Getting Fit for Travel

Practice hill walking

Get out around your home town/city and practice walking up hills, or even steps. This will have you in tip top shape for travel in no time. If you’re travelling somewhere hot, then try to think about ways to keep cool while exerting yourself – whether that’s taking a partially frozen bottle of water or camelback, or something more high tech like a branded cooling neck tie that you can buy from sports and DIY shops.

Practice walking with a load.

Another way to improve your travel fitness is to lug gear. Even if you plan on using a suitcase on wheels rather than a pack, you’ll still find yourself carrying groceries and other stuff while travelling. It’s good to get a bit of arm fitness for this. If you don’t have the time or inclination to practice, you’ll build it up while you’re travelling pretty quickly, so it’s no big deal.

Get some weight off

No one likes to be told to lose weight but if you’re carrying an extra stone then it can make a difference, especially if you’re planning on travelling to a hot country. Imagine carrying that extra weight in your pack instead of on your body, and you can see how much harder your body needs to work to deal with the extra weight.

That said, don’t get too skinny before a trip either. If you have a tendency to gain weight, you’ll probably gain weight while travelling. If you have a tendency to lose weight, you’ll probably lose weight while travelling. You want to be in good condition when you travel and this means being around the right weight and well dehydrated. This will help you bounce back quicker if you’re unfortunate enough to get something like a gastro bug during your trip.

Detox

When you travel you’re going to be leaving all your comfort foods behind. Of course, you’ll get the opportunity to sample lots of new ones. Prior to travel is a great time to start detoxing from that snickers bar you find yourself craving everyday at 4pm. You might even consider getting a blood test to check your iron and vitamin levels before you travel. This is especially true if you’re vegetarian. Your may find your nutrition gets disrupted while you’re travelling so consider finding a brand of vitamins you like and use that to top up your reserves. If you’re going to be experiencing multiple winters in a row due to changing hemispheres, then pay attention to your Vitamin D level. You don’t want to be starting out in a borderline state.

Photo Credit: Creative Commons, Andrew Bowden

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