5 Easy Ways to Blast Fat, Even when You're Traveling for the Holidays

Vitamin G, Glamour Magazine

by Lexi Petronis

Kyle Ericksen
Kyle Ericksen

The holidays can often mean traveling to stay in someone else's house or a hotel--good things, definitely! But they also mean that your normal daily schedule is disrupted, which calls for a little strategizing when it comes to keeping up with your usual workout activities. (Lifting Christmas cookies to your mouth don't count as exercise...much as I'd like them to.)

So here are a few ideas to keep up with the exercise over the holidays, even when you're traveling...because, really, the holidays are stressful enough!

Get a weeklong pass to a gym or yoga studio in the area you'll be visiting. Google around to find a place in the city in which you'll be holidaying (which sounds fancy!) and ask if they have visitors' passes available. Sometimes gyms will even offer free guest passes.

Make walk dates. When you head home to visit family and old friends, you know how fast your datebook fills up--lunch here, dinner there, and drinks in between? Replace some of those appointments with walks instead, which can burn 200 to 300 calories an hour--plus give you plenty of time to talk (and sights to talk about!).

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Watch TV...but don't just watch! The holidays are filled with opportunities to watch football or your favorite movies (A Christmas Story, anyone?) with your family and friends. During commercial breaks, hit the floor for a set of sit-ups or jumping jacks--or, if it feels too awkward to be the person in the room that's randomly exercising, wander around the house for a few minutes, or watch the game while standing up (and try balancing on one leg while doing so, which surreptitiously helps work your core).


Bring along some DVDs. Throw a few of your favorite workout DVDs into your bag--here are some of our faves--so that you can do them from the privacy of your hotel room, or commandeer the family TV after-hours and get in a quick workout. If you're bringing along your laptop, there are also lots of amazing online workout options, and even Skype workouts that keep you in touch with motivating personal trainers.

Improvise. There are plenty of exercises that you can do before leaving the hotel for holiday dinner or heading downstairs to join the family--using nothing more than your body weight (no accessories needed!). Just give this intense seven-minute full-body workout a try for proof.

So how do you keep your workouts going while traveling for the holidays?

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