3 Killer Bodyweight Workouts To Keep You In Shape—On The Road Or At Home

“What workouts can I do when I’m away on a trip and I don’t have access to a gym?” This is a question that I get asked often.  So I thought I’d share a few tips, exercises and workouts that I like to do when I’m away…  I guarantee these will boost your heart rate up, get your muscles pumping and sweat pouring… and no it’s not Tae Bo.

As much as I like to lift weights and workout at a gym, I’m always amazed at how tough and challenging a body weight workout can be.  Sometimes it’s hard to imagine that you can really workout at high intensities using just your body weight, but when you look at the three major variables that increase intensity, load (weight) is just one variable.  The other two variables are speed of the movement (exercise) and time (duration and rest).

If you perform fast explosive types of exercises, you’ll recruit larger muscle fibers and will stimulate more muscle fibers even when your using just your body weight.  Take a look at squat jumps for instance.  The movement is basically a squat, but by adding that explosive element (jumping) you’re going to recruit larger fast twitch muscle fibers.  Larger muscles require more energy and hence burn more calories.

You can’t change your body weight, but you can change the intensity of the exercises and workouts by changing the speed at which you perform the exercises as well as changing the rest intervals.  The faster you perform the exercises while minimizing rest can greatly boost your intensity level.  You can easily scale your workouts and make it as hard as you want to or as easy as you want to without worrying about having to change the weight (dumbbell or barbell) you’re using. 

Anyway enough technical shop talk and let’s get to the meat of the matter.  One of the first things I do when I check into a hotel is to look for the fire exit and the stairs.  If the stairs aren’t too narrow or too tightly wound and aren’t heavily used by the other patrons, it’s one of the best places to workout.  Going up stairs, especially when stepping up two to three stairs at a time is like lunges on steroids.  There hasn’t been a time that I’ve done a stair workout where I haven’t been sore for at least two to three days! 

Here’s a typical workout I like to do on the stairs:

Warm Up
Squats 10 - 20 reps followed by going up 3 to 4 flights of stairs, followed by 10 - 15 Push Ups. Walk back down and repeat. For the second round, try stepping up two stairs at a time for 3 to 4 flights.  Walk back down. Hopefully you’re feeling pretty warm by this time and you’re ready to go.  If not, you can always repeat it for one more round.  Take a minute rest before starting with the first set.

First Set
In the first set, the idea is to progressively increase the pace and distance that you go up the stairs. Start off by going up 3 flights of stairs at a medium pace, taking one to two steps at a time. If you can, try taking two steps at time - it’s more challenging and works more muscles.  After reaching the top of the stairs, walk down to the bottom.  Each round, add one more flight and increase the pace from the one before.  Repeat this until you reach 6 flights of stairs.  By this time your pace should be pretty fast and your heart rate should be up.  After you come back down to the bottom, rest for 1 - 2 minutes before starting the second set.

Second Set
The second set is the real kicker!  In this set your goal is to perform 10 Push Ups (you can do Knee Push Ups, or if you’re up for a real challenge do Plyo Push Ups - push your hands off the floor as high as possible each rep) followed immediately by sprinting up the stairs preferably 2 - 3 stairs at a time for 4 flights.  Walk back down rest 30 seconds or as much as you need to catch your breath and repeat 6 - 8 rounds.  This is a real doozy!  Be careful not to trip on the stairs, especially as you get tired.  Your coordination starts to go when your fatigue kicks in, so you’ll need to really focus on the later rounds.  The goal is to try and keep up the pace as long as possible.
 
By the time your finished this workout you should be feeling pretty tired… in a good way!  Make sure you warm down by walking around the hallway for 5 minutes or so followed by a gentle stretch.  If you brought a foam roller with you, even better!  Roll out the legs for a good 5 - 10 minutes, especially your glutes, hamstrings, quads and calves.  If you don’t know what I’m talking about check out the article I posted a few weeks back on muscle recovery. 

Now let’s say the stairs aren’t conducive for working out.  No problem!  The next best place to workout is your hotel room.  Look around you room to see where you can create a space large enough to lie down on the floor without any part of your body touching a piece of furniture.  That’s all the space you’ll need.  You’ll probably need to move some furniture around to accommodate your workout… hopefully nothing too big! 

Here are a couple of workouts that you can do when you’re stuck in a hotel room with nowhere to go or even at home when you don’t have time to go to the gym:

Workout #1

Warm Up
10 Squats / 10 Lunges (10 per leg) / 10 Push Ups / 10 Side Lunges (10 per side) (Repeat 2 times)

Main Set
8 Push Ups / 10 Lunges (10 per leg) / 12 Squats Jumps - As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes  

Workout #2

Warm Up
10 Squats / 10 Split Squats (10 per leg) / 10 Push Ups / 10 Mountain Climbers (10 per leg)  (Repeat 2 times)

Main Set
Perform all the exercises in a row continuously following the 20 seconds ON / 10 seconds OFF interval time format until all 10 rounds are completed.  The goal of the workout is to keep up the number of reps performed for each exercise through out the entire workout.  For example, if you did 10 Push Ups in round one, your goal is to do 10 Push Ups through out the entire workout for 10 rounds. 

• Push Ups - As many as possible in 20 seconds followed by 10 seconds rest
• Split Squat Jumps - As many as possible in 20 seconds followed by 10 seconds rest
• Mountain Climbers - As many as possible in 20 seconds followed by 10 seconds rest
• Squat Jumps - As many as possible in 20 seconds followed by 10 seconds rest

Repeat for 10 rounds for a total of 20 minutes.

   
Optional Ab / Core Work

• Plank - hold for a 1 min
• Side Planks - 15 reps on each side
• Hip Thrusts - 20 reps

Repeat for a total of 2 rounds

These are just a couple of workouts that you can try out.  Feel free to change it up or mix up the exercises from the two workouts and create your own workout.  I like workout formats where you perform as many rounds as possible in a given amount of time or where you are challenged to perform as many reps as possible in short intervals - such as 20 seconds followed by short 10 seconds rest.  I find that it’s a great way to use body weight exercises and maximize as much work as possible in a short amount of time. 

Now you have no excuses not to workout when you travel or even if you don’t have time to go to a gym.  Try some of these workouts and see for yourself how challenging body weight workouts can be. 

What are some of your favorite at-home or on-the-road workouts and exercises?

About The Author

Shin Ohtake is a widely recognized strength coach and fitness & fat-loss expert. His unconventional, no-nonsense approach to getting fit has made him the go-to source for fitness enthusiasts and trainers alike. Shin is also the author of the world famous, MAX Workouts book, which has transformed and reshaped the bodies of thousands of people across the globe - without requiring hours in the gym. To learn more about how MAX Workouts can help you achieve your fitness goals, visit maxworkouts.com.

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