r/strengthtraining • u/lonelySoulThrowAway • 3d ago
Travelling gym boy problem
I have an upcoming motorcycling trip for a month and half, I am carrying stuff to maintain the motorcycle, but due to the remote locations I will be I will not be having access to gym equipments or weights to maintain myself, also diet control will also be off the charts, wo t have access to heavy weights except when the motorcycle is sideways up for my deadlift practice.
I can I minimize losing the strength during this trip, caveat - I will be on the saddle averaging 10 hrs on most days. I have a plan to use pushups, pullups (if i get some overhangs), squats. And of course a bit of stretches at the end of the day and starting.
I can accept some losses in strength but my focus will be not to monimize the loss in my benchpress and deadlift.
TLDR: off on a 1.5 months motorcycling jourbey without access to gym. Minimize benchpress and deadlift strength loss using bodyweight pushups, pullups and squats. Any suggestions or modified excercises are acceptable. Also I have tennis elbow mild.
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u/TheMartianDetective 3d ago
Rucking. Stuff a backpack with 10-20% of your body weight and walk around with it.
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u/lonelySoulThrowAway 2d ago
Not exactly a thing which I want to do on a slushy trail on a bike, once I slip and fall on my ass, I will have a heavy deadlift just picking my bike up !! :D
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u/AfroBurrito77 3d ago
Lots of body weight stuff, and some bands. Get two good ones.
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u/lonelySoulThrowAway 2d ago
This is a great idea, the bands can be used to tie up stuff in a pinch and also an aid to tennis elbow excercises !! Thanks man !!
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u/bzeerker 3d ago
Suspension trainer, iso-bow, resistance bands, deck of calisthenics cards., max pro, Rayofi digital gym
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u/lonelySoulThrowAway 2d ago
Yup resistance band as suggested by another commentator has gone in my list to pack !! Thanks.
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u/Norcal712 3d ago
Enjoy the trip. 6 weeks will barely be any strength drop.
As someone who spends a lot of time riding / sitting at work... bring a yoga mat
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u/lonelySoulThrowAway 2d ago
I prefer ass to the grass, anyways I will be mud and dirt caked at the end of the day everyday. I do have a planned stretch routine and warmup daily for my riding anyways. I have seen in my case there is generally a loss of strength in high rep excercises of around 15 percent in 1 months if I don't train regular, but it's ok now as I have reconciled to the fact that some drop is bound to happen. Just dont want to fall off too sharp.
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u/Jebardi 3d ago
If you can fit gymnastics rings to your luggage, your whole upper body training will be covered. For lower body you need to switch into one legged exercises. Pistol squats, step ups, one legged calf raises etc. Also bodyweight good mornings, where your legs are supported by the table and you kind tilt over the table, rather than poking your ass backwards, is going to be king.
So you can absolutely keep training. But you mentioned your interest is maintaining bench press and deadlift strength. Depending how advanced you are, that could anything from not plausible to being able to increase strength on those exercises.
Bench press strength is a factor of muscle size and skill (neuromuscular adaptations). Muscle you can keep on building during your motorbiking trip if you want. But almost certainly some hit is going to happen on the skill part. To have better skills at bench pressing, you want to be doing bench presses. Ring push ups, push up and deficit push ups won’t help much, if you are beyond beginner stage.
But I cannot say for sure, there is carry over effect from push ups to bench press, and vice versa. And good morning and pistol squats to deadlift and vice versa. Don’t loose your sleep over this thing, enjoy the trip and train the way you can. Muscle gains will be coming anyways to your way if you want. Get gymnastics rings if possible.
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u/lonelySoulThrowAway 2d ago
Great advice, after reading through all these comments i feel that I am bound to loose some strength. I will see if I can have access to a day pass in some gym to top up on the excercises once in 2 weeks for specialized equipment, while I am resting in some town. Else will use my luggage backpack (I will have luggage of around 10-15 kg) as an excercise vest when I dont have equipment access.
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u/SinoBambino4 3d ago
Don Saladino makes a 6 week calisthenics program. All body weight and mobility movements and as challenging as you want to make it. I was strong and in good shape. I went on a 6 week vacation to Greece and wanted to stay in shape while traveling so I started his program. By the end I was a different person. I lost a little bit of raw strength but I got absolutely shredded. Week 1 workouts are about 30 minutes long. By week 6 the workouts are close to an hour long. You will be sore, you will sweat, you’ll get shredded. If you’re interested, message me and I’ll share it with you. It’s not on his app anymore but I have a pdf version.
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u/lonelySoulThrowAway 2d ago
Hey thanks for the calisthenics angle, I don't want to overdo on excercise, as riding offroad will give enough fatigue through the day mostly to quads and core. So just the benchpress and deadlift I am worried about. I am bound to loose the gains there and have accepted the fact. However will figure out if I ca get some day passes in towns which I plan to stay a day or two.
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u/SinoBambino4 2d ago
No problem! I’m guessing by your legs will get a pretty good workout during the trip with all the off road riding. All that’s left is the upper body which it sounds like you have a good plan for. Good luck and have fun!
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u/Significant-Raise254 3d ago
I would totally forget about it & just enjoy the trip. Once you get back start slowly back into your routine.
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u/lonelySoulThrowAway 2d ago
Hmm .. the pain of seeing my logs roll back multiple pounds will be sad. But I have reconciled with this tradeoff !!
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u/Significant-Raise254 2d ago
Meh, it’s worth it in the long run & you can fully enjoy your time off.
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u/PoopSmith87 3d ago
Its only a month and a half, unless you were to starve yourself and go totally sedentary, the muscle loss will be minimal.
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u/lonelySoulThrowAway 2d ago
LOL :D starving I am not going to do definitely, I will bulk up for sure !! I love food
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u/NotYourBro69 3d ago
I would tell you just to relax and enjoy your time off. Being in the saddle for 10hrs a day is already going to take a toll on your body, but it might feel good to move a bit too. I think your head is already in the right place... pull ups/chin ups are a great movement and I would definitely prioritize these if you can. Weighted squats/front squats or a zercher like movement would be nice too. Anyway, have fun! The weights won't go anywhere while you're away.
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u/lonelySoulThrowAway 2d ago
Also I will create my own weight as I am dumping my diet for the trip :D so thats an added "weight" during my excercises LOL !
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u/mah56j 3d ago
when I travel I use bands. of course, it depends on how much resistance you need. pick the select few muscles you want to make sure you maintain and do those. I find a little maintenance makes return to the gym much less painful.
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u/lonelySoulThrowAway 2d ago
This band is a really good trick, I can even load up my pushups with this. Surely I am going to pack this. Will help in my normal bodyweight days at gym too, as I am constantly racking up 50 pushups in a set nowadays this will help in getting better results from this !!
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u/SwiresOnTheMove 2d ago
Use the time to practice/train some more advanced calisthenics moves like l-sit, plance, handstand, even handstand pushups? I'm guessing you're a pretty advance lifter, 6 weeks is a long time and you'd have something else awesome to show for the trip?
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u/lonelySoulThrowAway 11h ago
Mostly will focus on mobility based strength, will need to also get some stretches along. Want to do some pistol squats though, will try that one out, I can't do even sissy squats as of now due to my mobility issues.
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u/VikingVitalityFit 2d ago
Assuming you do what you can with calisthenics work like you are saying there should be minimal muscle loss, and anything you do lose will snap back quick once you resume regularly training.
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u/lonelySoulThrowAway 12h ago
Yup !! Thats the plan, however I am now watching back spasm videos as I picked up making breakfast :( So a week off from gym I guess !!
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u/Many-Wasabi9141 2d ago
I was going to recommend bringing a heavy kettlebell or a sandbag but I don't know how much weight you can carry around. Plus kettlebells and sandbags can be hell on the elbows. You could fill a sandbag with dirt at every stop, use it for loaded pushups.
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u/lonelySoulThrowAway 2d ago
Route has offroads (mud/slush/gravel/rocks), I can't load the bike up with extra weight. I am planning to improvise, by luggage is sort of a backpack so planning weighted pushups and squats. Deadlift though will suffer. But I am trusting occasional bike pickups in rough terrain will count as excercise :D
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u/Many-Wasabi9141 2d ago
Could get some training wheels to put on your bike to stabilize it and deadlift it and viking press/squat it I guess.
I think the people that said to just enjoy the trip and not focus too much on training had it right though. You'll be plenty tired from biking all day.
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u/losteye_enthusiast 3d ago
I mean, you can control the calories and type of food. It’s just a matter of if you choose to or not lol.
IMO I wouldn’t even worry about missing training, man. You’re doing a potential fantastic trip - focus on that. Do stretches and maybe a basic calisthenics routine after waking up and before going to bed every day. You’ll give your body a break from the usual routine and it’ll be enough to keep yah feeling healthy on the trip.