Have Medicine Balls And Bands, Will Travel

For the past two weeks my family was on a road trip to Colorado and Utah.   We spent three days in Denver, four days in Beaver Creek, four days in Park City, and about four days driving.   One challenge of travelling during the Pandemic is that I had no access to gyms  or weights on the trip.  Normally I would take a vacation like this as an opportunity to de-load and take a break from training, but I’ve only recently ramped up my strength training , and I didn’t want to lose any of the strength gains I've made over the last four weeks.   So, I had to get creative about how to get my resistance training done on the road as bringing 5, 10, 15, 20, and 40 pound dumbbells along just wasn’t possible. I found a medicine ball routine on Instagram posted by @cupcakemuscle (a competitor I follow) and found a good band workout for glutes on Youtube by @bretcontreras1.  I packed up a little backpack with a 20 pound medicine ball, some bands, my 5 pound weights and hit the road with my portable gym. 

Strength Training

Here’s how my workouts looked during this two week period:

Band Glute Circuit – 2 sets

**This is a killer workout for activating your glutes.  I highly recommend it, especially if you are still stuck working out at home without much equipment.  It just takes two bands that you place above and below your knees.  It will make you feel ALL the muscles in your booty. Buns of Steel, anyone?

Medicine ball squats – 3 x 15

Straight leg deadlifts w/ medicine ball – 3x15

Bridges w/ medicine ball – 3 x 15

Banded lat row – 3 x 10

Banded bicep curls - 3 x 15

Tricep extensions w/ 5 lb dumbbells - 3 x 10

PT exercises for shoulders  w/ bands

Cardio

In Denver, my husband and I found an amazing park near our VRBO so I did two running/HIIT workouts there.  In Park City, we were steps away from a bike trail that went for miles and miles, so I was able to get a running/HIIT workout in there, too.  All these workouts require is a safe place to run and a park bench for step-ups, push-ups, and tricep dips.

Take A Hike!

In addition to strength training and a few cardio/HIIT workouts, we tried to take family hikes or long walks on days that we didn’t have other activities (white water rafting, fly fishing, tubing, etc.)  We managed to get in some great hikes, and it was a wonderful change to being stuck at a desk all day. On most days, we were able to get at least 10,0000 steps in. I miss the mountains already.

Red Rocks is closed for concerts but open for hiking!

• Boulder

• Garden of the Gods

• Lily Pad Lake with cousins (near Frisco).

• Hiking in and around Park City.

In all, I think it was worth hauling a 20 pound medicine ball around with us on our cross country trek (not sure my husband agreed as he is the one that hauled it in and out of each VRBO).   I’ll definitely keep doing the band workout for glutes, and I will probably incorporate the medicine ball in my workouts here and there. This is just one more way this Pandemic is making me try new things and think outside the box!

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