Inspire to Run Podcast
Inspire to Run Podcast
10 Quick Health and Fitness Tips Every Busy Professional Needs
#131 - Struggling to maintain healthy habits with a packed schedule? In this episode, I talk about practical strategies for staying fit despite the challenges of frequent travel and long desk hours. Drawing from my experiences and insights from the Inspire to Run community, you will hear ten actionable tips that busy professionals can implement immediately.
From creating an effective morning routine to quick hotel room workouts, this episode brings together wisdom from multiple perspectives, including insights from hybrid athlete Kristine Pavelchak and marketing executive Stephen Brent May. Whether you're constantly on the road or tied to your desk, these quick health solutions will help you maintain your fitness goals without disrupting your professional commitments.
Topics Covered:
- How to plan workouts around business travel and hotel fitness options
- Quick, equipment-free exercises you can do in any hotel room
- Smart strategies for maintaining nutrition and hydration while traveling
- Simple ways to stay active during long office days and airport layovers
Your Host
Richard Conner
Richard is a strategic marketing professional with experience in B2B marketing. Richard is the founder of Inspire to Run and is passionate about helping others reach their goals. He is a Connecticut native, a husband, dad, writer, Star Wars fan, and, of course, a runner!
Resources:
- Stackable Leakproof Protein Powder Dispenser
- Arbonne hydration solutions
- Incrediwear: Code for 10% off RICHARDCONNER
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Hi, my friend. Do you find yourself on the road a lot or sitting at a desk due to your busy schedule? Does it make it challenging to stick to healthy habits? Well, today I'm gonna talk to you about what you can do to maintain healthy habits even when you have a busy schedule, with 10 quick health and fitness tips for you as a busy professional. Hope you enjoy.
Speaker 2:Welcome to Inspire to Run podcast. Here you will find inspiration, whether you are looking to take control of your health and fitness or you are a seasoned runner looking for community and some extra motivation. You will hear inspiring stories from amazing runners, along with helpful tips from fitness experts. Now here's your host, richard Conner.
Speaker 1:Hi, my friends, Welcome to Inspire to Run Podcast. It's been another productive week of work, workouts and podcasting for me, but my schedule has gotten a little off track due to travel that I had earlier in the week. And I'm getting back on track and I'm ready to take on what's coming my way, including some upcoming races. But just for some detail around that, I was traveling for a few days last week, so I was in the car a lot and then I was sitting in an office a lot. And then this week, earlier in the week, I had basically a one night trip to Florida. So I had a full day at work on Monday, then drove to the airport, flew late at night to Florida, had business meetings all day the next day and then flew back home that night. So it was just really busy, really hectic and not a lot of time for me to do what I normally do and kind of stick to my routine of time for me to do what I normally do and kind of stick to my routine. So while I was traveling I started to think about like, well, how do I best maintain my routine and some of the things that I do, and I thought it'd be interesting to share that with all of you, and most of the time it works. But then when you have like really compressed trips, it's really hard to do it. But being intentional can really help you maintain those healthy habits, even if you have a busy schedule, even if you travel. So I'm going to share those tips with you and I'm also going to try something a little new. So I'm going to bring on voices from our community into this episode so you can hear different perspectives and different tips as well. So let's get into the conversation and I'll share with you the 10 quick health and fitness tips to help you as a busy professional. So here is quick health and fitness. Tip. Number one is to create a morning routine, and I personally love this one because I am more of a morning person and if you get your workout done first thing in the morning, you really can make sure that your day doesn't interfere with your plans. So this works pretty well for me.
Speaker 1:I personally don't do my morning workout in the morning on Monday through Friday, but I definitely do it on Saturday, sunday. It's practically the first thing I do and then I can get on with my day, and then during the week it's typically my morning routine where I do some things at home. I get to the office, I have a full day at the office and then I grab my gym bag and I go right to the gym. So I have a pretty good routine there. So I don't always go with the morning routine when I'm at the office during the week, but then I'll do it on the weekends and then definitely when I travel. I will do my workout in the morning more often than not, because once I get into my day, especially when I'm traveling, it's super hard to kind of fit it into my schedule there. So create that morning routine.
Speaker 1:And I was kind of looking back at some of my past episodes and we had this conversation in an early episode with Mike and Marissa from Two Fit Travelers, so one of my first episodes or first interviews and they talked about this kind of in the conversation, about you know, getting it done first thing in the morning, not letting the day kind of interfere with your plans, and you know, if you get up and you do it early, you could just ensure that you're not going to be too tired later on or you're not going to go from your business meetings to right into dinner or other activities that you might have. So it really just ensures that you get your workout in if you do it first thing in the morning. So the second quick health and fitness tip is plan your workout schedule according to your work and travel schedule. So for me, I know it's super hard to get in my workouts when I'm traveling, especially if I'm getting on a plane. So going out to wherever I'm going that day is probably shot, and then the day I'm coming back that day is probably no good. So it doesn't leave me with as many days to get in my workout.
Speaker 1:So what I typically do is number one I will try to get in as many workouts as I can before I travel, and then I'll use my travel days as my rest day. So that's the first thing I try to do. The second thing is you never know what you're going to get when you travel. So like if the hotel gym may only have a treadmill and an exercise bike, maybe it may not have weights or just may not be conducive to do the kind of workout that you need to do. So I make sure that I get those types of workouts in before I travel, if I can. And then when I travel, then I may just do my run because more likely than not I'll be able to find a treadmill or I'll be able to run outside. So that's kind of easy.
Speaker 1:But for everything else, I really try to do that before I leave for my trip. So really just kind of playing your schedule around that in terms of the types of workouts that you're doing, depending on how flexible your workout schedule is, but also the days that you're doing them. And again, I try to plan my rest days around the days when I'm traveling and I know I'm simply just not going to have the time to do my workout, whether I'm traveling on a flight or whether I have all day meetings, and it's just going to be, you know, super challenging for me to do that. So those are the first two tips. The next three tips are going to come from a friend and colleague of mine on the American Marketing Association, stephen Brent May. So we both serve on the council for the AMA and Stephen has such an amazing fitness story. But today he's going to share three quick health and fitness tips and I really hope to be able to share his story very soon on the show. So listen in to what Stephen has to say.
Speaker 3:Hi, my name is Stephen Brentmay and I live in Houston, texas. I've owned a marketing agency for about the last seven years and prior to that I led the global marketing team for a software company, so travel has been a part of my professional life for a while. I also was not someone that prioritized fitness and working out until a few years ago and I realized as I got older that was really something I needed to prioritize for my own health. So I needed to really figure out a way to do that and make it work for my life and my lifestyle. So I have three tips that have really helped me to prioritize this and make it a part of my life and be consistent with it. So the first tip is really finding something that works for your lifestyle and that includes finding something you enjoy.
Speaker 3:Over the years, I've tried going to the gym by myself just you know, making up my own workouts. I've worked with a trainer. These things never really worked for me. They didn't stick and I realized what it was was. I was making so many decisions throughout the day and having to use my brain for, you know, making professional decisions and management decisions and people decisions that I was just really mentally exhausted and the thought of figuring out what to do, how to do it, how to do it right Even with a trainer, you know, it's still that cognitive load was really wearing down on me, and so I needed something that allowed me to just enjoy it without much thought to it. I never thought I was someone that would be a group workout person, but I tried an Orange Theory class and I really found myself enjoying it. I realized that people aren't there to work out as a group. They're really just there to compete against themselves. I didn't think high intensity interval training was going to be for me, but it's the only thing that stuck, and I've been doing it for a little over two years now, and I do it pretty consistently three to four days a week and realize that you know this is something that works for me, it's something I enjoy, it's something that I've stuck with. So the first tip is really, once you find that thing, you know you're good to go. The second tip is if you're someone that travels a lot, you've really got to plan for your workouts. You've got to make it a part of your schedule. I'm someone that lives and dies by my calendar, so if it's not on my calendar. It's not real to me.
Speaker 3:When I travel for work, especially when I have the opportunity to choose my own hotel, I research where is the closest Orange Theory studio in that area and try to book a hotel close to it. That way I know if I'm going to be gone for five days. I can plan two, three of those days to get up and work out. If I know, my meetings start at 8.30, 9,. Let me book a 6.30 class. I can be back to the hotel at 7, shower be ready for my meetings.
Speaker 3:So it's really about planning the location and what days are going to work around your schedule. I've even done this with leisure travel. I've been on cruises where I've looked at what's being offered ahead of time and you know I'll see a high intensity interval training is offered two days during this seven day cruise. So I've planned for that. I know all right, two days I can work out there, even if there's not an Orange Theory or a similar class that I can sign up for. I'll make sure the hotel that I'm staying at has a gym and I'll use Reddit, the Orange Theory. Reddit usually has the workout of the day, going back to that concept of not having to think and not having to use my brain. I can just pull up the template, go to the gym and then follow that template, do the exact same class I would have done there and just make that a part of my day. I don't have to think about what to do. It's written down in front of me. That's really helped me with staying consistent when I travel, especially with these back-to-back trips. I have where I'll be in Chicago for, you know, four or five days and fly directly to New York without going home in between.
Speaker 3:So the last tip that I have is very similar to planning for it, but it's a little different. You've got to pack for it. You have to think about how many days am I going to work out? What days do I need to think about having laundry done? If I'm going to be gone an extended period of time, you've really got to not just plan for how you're going to work out, but you've got to be gone an extended period of time. You've really got to not just plan for how you're going to work out, but you've got to pack for it.
Speaker 3:And if you're somebody like me who tries their best to only take a carry-on bag. That can get really challenging, especially if you're gone for an extended period of time. A lot of people, myself included, you know we wear hokas when we work out. Those are not conducive to carry-on bags. So I try to plan to wear my workout shoes to the airport and then on the way home if I don't have meetings that I've got to be in as soon as I land. So I try to make sure I don't have to put those in my carry-on bag where they take up so much space, have to put those in my carry-on bag where they take up so much space. I can wear those to and from the airport, leaving room for my other you know, quote-unquote professional clothes while I'm on my trip. So hopefully these tips help you guys. Hopefully you know something here will work to help you stay consistent in your workouts.
Speaker 1:So I hope you enjoyed listening to Steve and Brent May talk about what he does as a busy professional, especially when he travels, in terms of where he works out, in terms of how he schedules things and how he packs for when he travels. So hope you enjoyed that. And the next two are specific to kind of how we hydrate ourselves and how we eat. So these two things, you know, nutrition and hydration are super, super important and I'll share with you what I do and this really works well for what I bring to the office. But also, you know, I do my best to also bring these things for when I travel. So what I do is I try to start each day with oatmeal and protein. So that's relatively easy to do when I'm in the office, but not as easy to do when I travel. So what I do is well, what I used to do is I'll bring little packets of oatmeal and then I'll also bring, like, my bag of protein, which you know can be sometimes big and bulky, and somehow I've got to get that into my bag and get that on the trip with me. So one thing that I've discovered from Raquel Farris, who we've had on the show a few episodes ago. So thank you, raquel is this stackable, leak-proof protein powder dispenser and if you're watching the video you can see the dispenser, but I'll put the information in the show notes and this is actually really cool. So this has helped reduce the amount of things that I need to you know, containers that I need to bring with me when I travel, and it's been super, super convenient for me to bring my protein, my amino, my creatine, and then put it in this nice container and then I can mix everything. So it also makes it easy for you know, when I'm traveling. I don't have to spend the time mixing it. Everything is already pre-made before I leave the house and then I could just pour it into whatever I need to pour it into, you know, before after my workout. So that's some of the things that I typically do is I try to bring at least my protein and at least my amino, my creatine, and then, of course, my oatmeal when I travel as well as when I'm in the office. So I try to have some consistency there. Of course, if I'm staying in a hotel or a place that has good breakfast, of course I'll eat the breakfast as well, but you know, at a minimum, I'm going to have my oatmeal and my protein, just to make sure that I can get that, and then when I do my workouts, I'll have my protein and my amino and my creatine as well. So that's kind of what I do when I travel. But whatever it is that you do or you need to think about when you travel, you know, just make sure that you pack those things with you, um, so you can be prepared for each day, cause you again, just kind of like you don't know what you're going to get in a hotel gym, you don't know what you're going to have in terms of nutrition when you travel, so it's really best to bring what works for you.
Speaker 1:The next quick health and fitness tip is related, but this is related to hydration, right? So just this mantra of hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. And it's funny because you know you always hear like when you travel, you end up being more dehydrated and honestly, I don't know. I never knew why. So I actually had to look this up. I'm like, well, why is that? And I learned that the air inside airplanes is very dry due to the low humidity at high altitudes. So I probably could have guessed that Maybe. I don't know, but I didn't know, so I had to look it up, and this just emphasizes why it's so important for you to be mindful and to hydrate, especially when you're traveling.
Speaker 1:So what I do is, you know, I will get water bottles wherever I am, wherever I travel to, whether I just get it from the airport after I go through security or when I get to my final destination. Then I'll bring with me Arbonne, so I have different Arbonne packets that I'll bring with me. So, again, you know, if you're watching the video, arbonne, so I have different Arbonne packets that I'll bring with me. So, again, if you're watching the video, you'll see that I have Arbonne electrolytes, so I take electrolytes every day. And then I have the Arbonne Mind and Health, so I'll take that. And then I have the Arbonne Green Energy Elixir, so I'll take that every day, and then, of course, probably the most popular from Arbonne is the fizz. So these are just different things that I take every day, you know, throughout the day, and it's really, you know, really helps me, because I'll take one with every bottle of water that I have, and then that helps me kind of get to.
Speaker 1:You know what I need to do for hydration. The other thing is I try to avoid alcohol, especially when I travel, or I just limit it to, you know, just a couple of drinks which, unfortunately, it's probably easier to to drink or have more alcohol when you know, especially when you're traveling, especially if it's, you know, social occasions. So I'm just super, super mindful of it. If I am going to do it, then I just try to limit what I have but really focus on having as much water as I can, along with my electrolytes and my fizz and the other things that I take from Arbonne. So, with that, what I'm going to do is I'm going to bring in Christine Pavelchuk. So Christine has been my race partner over this past year for DECA and she is a hybrid athlete, just an incredible athlete, and she's going to share three movement exercise that you could do in a hotel room without equipment in less than 15 minutes.
Speaker 4:My name is Christine Pavelchak and I live in Connecticut. I compete with Underdog Fitness out of Wallingford, connecticut, so I term myself as a hybrid athlete. I like to do strength and I do a lot of running. I compete in DECA and I compete in HIROX and I have some things that I kind of do when I am on the road traveling, because I do have a job, corporate life. I work in retirement strategies for Prudential, and so there are many times that I am traveling for work and I'm have a job, corporate life. I work in retirement strategies for Prudential and so there are many times that I am traveling for work and I'm in a hotel room and I have a lot of meetings they could be early morning, or I've got to run to a business dinner and I need to just get something in, and I don't even have time to go to the gym within the building of the hotel I'm in. So I'm going to give some tips for a really quick run through that'll make you feel positive about yourself. It will engage the muscles that you, you know, are going to hit primarily in a full body strength workout or even a running workout. Engaging and just cuing those muscles that are just going to make us feel like we've done something for the day. So in under 10 minutes is kind of what I'm talking about here, and I will typically utilize the area in between both of the beds in my hotel room or right in front of the bed in the hotel room and I'll put a towel down from the bathroom and I will do three rounds of these three movement patterns.
Speaker 4:I'll do 20 reps of glute bridges, these three movement patterns. I'll do 20 reps of glute bridges and then I'll also do 20 strict push-ups or hand release push-ups and I'll follow up with an abdominal engagement exercise, which sometimes will look like a 60 second low plank on my forearms with knee taps, or I will switch that out to 20 suitcase crunches In order to make this a little extra spicy. In between these rounds I will add in high knees for 60 seconds or 60 seconds of jumping jacks. This all takes under 10 minutes to do and obviously you can extend it to be longer, but I really feel like three really strategic movement patterns to engage the glute, a little bit of the hamstring, upper body work with the push-ups and the abdominal work with the core on the plank or, should you choose, to do suitcase crunches really gets your body feeling super cute and you get a little bit of a sweaty feel with those high knees or jumping jacks.
Speaker 4:You can extend this to be a little longer 12 or 15 minutes but the idea behind this is something is always better than nothing and daily deposits really do go far. So I hope you enjoy this quick little run through this three movement segment and go through that three times through and you should feel really accomplished and go about your meetings and your busy day that you have, whether you're at home and you really only have 10 minutes before a family event that you're planning for. All of these things happen to us. We're very busy at work or even at home if we're planning a family holiday or event and we just need 10, 12 minutes just to feel a little better about ourselves. Huge confidence booster. Go get it.
Speaker 1:So I appreciate Christine sharing her tips, her movement patterns or workouts for when you're in a hotel and when you're traveling. Really easy to do, that you could do without any kind of special equipment and less than 15 minutes. So thank you, christine, for sharing those tips with us. So the next quick health and fitness tip is all about sleep, is all about sleep. So you know, when you're a busy professional, when you're traveling, it's just really easy to stay up late and not get enough sleep. And if you listen to my how to wake up early episode so that was episode 129, I talked about, you know, waking up at 5am, which, admittedly, this has been super hard for me to do this past week of travel. So I've gotten a little off track but I'm still on my 5 am kind of plan here. It's really important to get enough sleep. So if you're not getting enough sleep, it's going to be hard for you to perform and show up in other areas of your life and especially if you want to wake up a little bit early in the day and try to get up and get done some things early in the morning. So sleep is something that's super important. So again, it's all in moderation, especially if you're traveling. You'll have business meetings, you'll have dinners and just things that will keep you up a little bit later, but just be mindful of that, especially when you're traveling, to get enough sleep. And then the last tip is around just being active and just moving, even if you're sitting at a desk all day. So this applies to you know, if you're just in the office or if you're traveling, the important thing here is really to just move. So some of the things that I do and also share with you some of the recommendations from the research, is so for me.
Speaker 1:I try to use the stairs every day when I go to the office, and I talked about this in an earlier episode, where I worked on the seventh floor and I always went down the stairs when I was leaving for the day, and then at one point in time, I started to walk up the stairs all the way up to the day, and then at one point in time, I started to walk up the stairs all the way up to the seventh floor. So if you have stairs in your office and this is an option for you, this is something that will help keep you moving, even though you might be going from one thing to the next and may not have as much time to do workouts or to get in some movement. So that's one thing that you could do. Another one is especially in the office is you can convert one of your meetings to a walking meeting. So this is something that I used to do in the past. I haven't done it as much now, but now that I'm thinking about it I really should, because it's a great opportunity. If you're having a one-on-one conversation with someone and the weather is nice, you can get outside, you can do your meeting and you can get in the movement that way.
Speaker 1:Some other things that you could do that I don't have this opportunity to do this, but I know some folks who do is to get a walking treadmill that you could put at your desk, which I think is incredible to be able to do that. And I actually did an interview with a guest, brad Ritter, six Pillars of Optimal Performance and the Power of Grit, and we did the entire interview and he was walking on his treadmill, which I thought was incredible, because if I was doing that, I probably wouldn't have made it, but he was able to do it and I was super inspired by that, and I know a number of folks are able to do that. So if you're able to do it and I was super inspired by that, and I know a number of folks are able to do that so if you're able to do little things like that, that's all going to add up throughout the week and it's going to allow you to keep moving instead of being just stationary. So that's what you could do in the office. And then, when you're traveling, the opportunities to do this are when you're at the airport. So airports, have you. Airports, have you know you may have to go from one terminal to the next or whatever the case may be. So they'll have trams and they'll have the walking pathways that you could take. You could just simply walk. If you have the time to do so, you could walk and you can get into that movement even when you're traveling.
Speaker 1:So these are just some ideas of how to just keep moving. Again, if you don't have enough time to do your workout that day, or if you find yourself really sitting a lot, whether it's in the office or whether you're on the road, these are nice, quick ideas to help you keep moving. So these are the 10 quick health and fitness tips that I wanted to share with you. Again, as I'm thinking about, hey, I'm traveling. How do I kind of keep moving, how do I maintain my routine?
Speaker 1:These are the tips and tricks that I use, and then others, as you've heard from Stephen and from Christine, and I'd love to hear from you. So what are your tips to kind of stay healthy, stay moving, again, whether you're sitting in an office or you are, you know, traveling on the road a lot. I'd love to hear from you. So you can go into the show notes there is an option there to send me a message, send that in, and I'd love to share that with our community. So I really appreciate you listening in this week. I hope you have a great week and until next time, and with that, thanks again for listening and have a great day.
