Taking your workout on the road: six ways to make exercise part of your next business trip

We all know that regularly exercising on the road will boost our well-being but how many of us actually do it? According to a recent survey of frequent travelers by USA Today, 49 percent of respondents said they were in worse shape because of business travel. The same percentage reported they exercise less on the road than at home. Probably the most common excuse is "I'm too heavily programmed when I'm on the road. I don't have the time, and something has to go." But workouts are even more important while traveling, to combat extra calories, jet lag, and stress.

Everyone can find the time and energy to exercise on the road. It doesn't require two hours a day in the hotel's health club to maintain the many fitness benefits of exercise. Even a 10-minute walk twice a day can get you on the road to feeling better.

Working Out on the Road

Keep in mind these travel fitness principles while on the road.

1. Listen to Your Body

After a grueling journey, our bodies can be in a mild state of shock. Changes in altitude, time zones, stiff muscles from sitting in a plane or car, and general fatigue all increase the risk of injury while exercising. Common sense dictates that we shouldn't run a marathon immediately after arriving at a destination. But what is the right amount of exercise? The answer is different for each of us and depends on interpreting the cues our body sends us.

Experts advise avoiding rigorous exercise for the first 24 hours after arrival to give the body time to adjust. "After long-distance traveling and crossing different time zones, if you're just so tired that you feel it violates good judgment to work out, then don't," says Dr. dames Rippe of the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

If you've traveled a long way, make your first exercise session easy. Focus more on stretching and light aerobic activity such as brisk walking or swimming in the hotel pool instead of heavy-duty weight training.

As you exercise, if something begins to hurt or cause excessive fatigue, slow down or stop. If discomfort persists, take time off from your program and consult with a trainer or physician.

2. Maintain a Balanced Fitness Program on the Road

A balanced fitness program includes aerobic, strength, and flexibility training. Ideally your at-home routine already incorporates these three fitness components. Don't lose sight of these goals on the road.

Focus your travel workouts in a way that mirrors what you're already doing at home. Maintaining at least a semblance of an at-home routine creates structure and familiarity, two requisites to feeling better and more connected while away.

Whatever blend of activities you use to achieve your specific fitness objectives, try to replicate them on the road. If you've been cross-training at home, you'll find it easier to find suitable options while away. For example, if you regularly bike, row, and jog at home, you may find it easier just to jog while traveling. But aim to increase the amount of time you spend stretching and warming up. "Whether you're flying or sitting in long meetings, travel increases the amount of time spent in a chair. Your muscles are tighter," says Dr. John J. Bagshaw, president of the Physis Prevention Center. "If you're going to work out, a longer warm-up makes sense."

"If one part of your routine has to go, don't let it be aerobic training," says Dr. Rippe. "The cornerstone of any fitness program, and the one that has been shown to relieve stress, is aerobic conditioning. If travelers can commit to that and develop a good routine of stretching around it, they won't suffer too much on the road," he says.

3. Use It or Lose It

Many people who have regular workout routines worry about losing fitness benefits if they don't exercise while traveling--for good reason. The benefits of exercise don't last. Unfortunately, the more fit you are, the more you have to lose.

Aerobic conditioning is the first element of fitness to suffer from inactivity. After about two weeks of not exercising, about 10 percent of aerobic capacity is lost. After four to eight weeks, you're back to square one. "If you trained for 20 years and then take off four to eight weeks, your aerobic fitness level is going to be back to what it was 21 years ago," says John Duncan, an exercise physiologist and chief of clinical application at the Cooper Institute for Aerobic Research in Dallas. Strength lasts a bit longer; it takes between eight and 10 weeks to lose an appreciable amount.

Don't panic at the specter of losing your fitness level on the road. You can do less for a time and still stay in shape. According to Neil Gordon, M.D., Ph.D., research has shown that a person can maintain all of his or her hard-earned fitness benefits for up to three weeks by following three rules during the period of reduced activity.

4. While Traveling, Be Creative and Flexible With Your Workout

Keeping an open mind and being willing to try something new will help you maintain your fitness level while traveling. "Travelers have to be more creative in finding time and ways to stay active," says David Jackson, an exercise physiologist at the University of South Carolina. The good news is that being in a new environment provides numerous opportunities to diversify your exercise regime--if you take the time to look for them. Traveling to different climates also opens up fitness options. Travel to a warm place creates an opening for tennis, water sports, bike riding, or rollerblading. Heading to a cold climate means ice skating and cross-country skiing.

"Anyone who travels a lot has to be a chameleon. That way, you get the most of what every city has to offer," says Barbara Wambach, a San Francisco-based traveler. While traveling to eastern Asia, Wambach takes advantage of state-of-the-art health clubs. In Florence, Italy, where she has yet to find a good gym, she walks or rents a bike. In resort locations she opts for water sports such as scuba diving or windsurfing. "Your exercise routine must be flexible to where you are," she says.

5. Something Is Better Than Nothing

We've all heard the axiom that you have to work out at least 20 minutes per session to benefit from aerobic exercise. Many a traveler has put exercise on hold, waiting for a sufficient block of time, which too often never materializes. But not having enough time isn't an excuse any longer. New studies show that a regular, moderate amount of activity, spread throughout the course of a day, will keep you healthy. Even three 10-minute sessions of moderate intensity exercise a day can improve cardiovascular fitness and help you lose weight. The goal of 20 to 30 minutes of high-intensity aerobic activity three or more times a week is no longer the minimum exercise mandate. Guidelines from the American College of Sports Medicine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports advocate accumulating 30 minutes or more of moderate-intensity physical activity over the course of most days of the week.

Few people are too busy to accrue 30 minutes of activity every day. It's potentially as simple as walking briskly to meetings, taking the hotel stairs instead of the elevator, or jogging in place in your hotel room.

6. Get It Done in the Morning.

When planning your on-the-road exercise, keep in mind that the earlier in the day you schedule it, the more likely you're going to get it done. The reason is simple nothing will get in your way. Even on the busiest trip, how much is usually scheduled between 6 30 a.m. and 8 00 a.m.? By getting up 30 to 45 minutes earlier and going for a walk or heading to the hotel gym, your exercise plans won't be waylaid by long meetings or last-minute scheduling changes later in the day. In fact, studies show that people who work out first thing in the morning are more consistent over the long term with exercise. Nearly all of the CEOs interviewed by Dr. Rippe worked out early in the morning. "They found through bitter experience that their day started falling apart if they didn't do it first thing in the morning," says Dr. Rippe. What's more, a morning workout is a great metabolism booster. And getting outdoors for some exercise in the morning sunlight will help reset your jet-lagged biological clock.

Of course your body needs to cooperate in your plans. Timing workouts is an individual thing. There are larks and owls. If rising early to work up a sweat is about as appealing as joining the folks who cut back the ice on some frigid lake each winter to go for a swim, remember the best workout time is the time you'll actually do it.

RELATED ARTICLE: Rule 1:

Exercise at least every third day. "If you can't exercise every day, it's not the end of the world, but you do want to be exercising at least every third day," Dr. Gordon says.

Rule 2:

You can cut the length of the aerobic portion of your routine by two thirds, but you must keep the intensity the same. For example, if you jog at a nine-minute-mile pace for 45 minutes at home, you must jog for at least 15 minutes at the same pace on the road.

Rule 3:

Do your strength training program at least once a week, using the same amount of resistance.

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