Hotel Living

Having been in Auckland for two weeks now, I am still holed up in the hotel. Who would have thought that it would be so hard to find an apartment in New Zealand. I suppose if we had known how hard the task was, we would have started looking earlier. However, like most things, this got me thinking about traveling as well as staying at a hotel. After about a week it was downright depressing. However, as the days go on, I've gotten used to the daily routine and I don't really know what will happen when faced with the task of actually cleaning my own room and not relying on room service for a nice cuppa (New Zealand slang for a cup of tea..cute, eh?). I won't lie and say I don't like being waited on, but a huge part of me wishes we could find our own place already! That being said, I am lucky enough to be staying at a pretty great hotel, one that has its own world renown spa and fitness center. The Hyatt has been quite good to me and I've already had three massages as well as made good use of the fitness center, steam room, hot tub, sauna, cold room, and juice bar. However, I realize, I am one lucky girl to be holed up in the Hyatt. This, along with questions from my friends about how I stay in shape while traveling, got me thinking about how I would spend my time if I wasn't in a place like this. Hotel workouts, although not ideal of course, are sometimes the only thing one can rely on for stress relief, exercise, general health, as well as weight loss/maintenance while traveling. I thought and did some research and came up with some tips for those overseas or land, wanting to get their sweat on, while living in a hotel.

What you need:
2 x 2/1.5 litre water bottles (you can purchase these at any convenience store), you can also use two large cans of beans
2 chairs

Because of the lack of cardio equipment, the best way to get the most out of your workout would be to move through the exercises as quickly but as efficiently as possible (no cheating, or bad form of course!)

The best way to start this workout is to get the oxygen in to your blood stream and warm up, basically, you gotta work those legs!

squats: holding one of the water bottles out in front of you, or alternatively both by your sides, keep your feet shoulder width apart and sit down in to your glutes (your butt) and keep your weight mid foot (dont use your toes to push up). Try to go as low as possible watching not to let your knees go past the toes and remember to keep that back straight and your shoulders down, no hunchbacks here! try to do as many reps as possible but aim for 20-30
Wall squat: with your back flat against the wall, feet pointed straight in front of you, squat down and hold this position for 20-30 seconds.
Lunge: holding the cans or water bottles in each hand (or alternatively no weights at all keep your hands on your hips) alternate one leg at a time lunging forward and slightly touching the knee to the floor, still watching the other knee doesn't go over the toes. Aim for 20-30 reps.
Repeat this sequence three times before moving on to the next group of exercises.
Push ups combined with triceps
Either with your knees on the floor or a full body push up, you can get creative and do wide push ups, tricep pushups, or triangle push ups, or a combination of all to get a great chest workout.
Triceps: Using the water bottles or cans, on all 4s on the ground, Perform a tricep kickback
similarly, using the water bottles or cans, you can also do bicep curls
as well as shoulder press exercises.
Chair press exercises: (C/O Askmen.com) To work your triceps, place your hands on the edge of the chair with your feet stretched out and resting on the edge of a second chair you’ve placed about 4 feet away. Perform your standard dip movement, pausing momentarily at the bottom of the position. Do as many as you can before you are too fatigued to continue.
Follow this up with some Low back extensions and an ab workout and you are set!
If you are in a hotel that has a stair well and you wont be in any ones way you can always take 10 mins to run up and down a few flights of stairs too. Also, don't be scared to explore the area! Go for a run! or a long walk. Its a great way to explore the place you are visiting and get a feel for everyday life.
If you are missing your daily yoga sessions, you can always google a youtube video or if you have time, search out some local classes, yoga is a world wide practice.
Until Next time! I am off to drink some peppermint tea xoxox