This is how you rock a workout in your hotel room

Ever since I’m living a healthy lifestyle and working out became part of my life, I continue this way of living during my holidays as well. In my article New York State of Mind you could read all about my work outs in the park. It's also possible to have a 30-minute work-out in your hotel room! So if you're planning to go on a holiday and don’t have a gym nearby, don't worry; you'll stay fit with the following seven exercises. YEAH!

This is how you rock a workout in your hotel room

Warming up
Before you start to exercise you first need to warm up your cute butt. You can do this by running up and down the stairs or in the corridor of your hotel, depending on which floor your room is ;).  Or you could stay in your hotel room and do a short high intensity warming up by running in place. Do this for approx. 3 minutes. After the first 3 minutes try to pull up your knees above your hip and stay in this position for 1 minute. Continue your warming up by running 2 more minutes (in place or up and down the stairs). Now you have woken up your body, you can continue your warming up with 2 x 10 jumping lunges and / or jumping squats and alternate this exercise with 2 x 25 jumping jacks.

Shake and stretch your body loose like you are doing a funny dance. Set the alarm clock on your smartphone at 30 minutes. Put on the radio or play your work-out playlist on your smartphone, and you are ready to ROCK your hotel room work out.

30-minute hotel room work-out

#1 dips
Every hotel room comes with at least one chair. If you spend your holiday at a luxury hotel you even have a bath-tub ;). Either way you can use them to do dips by positing your hands shoulder-width apart on the border of the chair, bed or bath-tub. Like in the pictures below.
  

Slide your butt off the front of the chair with your legs extended in front of you, or keep your legs bend in a 90-degree angle. Straighten your arms, bending your elbows to keep tension on your triceps and off your elbow joints. Slowly bend your elbows to lower your body towards the floor until your elbows are at about a 90-degree angle. Be sure to keep your back close to the chair and don’t stop breathing ;) Once you almost reach the floor, press down into the chair to straighten your elbows, returning to the starting position and exhale your breath. That's ONE REP! YEAH :)

Tip: Look up while doing your dips, it will help you keep you’re back straight and your chest out.

You can do 15 reps per set and try to do three or four sets. In between the sets you can take 20 seconds rest to catch your breath and / or shake your arms out. (Want to do more reps per set? Be my guest, whatever works for you and your body)

#2 leg raises
Every since the 30 day AB challenge I like to do this exercise: leg raises.
Start by laying flat on a your hotel room towel with your legs straight and your hands palms down beneath or beside your butt. By placing your hands palms down beneath your butt you can support your back extra and keep balance during this exercise.

 

During this exercise you need to contract your abs-muscles and slightly bend your knees (don’t lock your knees) as you slowly lift your legs into a vertical position. Hold this position as you inhale. Lower your legs slowly until they almost touch the ground. Keep your legs there and exhale your breath. Repeat your leg raises as many times as you can in 1 or 2 minutes or try to make sets of 20 reps and repeat your set two or three times.

#3 wall squat
In my gym we do a lot of squat exercises. The wall squat is perfect for a hotel room work-out. Since every hotel room has walls… at least I think ;) .

It is important to stand straight against the wall, with your legs extended out. Your feet should be about 2 feet away from the wall slightly wider than hip-width apart. Keep your shoulders down. You can hold your arms against the wall or straighten them out in front of you like in the picture.

Then lower your body down against the wall as if you are sitting down into a chair. Continue until your thighs are parallel to the ground. You need to make sure your knees won't go further forward than your toes. Keep your abs tight to ensure a straight spine. Hold this position for approx. 30 seconds and stand up straight again. You can repeat this exercise 4 or 5 times and extend the time by 30 seconds every time. Reps: 30 seconds, 1 minute, 1,5 minute, 2 minutes, 2,5 minutes for as long you can hold on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

#4 push-up
I used to hate doing push-ups because I didn’t know how to do them. But now I am all about this total body exercise that builds both my upper body and core strength! YEAH! Make sure to keep your back straight at all times. Get on the floor and position your hands slightly wider than your shoulders. Rise up onto your toes so you are balanced on your hands and toes (see picture).

Keep your body in a straight line from head to toe without bending in the middle or arching your back. You can put your feet close together or wider apart depending what is comfortable for your body and at your capacity.

Before you start your push-up don’t forget to contract your abs muscles and tighten your core by pulling your belly button toward your spine. It is important to keep a tight core throughout the entire push-up.

Inhale as you slowly bend your elbows and lower yourself until your elbows are at a 90-degree angle. Exhale or breathe as you begin pushing back up to the start position. For women push-ups can be hard, so don’t expect to do 20 push-ups in a row. Take a break after five push-up and finish your set.

If a regular push-up is still to hard to complete you can try the knee push-up. It is the exact the same exercise only you will be on your knees instead of on your toes. Important is to keep a straight back with the knee push-up and bring your elbows at a 90-degree angle beside your body, otherwise you would be bending over and that is not a push-up.

#5 lunge
The lunge would be my least favorite exercise, since I sometimes experience a knee injury. But hey, we need to do lunges to have strong legs, I guess ;)

First of all, keep your upper body straight. Don’t bend forward or backwards but keep your shoulders and back straight and relaxed. Put your chin up and have a focus point so you keep your balance during the exercise.
Take a step forward with one leg, lowering your hips until both knees are bent in about 90-degree angel. It's very important to keep your font knee directly above your ankle and not further forward. So NOT like in the picture below. I accidentally put my front knee to much foward in the picture… ☹ SORRY. But you get the idea right? ;)

Your other knee, the one that is behind your back, does not touch the floor. Step back and take a step forward with your other leg and get in the same position.
You can do three or four sets of 20 left leg lunges and 20 right leg lunges.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#6 twist crunch
The twist crunch is a new exercise I added to my home workouts and is also a good one for the hotel room work-out. Get your hotel room towel again and lay flat on it on your back. Your head and neck muscles should be relaxed and your hands in position to support the head. Keep your back flat on the floor. The hips and shoulders should be completely in contact with the floor but the back has a natural curve, which should be maintained. Keep your chin away from your chest, so you can keep breathing easily.

 

Instead of lifting both shoulders off the ground equally, like with a crunch, for the twist crunch you lift one shouler towards the opposite direction. So left shoulder towards right leg and right shoulder towards left leg. Like in the pictures above. Hold your legs above the ground and pull them in and out like you are riding a bicycle. Don’t forget to in and exhale when you alternate your shoulders. You can do this exercise 15 to 20 times and followed by a 30-second pause. Do as many reps as you like or can do, but al least four of five sets.

#7 plank
A good way to finish your work-out is to do the plank. It's a great way to releash your last energy! After this exercise you can take a rest and enjoy your well deserved holiday.

Lie down on your hotel room towel for the last time :) with your face down and place your elbows straight under your shoulders. Get up on your toes and your elbows / underarms like in the picture.

As you can see, only your toes and underarms are in contact with the floor. To stay in this horizontal position you need to contract your ab muscles and tighten your core by pulling your belly button toward your spine. Or as most Fit Girls would say, suck it up! ;)

But don’t forget to in- and exhale otherwise you could faint. Try to stay in the plank for 30-seconds and repeat this exercise four or five times by extending the time with 10 or 20-seconds.
Reps: 30-seconds, 40-seconds, 50-seconds, 60-seconds or for as long you can hold on.

Cool down
When you finished your work-out it is always important to stretch your muscles and shake them loose before you hit the shower. This will prevent injuries and will cool your body down at an easy pace. Don’t forget to drink enough water and have a good after work-out meal. But don’t immediately go to the bar for the happy hour or all you can eat buffet in your hotel ;)

So that was about it for my hotel room work-out. Hopefully you got some ideas if you want to work-out and don’t have a gym nearby. To stay in the holiday vibe … next time I will share my beach work-out Aruba style. I KNOW, I HAVE A HARD KNOCK LIFE! ;)