One of the problems for flight crew members on overnights, is where to work out? (If you work out, that is.)
A number of hotels advertise that they have a health and fitness room, and when you get to the converted single hotel room, you find that they have 2 treadmills, one of which has been missing some rollers for at least 2 years, and an exercise bike with mismatched pedals. Oh, and a water cooler.
Some hotels, like the Sheraton and Hilton chain, have really Primo workout facilities. Such as our hotel in DCA, the Sheraton Pentagon City. I would bid trips here just to use the workout facility (aside from going to the spy museum, Arlington Cemetery, visiting friends, all the usual.) This is actually pretty normal for some Sheraton hotels, at least in the US and Canada, from what I have seen. I am not positive, though, because we don't stay at that many!!
Plus, off to the side, you can't in this picture see the exercise balls, foam rolls, yoga mats, etc. Those are off to the right.
One of the things you can do on overnights for exercise is walk or run. This takes no equipment (honest... not even clothes, you could go naked and barefoot.... although that might bring other problems.) Yes, you can swim (also doesn't require anything more than what you were born with,) but the Potomac in February is, shall we say, not a viable option.
The problem with swimming is finding a place to swim. Rivers are cold and/or shallow, plus, what is in it? Lakes, etc... you really have to know the area. Most hotel pools are ridiculously short for proper lap swimming.
So we are down to walking, jogging, and running.
True, some areas are better than others. Our old overnight in Allentown/Bethleham, PA, was not a location to be jogging around... unless you had an armed escort!
But for the most part, you can walk almost anywhere, really. Walking is basic to humans as animals. It is our primary mode of transportation. Even if you are going to drive someplace, you will walk to your car, you walk around your house or apartment, you walk from your parking spot to the store you are going inside, etc. (Yes, I know not every single human being can walk. We're not getting into handicap access, etc, here.)
So walking is truly primal. Actually, we probably need to walk a bit more, certainly in the USA.
Aside from that... If you want to get a workout in, walking/jogging/running only goes so far.
So I am a big fan of bodyweight workouts. This starts with simple calisthenics, and goes right on to al the MovNat stuff, P90X, etc.. etc.. etc..
I am a cheap-o, so P90X is out. If you are using it, and it works for you. Awesome. N=1. If something works for you, and you are healthy, then rock on.
So, digging around the internetz, I came across Mike Chang, and his YouTube channel, SixPackShortcuts. Now, I know most of you don't know this, but I do have a SixPack... actaully, I have 2 of them. One is in my fridge, the other is my stomach, although that one is covered by a small pony keg of fat.
Mike is great. He is silly, but best of all, he really gets into the workouts, and the biggest piece of equipment you need for them (he does have weight training workouts on there, too) is a simple hand towel (this is what makes them perfect flight crew overnight workouts.)
Just a couple samples of what he has out there. You can do all of these in the comfort of your hotel room, even on a short overnight. Best of all... they are free.
Here is his beginner workout. Simple, 7 minute workout.
If you are a little more advanced... This is a 1 minute cardio workout. Repeat until you can't use proper form anymore.
There are a bunch of videos to pick. A number of them are more complex workouts, but they all use bodyweight, High Intensity Interval Training, and he laughs at himself and doesn't take things too seriously. Here is one of my favorites. Getting your ass kicked with a hand towel.
I like that he also shows the girl on the right doing pushups from her knees, so you can do this even if you can't do 'proper' pushups, you can still do a variation of this. The entire workout takes less than 30 minutes... how much of a workout do you need?
Anyways, more to come.
Cheers!
Scott
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