[SB 214] Working out workouts on the road

I’m Matt, and welcome to Steady Beats. If you like to walk for a better life, and also like Dire Straits’ “Walk of Life,” you just might like this newsletter.

It was a whirlwind trip over a the weekend, to see my sister, her family, and the Spartans. Know this: the Michigan State football program, at this moment, is best described as a tire fire in a contaminated dumpster floating down a polluted river.

(But know this: the Spartans will be back!)

Anyway—totally worth it! We had a great time, scoreboard be damned.

But it disrupted, if not quite derailed, my normal fitness routine. So here are some things I did to help stay somewhat on track on the road and in the airport. Hopefully you can use a few of these on your next trip.

Take the stairs, not the escalator

Those steps add up in the airport, especially if you have a bag over your shoulder. (Or in my case, one over my shoulder and one in each hand.) Take the stairs if you can. It’s like the HOV lane on the freeway: there’s no traffic over there. You can breeze along while get some cardio in.

Walk while you wait

You are not obligated to sit in an uncomfortable, crumb-laden plastic seat at the gate as you wait to get into your next uncomfortable, crumb-laden seat on the plane.

Walk.

Airports are great for walking. Put your headphones on and people watch. There’s no better laboratory from which to observe the oddest of human behavior:

Revel in the lawlessness by moving through it. It’s entertaining, and it’s exercise.

Work out, but shorter

For the last six weeks or so, I’ve done long elliptical sessions on Saturday mornings; sometimes two hours.

But a shorter workout is better than nothing. I wrenched in 4.5 miles early last Saturday morning. Between that and the many steps around MSU’s campus, I went north of 22,000 steps for the day.

If you can, workout short rather than skipping.

Eat less

If you’re below your normal activity threshold, you don’t need as many calories. I skipped breakfast, for example. You can even things out over the short term with less food intake.

Stay hydrated

Flying freeze-dries us, leaving us dehydrated. And it’s easy to get off your normal hydration groove when you’re not at home.

It’s a bad combination.

Keep drinking water. Thirst can sometimes disguise itself as hunger. Don’t let it.

Take the pressure off

If you have an established fitness habit, a few days missed on a road trip is not the end of the world. I see a phrase that bounces around Twitter — “never take a zero!” — meaning always do something physical.

It depends on what you’re measuring.

If fitness is all that matters, then yes, missing a workout is a zero. If your scoreboard includes visiting your nieces, seeing an old friend, and spending an incredible and memorable day on campus with your daughter rooting for a beloved (if bad) team, then, well, that’s a 100 even without a workout.

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