Scooby's Home Bodybuilding Workouts
Keeping Fit While Traveling!
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Scooby's Home Bodybuilding Workouts Keeping Fit While Traveling! |
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If you are on the road, there is no reason to quit
working out! If you are on a driving trip then it is very easy,
you just bring along dumbbells! Use a rollerbag to make getting
your 130lbs of dumbbells to the room easy, or if you dont have a
rollerbag, just put them in two duffel bags as I have done here. If you are on a flying trip with limited baggage then you have to be a bit more creative and use water filled weights like the 5gal water bag shown on the left available from REI. All the below exercises can be done with these water bags instead of the dumbbells shown. |
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The #1 main thing to remember on the road is to MAINTAIN CONTROL OF YOUR DIET! Bring healthy food along in your luggage to eat while traveling and when you arrive. Bring some dry cereal and protein powder along for healthy breakfasts and evening snacks. If you have business dinners, then eat something healthy in your room beforehand and then during the business meal just have a large salad without dressing. |
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Lets start with aerobic exercise, if the weather is nice then go for a jog or a long walk! If the weather is bad or you are not in an area where walking is possible then use the "original stairmaster", every hotel in the world has a set of stairs that can give you a killer cardio workout! Jump-rope is another form of aerobic exercise that is practical while on the road. |
Hotel Workouts!
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Chest |
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Dumbbell press. Starting position is with the elbows on the carpet. Push slowly till the arms are extended overhead. I use pillows here to keep from annoying the neighbors under me. |
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Dumbbell flys, my mass building exercise. Start with the arms almost straight and the dumbbells on the carpet. Squeeze the weight up slowly till the weights are overhead, then let them back down slowly. |
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Pushups, my all time favorite chest exercise. Use whatever wrist position is comfortable, I prefer doing them on fists. |
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Lats |
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Dumbbells rows. Use a chair as a bench. The starting position is with the weight hanging but dont let the weight pull your shoulder down, keep your whole torso flat and horizontal. Slowly pull your elbow up to your hip, hold it, then let it down slowly. |
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Arms |
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Dumbbell curls. Just a chair is required. With this basic dumbbell curl, the palms face up. Keep the elbows stationary when you do this and keep your back stationary, no swinging. |
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Hammer dumbbell curls. Note in this exercise that the palms face inward rather than upward, expect to use a lighter weight when doing these. These work forearms too. |
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Triceps kickback. The elbow stays glued to the hip-bone in this exercise, the only thing moving is the forearm. The starting position is with the forearm pointing downward, the finishing position is with the forearm pointing to the rear and horizontal. |
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Dips. Put the dumbbells on the chair seats to keep the chairs steady. To insure proper form do these very slowly, 2-3 seconds down and 2-3 seconds up -this will insure that you dont swing or bounce. |
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Reverse Dips. Use a table, chair or bed to prop your feet up to chair level. Grab the edge of the chair and slowly lower yourself down then push back up. You can hold the dumbbell between your legs for added resistance. |
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Legs |
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Lunges. Starting position is relaxed standing. Step forward and continue down till your knee is at a 90 degree angle then push yourself back up to the standing position. |
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Good Mornings for hamstrings. Get a clearance from your doctor or physical therapist before doing these. |
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Abs |
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Crunches. The #1 best exercise for abs! In this exercise you are raising your shoulders toward the ceiling. This is not a neck exercise, dont bob your neck! |
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Portable Gyms |
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| You really want to keep in shape but your road-warrior
schedule makes it really tough so what do you do? Here is my
answer, I have designed and built this portable weight set which can be
checked as luggage or carried on in the aircraft (legal size).
Here are the specs:
I'm in the process of patenting this and deciding if it is worth putting into production. It appears that the unique pendulum design might give better results than traditional weights because of the additional coordination and muscular control required to move the bar smoothly and damp the oscillations - I am continuing research. The tight tolerances require hand machining which will make this quite expensive to produce, the prototype took me 40hrs of shop time to build. |
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The travel case is indestructible. Made from OSB with reinforced edges and corners not even the airlines can break this. The corners are glued and screwed so that not even a drop from 10' will cause damage. The case is covered with fiberglass and resin for waterproofing and scuff resistance. | |
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On the conveyor belt at the airport. | |
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Opened travel case showing the disassembled precision hardware and the weight bags. | |
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Here the hand machined bearings are shown which allow for silky smooth movements in exercises like curls when the bar is rotated. | |
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Here I am using the olympic bar portion of the set for the bench press. Separate handles are provided to use the weight bags for dumbbells (not shown). The case can be used as a variable height bench or step. The 'feel' of this weight set is un-nerving at first and the uninitiated will find it hard to move the bar in a smooth, controlled manner - this set teaches perfect form very quickly! This set requires much more muscular control than a traditional gym and will probably provide better results. | |
