Throughout the course of a year, nearly every client at The Fitness Camp goes on vacation or travels for business, sometimes for a week or more. Too often, it’s in the midst of an eight-week workout cycle. Facilities at the destination are unknown or nonexistent, and time is minimal. Under these conditions, how can a traveler be assured of maintaining fitness or, in some cases, actually improving fitness during a vacation with no equipment and little time?

High Intensity Interval Training

Theories and applications of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) can be found across the web and in fitness literature. The Fitness Camp’s application of HIIT is frequent, varied and progressive. In a future article I will cover HIIT theory and how it is implemented at The Fitness Camp. For now, I will focus on the advantage of HIIT in a travel setting: HIIT facilitates maximum results over minimal time.

The Fitness Camp’s favored HIIT protocol for a brief 1-2 week period is the Tabata interval. This interval calls for 20 seconds of maximal effort on the prescribed exercise, followed by 10 seconds of rest. The 20/10 interval is repeated  until the exercise sequence is completed. Click here to read about the research behind Izumi Tabata’s interval protocol. In the case of The Fitness Camp’s hotel room workouts, sessions will last a minimum of four minutes to a maximum of 20 minutes.

The following one-week hotel room workout sequence takes advantage of Tabata’s research and the results it delivers, as well as a few other intervals, building one upon the other. Workout frequency is four days per week. All exercises can be done with no equipment.

THE WORKOUTS

Warmup: Each day perform an essentially non-stop warm-up consisting of 100 jumping jacks, 10 pushups, 15 sit-ups and 15 bodyweight squats, followed by an additional 100 jumping jacks. If you are not yet “warm” after this sequence, repeat the cycle. Once finished, move on to the workout portion of that day.

DAY 1

Interval protocol: 20 seconds maximal effort & reps/10 seconds rest, repeated for nine intervals
Workout length: 4:20 after warm-up
Interval 1: Pushups
Interval 2: Sit-ups
Interval 3: Squats
Interval 4: Pushups
Interval 5: Situps
Interval 6: Squats
Interval 7: Pushups
Interval 8: Situps
Interval 9: Squat

DAY 2

Interval Protocol: 20 seconds maximal effort & reps/10 seconds rest, repeated for eight intervals
Workout length: 4 minutes after warm-up
Interval 1: Squat Jumps
Interval 2: Burpees*
Interval 3: Split Squat Jumps
Interval 4: Burpees
Interval 5: Squat Jumps
Interval 6: Burpees
Interval 7: Split Squat Jumps
Interval 8: Burpees

*Burpees: To perform a burpee, begin in a standing position. Squat until your hands are flat on the ground. Shoot your legs back so you are in a pushup position. Perform a pushup. Bring your legs back to the squatting position, with your hands on the ground. Then jump, arms stretched out above your head. That’s one. Repeat as quickly as possible.

DAY 3

Rest

DAY 4

Interval protocol: Perform prescribed repetitions of all exercises, followed by 3 minutes rest.
Workout length: Approximately 12 minutes
Interval 1: 50 Pushups/25 Sit-ups/25 Bed Squats*
Rest 3 minutes
Interval 2: 25 Pushups/50 Sit-ups/25 Bed Squats
Rest 3 minutes
Interval 3: 25 Pushups/25 Sit-ups/50 Bed Squats

*Bed Squats: Precisely what they sound like. They are bodyweight squats performed standing on your hotel bed. The need to balance greatly increases the difficulty and benefit of the exercise. Note: Be very careful when performing bed squats. If you find it too difficult (often beds are too soft), substitute regular bodyweight squats and add 25 repetitions to each set of squats.

DAY 5

Interval protocol: 6 seconds maximal effort & reps/9 seconds, rest, repeated for 32 intervals.
Workout length: Approximately 8 minutes
Interval 1: Squat Thrusts*
Interval 2: Bicycle Abs**

Alternating exercises, do as many squat thrusts as you can in six seconds, rest nine seconds, then perform as many bicycle ab repetitions as you can in six seconds. Rest nine seconds before repeating the alternating intervals.

*Squat thrusts are burpees (see above), without the pushup or the jump. So squat down, thrust your legs back into a pushup position, bring your legs back into the squat position, then stand. Don’t allow your hips to sag when you thrust your legs back – it’s hard on your lower back. Repeat.

**Bicycle Abs are the most effective abdominal exercise known to man (or at least of those tested in a recent Rutgers exercise study). Lie on your back. Place your fingertips on either side of your head (don’t lace them behind your head). Extend one leg completely as you bring the knee of your opposite leg toward you. Keep your shoulder blades off the ground. Churn your legs as if you were riding a bike, extending one leg completely and pointing with your toes, touching your knee with your opposite elbow as it comes toward you, as you turn your upper body from side to side. There are many videos on the web that depict this exercise, if you’re uncertain how to perform it based on the description.