Here Are the Only Traveling Cardio Exercises You Need

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Are you planning to give yourself a long-overdue break from work and travel abroad for a good family vacation? If yes, then that sounds great and exciting for you, but is it good news for your body?

When you are on the road, you are not going to have any access to your fancy workout equipment or your gym. Hotels usually do not have any workout areas with special equipment and the few that do can, unfortunately, are heavy on your wallet.

Down below we have curated a special list of exercises that can be easily managed while travelling. They do not require any additional equipment to carry along with you and are fairly easy to do on the go.

Tip: Read some suggestions on how to travel light, they might come in handy during your next trip.

women Skipping rope

Jump Rope

This classic exercise is perfect for any adventure. Simply pack in a rope and you can do it anywhere you like – as long as you have the space to move.

Technique

Hold the two handles of a jumping rope in each of your hands. With both your hands on your sides, rotate the rope and jump while the rope passes below your feet.

All you need to carry with you to be able to perform this exercise is a sturdy jumping rope and a good pair of shoes to keep you going without hurting your feet. We will also advise you to keep a pair of workout shorts to avoid sweating over and ruining your travel outfits.

There are even different iterations of jumping rope. You can either alternate between each foot, cross your feet, jump on a single foot, jump with your knees high up, or jump two arches at once.

walking up stairs bright exercise shoes

Benefits

For an average individual who weighs around 150 pounds, doing fast jumping for twenty minutes can burn 270 calories. This is why jumping rope is considered a greatly beneficial form of cardio.

Precautions

While jumping rope is considered one of the easiest and most effective ways to do cardio, it is still a high-impact exercise. Therefore, do not try to jump too high when you’re just starting. You should only jump to the height that is necessary to skip the rope.

Once you practice and understand the limits of your own body, you can then start experimenting with different techniques. There’s also a chance of you tripping on the rope when you’re first starting.

Jumping Tip: Use your wrists to turn the jumping rope instead of your arms.

jumping jacks on the beach

Jumping Jacks

Jumping Jacks might just be the easiest form of cardio workout you can find. The best thing is that it does not require any special equipment to do it. All that’s required is a good comfortable pair of shoes.

Technique

The procedure to carry out jumping jacks is fairly simple. What you essentially need to do is jump while moving your feet wide apart and extending both your arms overhead. And then you jump again while bringing your legs back together and arms by your side.

Jumping Jacks have quite a few variations to this method that you can try out if this one is getting too monotonous:

  • You can try doing plyo-jacks where you alternate between squatting and jumping in the air.
  • Another strategy is called push-up jacks which requires you to jump your legs together while doing push-ups simultaneously.

Benefits

A 150-pound person doing jumping jacks continuously at a fast pace can burn 135 calories in just ten minutes. This, plus the fact that it does not require any special equipment or skill set, is why it is considered one of the easiest cardio workouts that one can do.

Instead of carrying a heavy gym bag with all your workout gear, you can just do this exercise to stay fit. A short 5-minute workout while you’re on the road and starting to feel sluggish, can also get your heart rate up and make you more active.

Precautions

Jumping jacks, just like jumping ropes, are also considered a high-impact workout. This exercise requires you to jump thus putting your full body’s weight on your knees and feet. They may put stress on your joints so keep in mind to test out your limits before pushing yourself too far.

people running on the beach

Mountain Climbers

This is sort of like jogging but you stay in one place. This exercise is bound to get your heart racing and burn some calories.

Technique

All you need to do to prepare for this is to put on a good pair of shoes and you’re good to go. To start, go down on all fours (hands and feet). Your hands and feet should be shoulder length apart, with your elbows slightly bent.

Then, lift your one knee towards the elbow on the same side (ie. if it’s the right knee, it goes to the right elbow). Repeat this process until you get tired and then do two to three sets of that.

There are other variations of this exercise. You can try crossing your knees so that they touch the opposite elbow or placing your hands wider apart so that your knees have to go wider too.

man jogging outdoors

Benefits

We love this exercise because of how simple and accessible it is. No special equipment or workout gear is needed. You can easily use this workout technique to stay fit and healthy during your travels.

Mountain climbers may sound too simple, but try it and you will see that it is not as easy as it sounds. This is the simplest cardio routine anyone can have. You can also use this as a warm-up before your high-intensity workouts, too.

Precautions

As a high-impact workout technique, it can pressurize and tax the joints, but since you are only jogging in one place, it’s a lot less intense in comparison to running outside.

people hiking in the hills

Final Thoughts on Travel Exercises

Whether you travel to Dubai or Bali, it’s always good to keep in shape. The long flights and budget commutes can be taxing on your muscles so try to get them moving from time to time.

Armed with the above information, you should be able to defeat any muscle cramps you face while travelling. Did we leave out any easy exercises? Let us know in the comments below!

Matt Davison
Matt has done marketing for travel and tourism for over a decade. His first love is SEO, with entrepreneurship hotter on its heels than a girlfriend. When he is not looking up flights back to his next destination, you can find him in the garden, making excuses to walk Rusty, strategizing with the team and tinkering on sites until the early morning.