I’m sure there are a good number of folks here who travel / have irregular schedules and find themselves away from a bike for extended amounts of times (1 week - beyond). What are some exercises or training tips you guys have found effective in preserving bike fitness? Lets assume the resources available are the “typical” hotel gym, a pair of sneakers and maybe a swimming pool.
Exercise bike at hotel gym? Take your pedals and bike shoes. And a pedal wrench
I work with a pro (at his day job) and we both travel 4 days a week. He once told me if the hotel bike is crappy or non-existent he’ll use the elliptical and ramp it up to the steepest incline, set the resistance high, and try to lean forward to create the same hip angle. It may not be specific but you can get a good burn going.
I’ve also brought my shoes and helmet on a couple of trips and rented a bike if my layover was long enough and I knew there was a bike shop near my hotel.
I go through phases where I’m living out of a hotel a lot and have pretty erratic access to training equipment.
I find the following to be best for maintaining bike fitness, in order of decreasing effectiveness:
- Renting a bike and doing some local rides. Usually not practical unfortunately!
- Hotel exercise bike. A spin bike with HRM for pacing is generally better than a crappy plastic machine that creaks alarmingly over 100W
3=) A Concept rowing machine. Nearly every gym has at least one of these, and if the exercise bikes are particularly crappy I sometimes find this to be a better option. I used to row and have always found a good crossover between bike and rowing fitness - uses a lot of the same muscles (upper leg and lower back) and because both are non-impact you can get a similarly good intensity. Whenever I’m in good shape for rowing I find I’m naturally also fast on the bike, and vice versa
3=) A step machine/stairmaster. Similar workout to a rower, hits the upper legs and lower back pretty hard and you can get a good burn going - Run up a hill, or run on a treadmill with incline set to maximum
- Cross-trainer
- (if all else fails) A body weight workout in your hotel room incorporating plenty of burpees, squats and jumps. Warning - if the walls/floors in your hotel are pretty thin you may get some odd looks from your fellow guests!
I find the most important thing when I’m travelling is to eat healthily, which is easier said than done when you’re presented with airline food, restaurant meals on expenses, etc. If you can keep your calorie intake under control, get out and do some sort of exercise every day even if you’re jet-lagged, and get plenty of sleep, then you’ll stay in reasonable shape.
I go through phases where I’m living out of a hotel a lot and have pretty erratic access to training equipment.
I find the following to be best for maintaining bike fitness, in order of decreasing effectiveness:
- Renting a bike and doing some local rides. Usually not practical unfortunately!
- Hotel exercise bike. A spin bike with HRM for pacing is generally better than a crappy plastic machine that creaks alarmingly over 100W
3=) A Concept rowing machine. Nearly every gym has at least one of these, and if the exercise bikes are particularly crappy I sometimes find this to be a better option. I used to row and have always found a good crossover between bike and rowing fitness - uses a lot of the same muscles (upper leg and lower back) and because both are non-impact you can get a similarly good intensity. Whenever I’m in good shape for rowing I find I’m naturally also fast on the bike, and vice versa
3=) A step machine/stairmaster. Similar workout to a rower, hits the upper legs and lower back pretty hard and you can get a good burn going - Run up a hill, or run on a treadmill with incline set to maximum
- Cross-trainer
- (if all else fails) A body weight workout in your hotel room incorporating plenty of burpees, squats and jumps. Warning - if the walls/floors in your hotel are pretty thin you may get some odd looks from your fellow guests!
I find the most important thing when I’m travelling is to eat healthily, which is easier said than done when you’re presented with airline food, restaurant meals on expenses, etc. If you can keep your calorie intake under control, get out and do some sort of exercise every day even if you’re jet-lagged, and get plenty of sleep, then you’ll stay in reasonable shape.
All of the above and inline(speed)skates!
Great list…I was able to get myself on a concept2 rowing machine today. You’re definitely right about the same kinds of muscle usage. There was even a power meter in the rowing machine, though i’m not sure how to effectively use that yet.
Great list…I was able to get myself on a concept2 rowing machine today. You’re definitely right about the same kinds of muscle usage. There was even a power meter in the rowing machine, though i’m not sure how to effectively use that yet.
I’ve never really bothered using power on a rowing machine. Speed and power on a rowing machine are pretty much interchangeable, since unlike cycling there’s no wind/gradient/tyre choice/etc to account for. In my rowing days we always trained by speed, so I still do.
If you do use power, don’t worry if your rowing numbers are a lot lower than your cycling numbers for an equivalent duration/intensity - with rowing you spend at least half your time recovering between strokes, so your power output is a lot lower than cycling where you are applying power much more evenly.
A rowingmachine is a great tool for sure, but there is a drawback…it’s not portable…
inlineskates are and they are great as an alternative, using the same musclegroups as in biking and training your coremuscles as well!
run a lot. nothing else is going to do anything substantive and running a lot gets you better at running which is more important than the bike anyway.