs less than day passes added up. So a day pass usually between 15 and 30 and a week pass I found is usually between 60 and 100. So those are some really good tools that you can implement to get a little bit more out of your fitness routine while traveling if you have access to a hotel gym or if you're going to need to get access because the trip is longer than, say, three to five days. So let's talk about now how to handle

traveling and maintaining fitness more generally if you're not in a situation where you're going to be able to get a week pass where you're going to be able to get a week pass or you're going to have access to a hotel gym, I'd say it's about 33.33% right down the line. About a third of the clients we work with are going to have hotel gyms or resort gyms. About a third are going to be comfortable going out and getting a week pass. And about another third, that's just not going to be reasonable in either situation because of location, obligations, limitations, et cetera, but they want to stay active. So here are some things that I think are really important. And this will be specific to talking about what you ought to

pack on your trip. The first thing is to pack workout clothes. I think that's pretty obvious. Underwear and socks are things you can never have in too high of supply. If you don't want them to take up too much space in your bag, you can put them into Ziplocs and squeeze the air out. But a couple pairs of functional athleisure multi-use outfits can actually be really valuable and space saving. And a lot of people don't talk about this, but this would be things like, hey, these Lululemon shorts can definitely be worn out to a, you know, like Lululemon has a lot of crossover shorts, but these Lululemon shorts can definitely be out worn out to an event and to the gym the next day before kind of being retired for being dirty. You don't have to fill

your suitcase entirely with workout clothes. You know, some of this stuff can have some crossover. I find for men, board shorts can work well specifically if you're going to a tropical destination. But the one thing you never want to be short on is socks and underwear. So you're going to want to load up on those. Now, another thing people want to travel with to maintain their fitness routine and their health routine are their supplements. And there's a few different ways to do this. We've got pills, we've got powders, we've got potions. So let's talk about the potions. These would be things like ready to drinks, energy drinks. These are not coming with you. They're probably not going to make it through TSA. You can try putting them in your checked bag,

but again, wouldn't necessarily recommend it. Too great of an opportunity for something like that to break, especially with altitude changes. Let's talk about powders. Specifically, the two powders that I find people are looking to bring with them the most, which are creatine powders and pre-workout powders, obviously protein powders. So three main ones, creatines, proteins, and pre-workouts. We'll start first with the protein because these usually have the largest serving and will take up the largest percentage of total space when packing. The best way I have found to travel with protein is to put some in a glass sealed Tupperware with a piece of tape that's labeled protein flavor. Put the name of the protein, put the manufacturer of the protein, okay? Chocolate, Legion, Whey Plus, put that taped on top of your sealed lid, fill the protein lid or fill the Tupperware with protein as much as

you'd like. Put the scooper in the Tupperware, seal it, put it in your check bag. I've never made it through TSA with powdered supplements that are unsealed. So a couple of times I've never made it through TSA with powdered supplements that are unsealed. So a couple of times I've tried to go through TSA with pre-workout or creatine in my checked bag, have not had very good luck with that. Or I'm sorry, with my carry-on bag, have not had very good luck with that. Wouldn't recommend it with protein. For those smaller supplements, assuming we're not going to try to take them in our carry-on bag because it's a big pain in the ass and it has a very, very high likelihood of you losing that to TSA, is to put them in baby food jars or small glass containers or even used supplement bottles, right? You can find like a little vitamin bottle or something. Put a couple scoops in with the

scooper. Again, put that in a bag, put that in your checked bag. So I find that works really, really well. And for pills, it's pretty easy. You can just leave them in their bottle, sealed or unsealed. You can put them all together into one bottle, sealed or unsealed. You can put them into a conventional pill container Monday through Sunday as these things are often manufactured. No problems. Now, I can't say for sure that if you're traveling internationally, you won't run into problems, but it's also a good idea if you know you want to maintain a regular or semi-consistent supplement routine that you remember a lot of these supplements are things that we can get from Whole Foods. What's going on, guys? Taking a break from this episode

to tell you a little bit about my coaching company, Core Coaching Method. More specifically, our app-based training. We partnered with Train Heroic to bring app-based training to you using the best technology and best user interface possible. You can join either my Home Heroes team, or you can train from home with bands and dumbbells, or Elite Physique, which is a female bodybuilding-focused program where you can train at the gym with equipments designed specifically to help you develop strength, as well as the glutes, hamstrings, quads, and back. I have more teams coming planned for a variety of different fitness levels. But what's cool about this is when you join these programs, you get programming that's updated every single week, the sets to do, the reps to do, exercise tutorials filmed by me

with me and my team. So you'll get my exact coaching expertise as to how to perform the movement, whether you're training at home or you're training in the gym. And again, these teams are somewhat specific. So you'll find other members of those communities looking to pursue similar goals at similar fitness levels. You can chat, ask questions, upload form for form review, ask for substitutions. It's a really cool training community and you can try it completely free for seven days. Just click the link in the podcast description below. Can't wait to see you in the Core Coaching Collective, my app-based training community. Back to the show. Taking a little break from the action here to tell you about our amazing partner,

Seed. Seed makes the best probiotic supplement on the market, bar none. I'm very confident with that because I think that the probiotic space and the gut health space in general is filled with people who have no idea what they're talking about or who are looking to make a buck. This isn't to say your gut health isn't important. In fact, it's probably one of the most important and most intriguing developments we have seen in modern medicine and modern physiology. Our relationship with our guts is critical. It's crucial. And taking care of that by eating a lot of different plants, a lot of different fruits and vegetables, getting a diverse array of fiber and resistant starches can go a long way. But so can supplementing with a high quality probiotic. Seed makes the best

probiotic on the market with 53.6 billion active fluorescent units. These are organisms that are going to be alive and helping transfer a variety of different benefits to the human host. All these things are actually proven to work in humans. These strains work in humans, not rodents. Seed is not cheaping out here by providing you with any random strain. They're providing you with strains that help with digestive health, gut immunity, gut barrier integrity, dermatological health, cardiovascular health, micronutrient synthesis, as well as many other things. They're vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free,

soy-free, nut-free, shellfish-free. So very friendly for those of you who may have a variety of different allergies and who are looking for a supplement you can take that can enhance a variety of different things. I have a very, very good track record over many, many years of having to deal with things like eczema and having to deal with things like psoriasis on occasion, especially when the weather changes. And I swear to you, since I started taking seed, I have noticed substantially less of that. And there's four strains included in seed shown to help with things like atopic dermatitis. So there you go. Not to mention the plethora of strains for the health of your gut. If you're looking to take your gut

health to the next level, you can go to seed.com. Subscribe for their daily symbiotic. You can take one or two a day. You can share it with a partner. Sometimes you can do that. But it goes a long way. It's the best probiotic supplement on the market. I absolutely love it. And you can use the code Danny 15 to save back to the show. Hey guys, taking a break from the action to tell you about one of our favorite new sponsors, underdog fantasy. If you're like me, you love sports. Sports was actually how I got into fitness in the first place. And one of my favorite things to do when I'm not working out or working with my clients is watch and engage in sports with my friends. Underdog is the best fantasy sports app out there for best ball and for pick'em. If you like

football, basketball, baseball, hockey, soccer, WNBA, UFC, boxing, Underdog has something exciting for you. You can bet on your favorite teams. You can bet on your favorite players in the easiest and simplest way to engage at a higher level with sports. It's so much fun to be able to do a pick-em with a player from the NBA team I like and from the NFL team I like. Do you think LeBron James is going to have more or less than 22 and a half points? Do you think Steph Curry is going to make more or less than four and a half threes?

Whether or not you are an avid sports fan or you just like sports recreationally, underdog fantasy is an amazingly fun way to engage with sports, to take your sports watching experience to the next level. And ladies, if you like sports, but you don't love them, but your man does, make an underdog account. Have fun with him. I promise you it will bring you guys closer together.

It is an absolute blast. I do it all the time with my friends and my family. It's simple. It's easy to understand. With Pick'Em, you can pick two players to three times your entry, three players to six times your entry, four players to five times, 10 times your entry, and up to five players to 20 times your entry. So you pick five players on your favorite teams. to five players to 20 times your entry. So you pick five

players on your favorite teams. You pick the stat line over or under bet five bucks, win 120 X your money. So many cool ways to play. There's also best ball as we get closer to fantasy where you can draft teams against your friends or against other people on underdog for your shot at millions of dollars in prizes. This is definitely one of my favorite things to do when I am playing or watching sports. I love underdog and you can go to the app store today, download underdog, enter the promo code Danny, and they will match your first deposit up to a hundred dollars. You'll have a blast playing underdog all season long. up to a hundred dollars. You'll have a blast playing underdog all season long back to the action. So if you're really struggling, like, gosh, I can't get enough protein. Uh, I can't

take my protein with me. Aim to eat more protein. Oh, I can't take my creatine with me. Aim to eat more meat specifically. Oh, I can't eat. Take my multivitamin with me. Aim to eat more nutrient dense whole foods. You don't need the supplements anyway. That's why they're called supplements, but they're definitely easy to travel with if you know the right way to do this. Okay. Another tip I have for you, if you are packing for your trip, is specific to what equipment you may or may not be able to bring with you. There are two pieces of equipment that I find travel extremely well. We'll touch on these more when we talk about how to travel with limited access, but there are bands

and TRX. I find TRX weighs less than a pound or two pounds. You should bring the door jam stopper with you and bands travel very well additionally. So those are things you can pack with you to give yourself the best opportunity. Another big hack I have, a big pro tip, if you will, is to travel in a workout outfit, if possible. Travel in your workout shoes, travel in a pair of workout clothes, maybe even two. And what I mean by this would be workout shorts, okay? Underneath a pair of workout sweats, workout top underneath a workout zip up and workout shoes. All five of those items, two workouts were the clothes and workout shoes for the whole trip that you can wear on the damn plane with you and keep it out of your bag. So that's one that I think works real, real well. And I think that's probably the number one success tip

I have for you. So let's talk really quick about if you are in a situation where you're going to be traveling, this would be a situation similar to the Hawaii scenario I gave you, where you're looking for a gym. You're like, but how is it that I determine which gym I should go to? So this is where leveraging tools like Google search and reviews and Yelp are really, really valuable. You might find that the community you're traveling to, the area you're traveling to has some amazing gyms that are totally worth checking out, but maybe you haven't heard of them because you're not from the area. Utilizing a network of friends or search like Google or Yelp to identify what are the best gyms in the area

can be a really valuable tool. Then call around and ask about single day or week passes. It's a good idea as well to call your hotel and make sure that they have the equipment that they advertise because when we work with clients who travel a lot, one of the things we will do and tools that we will really leverage is working their routine around the gym that they're going to be visiting or the resort that they're going to be staying at. And it's happened multiple times where either a hotel or resort will advertise that they have a fitness center without having any pictures, or they'll use pictures that are either older than what they currently have or stock images that don't actually denote their actual fitness setup, which can be a big pain in the butt. So it's definitely a good idea to call

the resort in advance and ask, hey, does the equipment match the pictures? Or do you have new equipment? Or do you have a fitness center or room? I don't see one here. I don't see photos. This happens 10 to 20% of the time. If you really want to maximize the likelihood of sticking with it and making sure things are the way they seem or appear, I would definitely recommend calling. So here's what I would do if your situation just isn't going to be very agreeable for traveling and maintaining your fitness. So this means, like I said, there's about a third of a chance you're going to have a gym. We talked about that quite a bit. There's a third of a chance you're going to be in an area where you can call and get a week pass to the gym.

We talked a little bit about that, but there is a final area, a final situation, which unfortunately kind of sucks. And that is if you just do not have access to any kind of gym at where you're staying or in the area. So this could be travel out of the country. This could be travel to small towns. This is where bringing some equipment and adjusting your lifestyle can really help. So the first thing to consider is this. can really help. So the first thing to consider is this. Don't be afraid to work a deload into your trip, okay? There's plenty of ways to stay fit and healthy and active while you're on vacation. But one of the best options for those of you who are super active and already training really hard is to plan your deload around your trip. This can be a great way to take a break from your normal workout routine and give your body some much needed rest. Many of the people who I find are most concerned about working out while traveling

are also the people for whom a deload would probably serve the best. There are people who are already training really, really hard and simply taking a couple days or even a full week off or only engaging in some health promoting behaviors like body weight exercise and lots of steps can actually be a really, really phenomenal tool. A deload is definitely the best thing to do and definitely the best approach to take if you are traveling and your equipment access is limited and you're already pretty engaged. Now, if you're new to fitness and wanting to maintain a routine or get a routine going or keep a routine going, you have a lot of other options too. This applies for deload enthusiasts too, but you should definitely look to take lots of steps. Many destinations provide an incredible opportunity for walking and sightseeing. Booking to deliberately get more steps and do more on foot can really help you stay fit and not have as big of an impact on your weight that is oftentimes associated with vacation

and vacation style eating. You can pack bands and TRX. TRX is awesome. Suspension training is a great way to train your back and your shoulders and your core specifically. And all you usually need is a good piece of equipment and a doorframe. Bands can go really far. A light pair of bands can be used for front raises, lateral raises, lateral band walks. A heavy band can be used for rowing, squatting, and even hinge-like movements. You can obviously train triceps and biceps with bands pretty easily.

And just those two pieces of equipment will give you a ton of versatility. Knowing what body weight movements to pair with that, like pushups, chin-ups, lunges, and split squats can allow you to train your whole body really effectively with little to no equipment. And again, if you're somebody who doesn't prioritize their aerobic work, and I know many of you don't, it'll also just be fine to get a couple of runs in, you know, just go on a couple of light runs in the morning before your day starts, before everything gets going and build your aerobic capacity. Aerobic adaptations tend to stick around a little longer than anaerobic adaptations. So a couple of light runs that,

you know, gently elevate your aerobic threshold that should come home with you, couple of light runs that gently elevate your aerobic threshold, that should come home with you. But don't overdo it anytime you run. Another thing you can work on too that I really like is the inclusion of body weight exercise, which we've talked about, but specifically core work. These are just unique stimuli that are going to be challenging. They're new. You can still do them pretty hard. But one thing I like about it is it's going to make you crave getting back in there and doing the weights. So don't be too discouraged if you're not going to be able to find access to weights, lots of walking, lots of running, staying active, doing body weight exercises, packing a few things are the tools you can, you know, have access to

that will help. And this all filters through my original, you know, kind of statement that you don't have to do shit, especially if you're pretty active, might be good to just step away and definitely don't guilt yourself into this. You're not going to get nearly as many vacations in life as you are workouts. And I don't think it's fair to let the workouts ruin a vacation. So let's talk about what to do with food because food and travel is always something that's really, really challenging. So the first thing I would say is plan to be in a surplus. Okay. Plan to be in a surplus. Most people travel, they enjoy food. You're probably going to eat a little bit more than normal. That's reasonable. If you're planning on being in a surplus, be a little gentle with yourself when it comes to your weight, especially

as you travel with the, when you get back, elevation and sodium and stress can really cause the scale to independently go up, you know, non-related to the calories you ate, but just plan, Hey, I'm probably going to be in a surplus. Start massaging that. Think about that. What can you do though, to stay fit and stay as healthy as possible? Three big things. You can try to get at least a half a gram to a sixth of a gram or 0.6 grams per pound of body weight and protein every day. I'm not saying go all the way up to a gram per pound. For a lot of you, that'll be easy on vacation. For others, that'll be hard. Try to stick to at least a half a gram per pound of body weight. Give your muscles a little bit of fuel while you enjoy the kind of foods that the area has to offer. Definitely make a point to

stay hydrated. Load up on water when you're traveling. It won't make a very, very big difference on your appetite and general well-being. A lot of people will consume more alcohol and caffeine when traveling and forget to up the water. So definitely do that. And the last tip I have for you is enjoy the fruits and vegetables, especially if you're traveling somewhere that has unique fruits and vegetables. Up your exposure to a bunch of different micronutrients. And remember, life's just way too short not to enjoy your vacation. So try to reduce the thoughts you have around making good food decisions to some really simple, really high leverage behavior. Okay, so there you have it, folks. Those are all of the strategies and tips

and tricks I've developed over the years for traveling while staying fit. I hope this gives you some ideas for your next trip. And I want you to be sure, do not forget, don't pack your supplements, I had to say this multiple times to people, in your carry-on bag. If you're going to try to bring that stuff with you, throw it in your checked bag, label it clearly, and don't be surprised if it doesn't make it. you throw it in your checked bag, label it clearly, and don't be surprised if it doesn't make it. Most of the time it does, but you know, in general writ large, a lot of what you guys are worrying about in terms of like packing supplements or finding gyms can largely be mitigated by just eating enough protein, staying hydrated, eating some fruits and vegetables and being smart with some body weight or occasional gym drop-ins. Okay. Enjoy any vacations you have. If you've

got one coming up, I hope this was well-timed. Enjoy any vacations you have. If you've got one coming up, I hope this was well-timed. Thanks so much for tuning in. Be sure to share this one. Leave me a five-star rating and review on iTunes, Apple podcasts, or Spotify. It helps me grow the podcast so, so much. I love you forever. Thanks so much. And I'll catch you on the next one.