April 20, 2022 • 34 mins
When you travel, you want to keep your fitness plan going! So, how do you keep it going in an environment that is different from what you are used to? Listen to this episode of the Fitness Disrupted podcast to find out the answer, and discover how trips are a great time to enjoy some variation!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Fitness Disrupted, a production of My Heart Radio.
I am Tom Holland and this is Fitness Disrupted. I
just got back from spring break. Amazing. I focus on
(00:23):
collecting experiences for myself and my family, and every year
we tried to go to a different place, generally a
warm place. I would much rather be warm than cold,
especially at this age. But amazing, incredible and podcast topic
weird its ugly head as I was there, and it's
(00:44):
one that I've had on my list. It's one that
I've done a similar type show that I will reference
shortly in the past, and it goes to Hotel Jim etiquette,
Hotel Jim etiquette and also tips are gonna throw in
some tips there. Always try to focus on the positive,
but this is this is a topic that needs discussion,
(01:05):
so that is what today's show is about. And I
am someone who travels really, really frequently, especially obviously before COVID,
but even during COVID, I was traveling. I travel as
a fitness advisor, the fitness advisor for a major um
fitness company, so frequently on the road doing TV for them,
(01:26):
you know, home shopping channels stuff, as well as some
reality TV lectures, conventions, things like that, and then you
know my racing. I still race fifty three years old,
still doing what I've been doing for thirty some odd years,
and that's iron Man triathlons and marathons and getting into
the ultra marathon world a little bit more of those,
(01:48):
and then just events that I also create for myself,
like the run across the Grand Canyon and back, which
I'm going to do again, I think pretty soon. So
I said, a lot of time on the road and
in hotel. Jim's still exercising, right, And then finally, as
I just said, uh, you know with family, So going
on vacation with my family, and also I have two
(02:10):
kids who travel frequently for sports. So lots of time
on the road, lots of time in hotels, and lots
of time in hotel gyms. Let me say this again.
I did a similar podcast Jim pet Peeves, and it
goes to kind of the way we should be comporting
(02:32):
ourselves when we're in the gym, and there are differences,
which is why I said, you know, this is a
great topic as well. There are differences between your gyms
and hotel gyms, and I'll get into that shortly as well.
So we need to talk about this stuff. And you know,
when I did that podcast on Jim pet Peeves, I
(02:54):
received messages and people were offended at certain people. Some
people were offended, and I don't argue those are the offenders.
Those are the offenders. This is pretty cut and dried people.
This is pretty black and white when I get into
I'm gonna give you four specifics. There are many more,
but they all kind of come back to the same theme.
(03:16):
Al Right, So if when you listen to this podcast
you two are offended, God to kind of ask yourself
why based on the reasons I give. Okay, and again,
I have spent my the better part of my life
in a gym, working in a gym, owning a gym,
(03:38):
training people, teaching classes. You know, this is this, This
has been my life for many years. I have a
unique perspective on it. I'm not just someone I just
watch Holy Cow kind of a I watched a video
last night about a fitness X I had to do
some research and I want that almost hour back. Oh
(04:03):
my gosh, this person was just so much garbage. That's
so much garbage. So my point is this, this person
wasn't qualified to be talking about the subject that we're
talking about. All right, I am. I've spent a lot
of a lot of hours and days and weeks and
years in all aspects of the gym. So when we
come back from this break and I get into it,
(04:24):
then it's gonna help you as well. I always want
you to have the actionable stuff. So if you are
someone who travels frequently, or you're someone who's just gotten
into a fitness program or back into one, and you
want to stick with it when you travel, you want
to keep it going, right, how do you do that?
And how do you do it when you're in a
(04:46):
place like a hotel gym where you might not have
you won't have what you normally have. Okay, quick break.
When we come back hotel jim etiquette and tips, we'll
be right back there, all right, talking about hotel jim
(05:10):
tips etiquette, just basically what's it's all about. And let
me start by saying, I don't spend as much time
or yeah, as much time in the hotel gym as uh.
I just don't spend a lot of time in it
(05:30):
because if I'm traveling, especially for vacation, that's what I'm
trying to say, if I'm on vacation, I don't want
to be in the gym for an hour or two hours,
which pretty much not any more anyway. But if I'm
in a beautiful place on spring break, I'm going to
mix it up. And that is going to be one
of the top themes of today's show in many ways.
(05:52):
But I get outside, especially on spring break in a
you know, beautiful location, I want to explore. That's not
to a that I'm not in the gym because there's
certain things I want to work on my shoulders and
use some different equipment and you know, i might be
training for something specific, but I'm going to do more
stuff outside. So when I was on spring break just
(06:14):
a short while ago in a beautiful location Caribbean, I
swam a handful of times and it was five open
water swims, amazing, And there was a pool by the way.
There are people swimming in the pool, and that's fine.
I didn't swim in the pool like the most incredible
temperature water seeing fish like that's that's me. Now again,
(06:38):
I'm not saying you can't swim in the hotel pool.
And I watched some people who obviously were swimmers get
up in the morning and get in there. Awesome, But
I want to be seeing and experiencing as much of
the place I am with my movement, with my exercise. Okay,
so swimming it a handful of runs, a handful of runs.
(07:03):
And I also want to say that, you know, this
is family time. I mean when I'm traveling for work,
it's different. But I will get up for anyone else
and get outside. And whether that's the swim or the
gym or the run, I don't want to take time
away from my family either. It's family time and it
(07:24):
serves that purpose and so many others as well. There's
nothing like seeing eight foreign place, wake up right, just
getting outside right. I like to do it right before sunrise,
not door, because you know, generally you want to be
safe and it's a strange location. Uh, and you always
want to be safe. And um, I don't think I've
(07:45):
done that show yet, but I've done parts of it. Um,
just right before sunrise, sun's coming up, you're out for
a walk or a swim or run. Amazing, amazing. I
did the final day, did one of my longest runs,
and you know, I was home before anyone was awake.
(08:06):
And you watch you know, the the just everything. It's incredible.
So that's one great time I do it. And I
also do it right for dinner when everyone's kind of
you know, you're back from the beach. People are getting dressed, reading,
doing whatever. But there's like that hour before before taking showers,
getting ready to go out, another perfect time to do it,
(08:28):
and you're not really missing the family time, all right.
So I wanted to qualify that too. I want to
see where I am and I want to spend time
with my family, all right. That goes to the hotel
gyms for me, something I want to talk about, right.
I Also, I'm doing so much stuff outside, whether it's
body weight bands, so I've talked about that before. I
(08:49):
generally bring with me just a handful of things that
I can use if and when I need to, and
those include resistance bands, maybe a jump rope, and the
jump rope a lot. I rarely use it, but I
still bring it, and it's so small it doesn't matter.
And by the way, there are times when you know,
I bring the bands and the jump rope and a
(09:10):
couple other things with the bands, you know, I also
have the little thing that goes over the door. So
I can really get into great work out with those bands.
But there are times when I never use them. Then
I'll do other things that I will go to the
hotel gym, or I will do bodyweight stuff. But it
doesn't matter. It's with me if and when I need it,
all right, So just another example of not even getting
(09:34):
to the hotel gym. Sometimes I will use that stuff
right in my room. And oftentimes that's when I'm traveling
for work, right, and this goes for winter and summer.
You know, I'll get out and run in the winter
traveling for hockey with kids and you know, cold places
to love that as well. But I will bring a
(09:57):
small straight bag filled with stuff that I can use
also just bands, right for band work, legwork, stuff like
that really compact, really small, really light equipment that I
can use. And a ball like uh, you know the ball,
the massage ball with a little points on it to
(10:19):
kind of roll out any type muscles and things like that.
I bring that as well, all right. So I'm just
talking about things before we even get to the hotel, Jim, right,
because this is all part of your overall program and
plan and variation, all right. There's no better way to
(10:44):
see where you are than by foot or by bike
or in the water, right, And so let's get to
the gym. So that's all the stuff that you can
do and should do and prepare for. It's all about preparation,
whether it comes to food or exercise, you know, when
you're traveling, thinking ahead. And let me say this, Oh
(11:06):
my gosh, how often do I talk about the incredible
technology available to us that wasn't when I first started,
when I was a kid, when I first started in
this industry. As well, I will go online and google
the hotel jim that I'm staying in and look at
the pictures. Not necessarily the pictures that the gym or
the hotel provides, although those are helpful, but there's different
(11:27):
websites and people who will upload pictures of what is
exactly in the gym, and you can also look at
the dates to see, if you know, was it five
years ago or five weeks ago or five days ago.
And so it is almost never that I go to
a hotel gym without knowing exactly what is in there.
(11:48):
And if you're someone who you know needs to bring
bite shoes and wants to know what kind of bike
is in there. You don't even have to call the hotel.
You can just look online. So that's another tip. Google
the name of the hotel and just say fitness center
or gym and you will see what is there, all right.
(12:09):
So this gym for this spring break was one of
the best, if not the best Jim I've had available
to me while traveling. Who's two floors. It was filled
with equipment and like you know, amazing with floor to
ceiling windows. So if you were on the second floor,
(12:31):
which was where the cardio generally was, you could be
looking right out at the incredible you know, beach and
just incredible view. I still want to be outside, but
if I had to be in, this was the gym
and this was the view, all right. So it's incredible.
So much equipment, including like six or eight stationary bikes,
(12:54):
I mean really really well appointed, all right, but that's rare,
but that's rare, but even given at the idea for
this podcast came up because of what I experienced and saw,
all right. So one positive thing, hugely positive thing that
I want to start with is that there were so
(13:15):
many people working out and doing so many different things
and maybe really happy and people that I would argue
because I have been in this industry really long time
that weren't in the gyms before. And one really obvious
difference was that people were a handful of people we're
working out to their phones to videos to work out
(13:40):
programs that were on their phones. Now I'm not sure
which apps or you know, was it YouTube was in
an app? Um, I'm not sure what they were watching specifically,
but I could see there were workouts and they were
falling along, and that's awesome, but that came with problems
that caused some problems. Okay, too shortly, all right, but
huge positive more people all ages, teenagers all the way
(14:04):
up to people my age and older. Uh, and so
that's great, but that's yet another reason we need to
do what I'm going to get to the etiquette right
because a lot of people and it's normally not as
nice as this, Jim. Okay, so what's the difference. You know,
(14:26):
I did that podcast Pet Peeves talking about the regular gym.
Basically is etiquette what you should be doing in a
regular gym. Well, this is even more important when you
travel because why there's generally less stuff, there's less equipment,
and that's a huge problem when there's more people, and
if you're in a hotel gym like on business, it's
(14:48):
like this tiny hole in the wall right with like
a bike from X and a couple of sets of
dumbells with a couple missing, and it's it's just limited
at asked right. And then there's less space, and it
is a huge part of the problem is the amount
of space you have and where you position yourself within
(15:11):
that space, get to that shortly, and then finally less time.
Who wants to be in there right when you're on vacation,
you want to get in and get out. For the
most part, I watched people work out pretty long and listen,
I'll get up super early if I'm training for like
an iron Man, and get in not as longer workout,
like crazy long workout that I would do at home,
(15:32):
but we'll get up super early and get in a
longer workout generally not gonna waste the good part of
the day, or I won't waste a good part of
the day inside. But less stuff, less space, less time,
so even more important that we follow these etiquette rules.
And so there were four things I want to focus
(15:52):
on that I witnessed in this gym, and I've witnessed
them before, but that you wrinkle is people working out
to their phones, and that created not a new category
of problem, but it just intensified it. All Right, what
(16:13):
do I mean by that? Tell you right after the
short break and we will be right back and we're
back talking about hotel gym etiquetting tips again. Spent much
of my life in the gym, and much of my
(16:35):
life traveling, and much of my life in gym's on
the road, and it's just the same rules apply to
hotel gyms. They're just as I said before the break,
they're even more important that we follow them. Okay, so
get right into it. Four specific major faux pause. I
(16:57):
witnessed this pass spring break and have witness for many years. Okay,
and these are just start you thinking. And I don't
you know it, talked about it at the beginning of
the podcast. People getting offended, and that is the last
thing I am. If you've listened to my podcast, if
you know my philosophy towards life, I'm as positive as
they get. But we need to discuss these things. And
so you know, again, if you're taking offense to any
(17:19):
of these, if you're doing these things. Essentially, I want
you to reconsider, I want you to think why. Okay,
So one of the most egregious issues was with dumbbells. Okay,
there was one set of dumbells, one dumbell rack, I
should say, and one set of each one. So we're
(17:41):
talking like fives, eights, tens, fifteen, twenties maybe gosh, I
don't even go that heavy anymore. Probably ended at forties
or fifties. One small rack. So in this beautifully appointed,
humongous two floor jim with like crazy amount of cardio
and everything else, one set of dumbells, one dumboll rack.
(18:01):
And so what happened? Someone took the fifteen upstairs. There
was a space you could work out two upstairs, so
mostly cardio, and then like huge mirror on the back
wall where you could do whatever you wanted, you know,
some yoga, some stretching, whatever you wanted. So this person
took the fifteen. So I'm looking for the fifteen, can't
see it, can't find them, and you see like the
(18:23):
space in the rack where they should be. Now listen
from someone who owned a gym. People will steal everything,
including forty pound bars and more, walk right out the door.
Never saw it happen in my gym, but it is
incredible and so hotel gym's any people will take them
back to their room. But this person took fifteens upstairs
(18:46):
and was doing a video workout to his phone with
fifteen for an hour. Now every now and again I
would go upstairs to do something different, so strength day
for me when this happened. And I was mostly doing
(19:06):
strength inside. That's pretty much all I was doing is
doing all the other stuff outside. But I would go
up occasionally and you know, use some other stuff that
was up there. But this person was not spending the
hour using the fifteen. They would he would do a
set and then there would be five ten minutes in
(19:28):
between where there were so many other exercises. So basically
took the equipment upstairs. If you actually counted how many
minutes he used the fifteens, it was a couple of
minutes out of an hour, and no one else could
use them. And fifteens are actually I do like a
(19:49):
crazy number of exercises with fifteens at this age. I
love them. Now many of you are probably saying you
could have said to him, can I use those not
doing it? Let me say that right up front. I'm not.
There's so many other things and this is where I'll
end up that I can do in a hotel gym,
and I'm not there to confront people. I don't want
to have a bad experience. I'm on vacation. I could
(20:12):
have and if I really needed to for a specific reason,
I would have. It's not me. Let me just get
that right out of the way, and I shouldn't have to.
I shouldn't have to, and that it's a huge part
this whole discussion. In the gym etiquette the Pet Peeves
(20:32):
podcast I did, I said, it's back to kindergarten people.
Sharing is caring. Okay, there's one set of something, you're
taking it for an hour, and there were so many
other people in that gym, and I would argue many
who would have used those No one else engaged with
(20:54):
this person either, and they had the dumbbells right in
front of them, and were you know, faith wouldn't have
been a fun interaction. Let's leave it at that, all right,
But sharing is caring. We need to share the toys.
We need to share the toys. Most of us want
to get in and out, want to do our thing
and move on and enjoy the day or go to
(21:16):
work or depending on why you're traveling. And so you
can't do that. And I can hear some people saying, well,
that person got there first, right, guess what I get there?
Think there's a couple of days because I get up
super early and the gym was open twenty four hours.
I was the first person in the gym, so I
(21:36):
could have done all that. I don't do that. It's
not my style. It's not who gets there first. And
let me say this, when I'm in a normal gym,
many of you may think this is nuts. This is
how much I believe sharing is caring, and how long
I've been in the gym. I will do. Let's say
I'm doing three sets of Dumbell curls with fifteen. I
(21:57):
will do one set and I will put it back
in the rack. Don't put it in front of me.
I put it back in the rack, and then I
go do like abs or something else, or even if
I rest, I don't put it in front of me.
Someone else might want them right away. So I am
putting everything back after I use it, while I'm resting
(22:17):
or doing something else. That is uncommon and it will
lead to I think it's my fourth tip here. It's
connected sharing people. We are sharing, and in a hotel gym,
there's less stuff, less space, less time, all right, So
not okay? And this is tied into the video workout
(22:39):
because I watched someone else do the same thing different way.
It's different day video workout. Get a bunch of stuff,
put it all in front of them, and keep it
so no one else could use it. I can hear
you now many people going, well, that's what I do, Tom,
I have this great workout routine. I got this app,
and I need eights and fives and twenties. I get it.
(23:00):
But this is gonna be my personal philosophy and take
on all this people. You can't necessarily do those workouts
in a hotel, Jim. You've gotta change what you do
because we're all sharing it, right, we all want to
use it. So when variation is one of the most
important things to so many people's programs, to continue to
(23:22):
see results, to avoid the plateau, to avoid injury and
burnout and everything else, hotels him, it's a perfect time
to mix it up. I understand many of you are
following a program and you know or you have this
favorite you know, workout routine that you do. Life is
not fair now when you're no hotel Jim. You don't
hear many people say this, but it's true. There's sometimes
(23:43):
that I want to go do a two hour run
on a treadmill and a gym. Guess what, I don't
do it. You know why, because there's one treadmill and
other people waiting for it. I will run as long
as I can until someone walks in. Sometimes, but when
there's limited equipment, you can't do what you want to
do all the time. It hard for many do understanding grass.
(24:04):
But we are playing on the same field. All right.
There you go, and I know many of you are
going to have an issue with that. Want you to
think about it, all right. Sharing is caring number two.
So there's a cable crossover machine that's rare to find
in a in a hotel gym, So cable crossover machines
(24:25):
a big machine, right, and there's cables on either side,
so you can either use either side. Right, you can
do try sept press downs on one side, you can
do cable crunches on the other side. So at the
very least there's two stations and then you could grab
both and do chest cable crossovers things like that, right
stand in the middle of it. Well, I've seen this
(24:47):
many times in many gyms, but Hotel Jim even more egregious.
Someone took one of the two benches, put it in
the middle of the cable crossover machine because was a
mirror in front of it. I would argue and did
their exercises so no one could use the cable crossover
(25:08):
machine while the person was in there. Again, I'm not
going to get into should I told this person to
move and all that kind of stuff. All good, there
are times and when I will I'm on vacation, I
could do so many other things. So this person was
taking away a minimum of because there's other stations around
(25:30):
this too, but let's say too so put the bench
in the middle of the cable crossover machine and was
doing some dumbell work. And I'm going to bring in
number four quickly because it's tied into this. Not only
were they in the cable crossover machine doing dumbell work,
so no one could use the cable crossover machine. The
way he was positioned, he was on his phone, wasn't
(25:54):
getting a lot of work done. Hotel Jim share, get
in and out, think about others around you, and move on.
Not even as they say this, like not crazy about
this topic because I like to accentuate the positive. But
this is it's good to know. It's good for everyone
(26:17):
to know, right, because I want everyone to be healthy
and happy and do what they need to do right.
So don't move the bench into the cable crossover machine.
And I've seen people do this with other things in
the cable crossover machine or in other machines, so that
the people cannot use that machine for what it's meant
(26:38):
to be used for. And this goes to the space issue.
You need to be cognizant of where you are in
that room. And this was cavernous place, which made it
even more egregious because this person should have left it
where it was in front of the dumbell rack, all right,
And that segues into the next one. Try to keep
(26:59):
these uh short, shorter, simple. So I talked about this
one in the gym pet Peeves, but even more important
in the hotel gym. Don't exercise in front of things
like the dumbbell rack. So you can be the person
who takes the bench and puts it in the cable
(27:21):
crossover machine and then they can't use that. Well, this
is a really common one. People will take set of
dumbells off the one dumbbell rack, back up one inch
and start to exercise. Now, in certain gym's, hotel gyms
that are really small, you don't have a lot of options,
but you generally always have an option to back up.
(27:42):
And I watched more than one person stand in front
of it and do an entire routine. One person had
their phone out doing a workout directly in front of
the dumbbell rack. So to get a dumbell or a
set of dumbbells, you had to interrupt their routine. And
there were so many other places to do it, and
(28:03):
they were doing things like split lunges with the bench
right in front. It wasn't a good use of space, people,
It wasn't a good use of space, and it was
putting everyone else out. And I would argue, there are
people that go by and listen. I am the type
of person who, when I need to, I will obviously
say what I need to say, but there are many
that won't. And so that's what this show is about. Two.
(28:24):
You know, I watched the teenagers in there, the younger
kids male and female, who definitely aren't going to engage
with these people, and I want them to get their
workouts in. This is about caring and sharing people and consideration,
all right. So for those of you who might not
be aware of what you're doing, that's what this show
(28:44):
is about. You go, whoops, I didn't realize. That's what
I hope. I hope I get more of those, although
I didn't get any of those messages for the direct
messages for my pet peeves. So where you situate your
health should be a consideration. And then with that new
phenomenon of people doing an entire thirty minutes sixty minute
(29:09):
workout to their phone, when you position yourself as I
watched these people do right in front of the one
small dumbell rack, that's a problem. I don't want to
have to interrupt you. And there was no reason to
do it right there. That was there was no reason
to do it right there. Know where you are in space,
you know that there are other people around you, and think,
(29:31):
what if someone needed the dumbells that are right in
front of me? Should I be standing here for an
hour blocking not only that but other things in the
small hotel. Jim, okay, en, you get it finally, and
I already got to this one or touched on it,
but it needs to be touched on again. On your phone,
(29:53):
it's never okay to be sitting in a machine for
a long, long period of time on your phone while
other people are waiting. Step back, step outside, do what
you need to do if you're texting things like that,
and get back in. Let someone do a set. And
I talked about this, and this was what got one
(30:15):
person particularly riled is when in that Jim pet Peeves,
I talked about walking up to a rope tricept cable
pressed down station and holding This happen to be dozens
and dozens of times in my lifetime because of all
the time I've spending gym and someone coming up to
me and saying I was using That person was like
(30:39):
nowhere to be seen. When I walked up to it,
they said they were using it. My answer was I'm
using it now and you can have it when I'm finished.
And it's got a lot of people riled, which is
not a lot one person in particular, but I know
the people like to take a bunch of machines and
do their thing. It's not how it works. You need
(31:01):
to share. If you're not there, someone else can use
it now. Different for barbels and different things. As I
say this out loud, I'm thinking, you know different places
where it might not apply, but by and large people
it does. And if there's one barbell in the gym
and you're taking breaks, listen, if you're doing fifteen minutes
(31:22):
NonStop by the barbell, good for you. But again it's
it's really hard to think of a case where you
shouldn't put it down, get out, move aside, and let
someone else use it, especially if you're taking rests. I
will get up. If I'm in a machine where there's
(31:43):
only a couple in a gym during my rest, I
generally go do something else. Okay, I'll do set of
chest press, then I'll go do some abs. I'll come back.
But when you're on your phone and there's people standing
around waiting and you say I was using that, No, no,
I'm holding it. I'm using it now, And I know
(32:05):
that that may sound harsh to some people. It goes
back to kindergarten. We're all sharing the toys, all right.
I think be considerate and get a great workout in.
But I'll say it one final time because it's so important.
One thing I love about traveling and working out a
(32:26):
hotel gym is it forces me oftentimes to not do
my normal routine, to change, to stimulate and create different
stimuli on my muscles and cardiovascular system, to use something
I never would use, or to use something I you know,
a cable in a different way because there's only one
(32:46):
handle that I normally don't use with that cable machine,
or to be creative with five pound dumbbells. Do you
get my point? So we can't always do what we want.
We have to think about other are people when we're
in shared spaces, and this can be a positive. It
is a positive. Now you have it. I'm too nice,
(33:11):
see I. I'll leave it at that. I love traveling.
I love it. I love spending time with family. I
love traveling for work. I love hotel gyms. I love
everything about fitness, and I love everything about new experiences.
And I want more people in the gems, and we
are seeing more people in the gyms, and that's why
(33:32):
this show is important. So don't take offense. Just think
if you want to yell at me. Tom h Fit
is Instagram. Tom age fit is my Twitter account. You
can message me through there. You can also go to
Fitness disrupted dot com email me through the site. And
the newest book is the Micro Workout Plan, which is
what I'm often doing when I travel and on spring break.
(33:55):
Shorter workouts, body weight, simple equipment. Stuff that works, especially
when equipment is at a minimum. All right, again, remember
there are three things we all control. How much we move,
(34:16):
what we put into our mouths, and our attitudes. And
that is awesome. I am Tom Holland, exercise physiologist, certified
sports nutritionists and lover of everything fitness. So let's all
do it together people, Let's all have fun, let's all
get in a great workout, and let's all live our
best lives. I'm Tom Holland. This is Fitness Disrupted. Believe
(34:40):
in yourself. Fitness Disrupted is a production of I Heart Radio.
For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the I
heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows.
Welcome to Fitness Disrupted, a production of My Heart Radio.
I am Tom Holland and this is Fitness Disrupted. I
just got back from spring break. Amazing. I focus on
(00:23):
collecting experiences for myself and my family, and every year
we tried to go to a different place, generally a
warm place. I would much rather be warm than cold,
especially at this age. But amazing, incredible and podcast topic
weird its ugly head as I was there, and it's
(00:44):
one that I've had on my list. It's one that
I've done a similar type show that I will reference
shortly in the past, and it goes to Hotel Jim etiquette,
Hotel Jim etiquette and also tips are gonna throw in
some tips there. Always try to focus on the positive,
but this is this is a topic that needs discussion,
(01:05):
so that is what today's show is about. And I
am someone who travels really, really frequently, especially obviously before COVID,
but even during COVID, I was traveling. I travel as
a fitness advisor, the fitness advisor for a major um
fitness company, so frequently on the road doing TV for them,
(01:26):
you know, home shopping channels stuff, as well as some
reality TV lectures, conventions, things like that, and then you
know my racing. I still race fifty three years old,
still doing what I've been doing for thirty some odd years,
and that's iron Man triathlons and marathons and getting into
the ultra marathon world a little bit more of those,
(01:48):
and then just events that I also create for myself,
like the run across the Grand Canyon and back, which
I'm going to do again, I think pretty soon. So
I said, a lot of time on the road and
in hotel. Jim's still exercising, right, And then finally, as
I just said, uh, you know with family, So going
on vacation with my family, and also I have two
(02:10):
kids who travel frequently for sports. So lots of time
on the road, lots of time in hotels, and lots
of time in hotel gyms. Let me say this again.
I did a similar podcast Jim pet Peeves, and it
goes to kind of the way we should be comporting
(02:32):
ourselves when we're in the gym, and there are differences,
which is why I said, you know, this is a
great topic as well. There are differences between your gyms
and hotel gyms, and I'll get into that shortly as well.
So we need to talk about this stuff. And you know,
when I did that podcast on Jim pet Peeves, I
(02:54):
received messages and people were offended at certain people. Some
people were offended, and I don't argue those are the offenders.
Those are the offenders. This is pretty cut and dried people.
This is pretty black and white when I get into
I'm gonna give you four specifics. There are many more,
but they all kind of come back to the same theme.
(03:16):
Al Right, So if when you listen to this podcast
you two are offended, God to kind of ask yourself
why based on the reasons I give. Okay, and again,
I have spent my the better part of my life
in a gym, working in a gym, owning a gym,
(03:38):
training people, teaching classes. You know, this is this, This
has been my life for many years. I have a
unique perspective on it. I'm not just someone I just
watch Holy Cow kind of a I watched a video
last night about a fitness X I had to do
some research and I want that almost hour back. Oh
(04:03):
my gosh, this person was just so much garbage. That's
so much garbage. So my point is this, this person
wasn't qualified to be talking about the subject that we're
talking about. All right, I am. I've spent a lot
of a lot of hours and days and weeks and
years in all aspects of the gym. So when we
come back from this break and I get into it,
(04:24):
then it's gonna help you as well. I always want
you to have the actionable stuff. So if you are
someone who travels frequently, or you're someone who's just gotten
into a fitness program or back into one, and you
want to stick with it when you travel, you want
to keep it going, right, how do you do that?
And how do you do it when you're in a
(04:46):
place like a hotel gym where you might not have
you won't have what you normally have. Okay, quick break.
When we come back hotel jim etiquette and tips, we'll
be right back there, all right, talking about hotel jim
(05:10):
tips etiquette, just basically what's it's all about. And let
me start by saying, I don't spend as much time
or yeah, as much time in the hotel gym as uh.
I just don't spend a lot of time in it
(05:30):
because if I'm traveling, especially for vacation, that's what I'm
trying to say, if I'm on vacation, I don't want
to be in the gym for an hour or two hours,
which pretty much not any more anyway. But if I'm
in a beautiful place on spring break, I'm going to
mix it up. And that is going to be one
of the top themes of today's show in many ways.
(05:52):
But I get outside, especially on spring break in a
you know, beautiful location, I want to explore. That's not
to a that I'm not in the gym because there's
certain things I want to work on my shoulders and
use some different equipment and you know, i might be
training for something specific, but I'm going to do more
stuff outside. So when I was on spring break just
(06:14):
a short while ago in a beautiful location Caribbean, I
swam a handful of times and it was five open
water swims, amazing, And there was a pool by the way.
There are people swimming in the pool, and that's fine.
I didn't swim in the pool like the most incredible
temperature water seeing fish like that's that's me. Now again,
(06:38):
I'm not saying you can't swim in the hotel pool.
And I watched some people who obviously were swimmers get
up in the morning and get in there. Awesome, But
I want to be seeing and experiencing as much of
the place I am with my movement, with my exercise. Okay,
so swimming it a handful of runs, a handful of runs.
(07:03):
And I also want to say that, you know, this
is family time. I mean when I'm traveling for work,
it's different. But I will get up for anyone else
and get outside. And whether that's the swim or the
gym or the run, I don't want to take time
away from my family either. It's family time and it
(07:24):
serves that purpose and so many others as well. There's
nothing like seeing eight foreign place, wake up right, just
getting outside right. I like to do it right before sunrise,
not door, because you know, generally you want to be
safe and it's a strange location. Uh, and you always
want to be safe. And um, I don't think I've
(07:45):
done that show yet, but I've done parts of it. Um,
just right before sunrise, sun's coming up, you're out for
a walk or a swim or run. Amazing, amazing. I
did the final day, did one of my longest runs,
and you know, I was home before anyone was awake.
(08:06):
And you watch you know, the the just everything. It's incredible.
So that's one great time I do it. And I
also do it right for dinner when everyone's kind of
you know, you're back from the beach. People are getting dressed, reading,
doing whatever. But there's like that hour before before taking showers,
getting ready to go out, another perfect time to do it,
(08:28):
and you're not really missing the family time, all right.
So I wanted to qualify that too. I want to
see where I am and I want to spend time
with my family, all right. That goes to the hotel
gyms for me, something I want to talk about, right.
I Also, I'm doing so much stuff outside, whether it's
body weight bands, so I've talked about that before. I
(08:49):
generally bring with me just a handful of things that
I can use if and when I need to, and
those include resistance bands, maybe a jump rope, and the
jump rope a lot. I rarely use it, but I
still bring it, and it's so small it doesn't matter.
And by the way, there are times when you know,
I bring the bands and the jump rope and a
(09:10):
couple other things with the bands, you know, I also
have the little thing that goes over the door. So
I can really get into great work out with those bands.
But there are times when I never use them. Then
I'll do other things that I will go to the
hotel gym, or I will do bodyweight stuff. But it
doesn't matter. It's with me if and when I need it,
all right, So just another example of not even getting
(09:34):
to the hotel gym. Sometimes I will use that stuff
right in my room. And oftentimes that's when I'm traveling
for work, right, and this goes for winter and summer.
You know, I'll get out and run in the winter
traveling for hockey with kids and you know, cold places
to love that as well. But I will bring a
(09:57):
small straight bag filled with stuff that I can use
also just bands, right for band work, legwork, stuff like
that really compact, really small, really light equipment that I
can use. And a ball like uh, you know the ball,
the massage ball with a little points on it to
(10:19):
kind of roll out any type muscles and things like that.
I bring that as well, all right. So I'm just
talking about things before we even get to the hotel, Jim, right,
because this is all part of your overall program and
plan and variation, all right. There's no better way to
(10:44):
see where you are than by foot or by bike
or in the water, right, And so let's get to
the gym. So that's all the stuff that you can
do and should do and prepare for. It's all about preparation,
whether it comes to food or exercise, you know, when
you're traveling, thinking ahead. And let me say this, Oh
(11:06):
my gosh, how often do I talk about the incredible
technology available to us that wasn't when I first started,
when I was a kid, when I first started in
this industry. As well, I will go online and google
the hotel jim that I'm staying in and look at
the pictures. Not necessarily the pictures that the gym or
the hotel provides, although those are helpful, but there's different
(11:27):
websites and people who will upload pictures of what is
exactly in the gym, and you can also look at
the dates to see, if you know, was it five
years ago or five weeks ago or five days ago.
And so it is almost never that I go to
a hotel gym without knowing exactly what is in there.
(11:48):
And if you're someone who you know needs to bring
bite shoes and wants to know what kind of bike
is in there. You don't even have to call the hotel.
You can just look online. So that's another tip. Google
the name of the hotel and just say fitness center
or gym and you will see what is there, all right.
(12:09):
So this gym for this spring break was one of
the best, if not the best Jim I've had available
to me while traveling. Who's two floors. It was filled
with equipment and like you know, amazing with floor to
ceiling windows. So if you were on the second floor,
(12:31):
which was where the cardio generally was, you could be
looking right out at the incredible you know, beach and
just incredible view. I still want to be outside, but
if I had to be in, this was the gym
and this was the view, all right. So it's incredible.
So much equipment, including like six or eight stationary bikes,
(12:54):
I mean really really well appointed, all right, but that's rare,
but that's rare, but even given at the idea for
this podcast came up because of what I experienced and saw,
all right. So one positive thing, hugely positive thing that
I want to start with is that there were so
(13:15):
many people working out and doing so many different things
and maybe really happy and people that I would argue
because I have been in this industry really long time
that weren't in the gyms before. And one really obvious
difference was that people were a handful of people we're
working out to their phones to videos to work out
(13:40):
programs that were on their phones. Now I'm not sure
which apps or you know, was it YouTube was in
an app? Um, I'm not sure what they were watching specifically,
but I could see there were workouts and they were
falling along, and that's awesome, but that came with problems
that caused some problems. Okay, too shortly, all right, but
huge positive more people all ages, teenagers all the way
(14:04):
up to people my age and older. Uh, and so
that's great, but that's yet another reason we need to
do what I'm going to get to the etiquette right
because a lot of people and it's normally not as
nice as this, Jim. Okay, so what's the difference. You know,
(14:26):
I did that podcast Pet Peeves talking about the regular gym.
Basically is etiquette what you should be doing in a
regular gym. Well, this is even more important when you
travel because why there's generally less stuff, there's less equipment,
and that's a huge problem when there's more people, and
if you're in a hotel gym like on business, it's
(14:48):
like this tiny hole in the wall right with like
a bike from X and a couple of sets of
dumbells with a couple missing, and it's it's just limited
at asked right. And then there's less space, and it
is a huge part of the problem is the amount
of space you have and where you position yourself within
(15:11):
that space, get to that shortly, and then finally less time.
Who wants to be in there right when you're on vacation,
you want to get in and get out. For the
most part, I watched people work out pretty long and listen,
I'll get up super early if I'm training for like
an iron Man, and get in not as longer workout,
like crazy long workout that I would do at home,
(15:32):
but we'll get up super early and get in a
longer workout generally not gonna waste the good part of
the day, or I won't waste a good part of
the day inside. But less stuff, less space, less time,
so even more important that we follow these etiquette rules.
And so there were four things I want to focus
(15:52):
on that I witnessed in this gym, and I've witnessed
them before, but that you wrinkle is people working out
to their phones, and that created not a new category
of problem, but it just intensified it. All Right, what
(16:13):
do I mean by that? Tell you right after the
short break and we will be right back and we're
back talking about hotel gym etiquetting tips again. Spent much
of my life in the gym, and much of my
(16:35):
life traveling, and much of my life in gym's on
the road, and it's just the same rules apply to
hotel gyms. They're just as I said before the break,
they're even more important that we follow them. Okay, so
get right into it. Four specific major faux pause. I
(16:57):
witnessed this pass spring break and have witness for many years. Okay,
and these are just start you thinking. And I don't
you know it, talked about it at the beginning of
the podcast. People getting offended, and that is the last
thing I am. If you've listened to my podcast, if
you know my philosophy towards life, I'm as positive as
they get. But we need to discuss these things. And
so you know, again, if you're taking offense to any
(17:19):
of these, if you're doing these things. Essentially, I want
you to reconsider, I want you to think why. Okay,
So one of the most egregious issues was with dumbbells. Okay,
there was one set of dumbells, one dumbell rack, I
should say, and one set of each one. So we're
(17:41):
talking like fives, eights, tens, fifteen, twenties maybe gosh, I
don't even go that heavy anymore. Probably ended at forties
or fifties. One small rack. So in this beautifully appointed,
humongous two floor jim with like crazy amount of cardio
and everything else, one set of dumbells, one dumboll rack.
(18:01):
And so what happened? Someone took the fifteen upstairs. There
was a space you could work out two upstairs, so
mostly cardio, and then like huge mirror on the back
wall where you could do whatever you wanted, you know,
some yoga, some stretching, whatever you wanted. So this person
took the fifteen. So I'm looking for the fifteen, can't
see it, can't find them, and you see like the
(18:23):
space in the rack where they should be. Now listen
from someone who owned a gym. People will steal everything,
including forty pound bars and more, walk right out the door.
Never saw it happen in my gym, but it is
incredible and so hotel gym's any people will take them
back to their room. But this person took fifteens upstairs
(18:46):
and was doing a video workout to his phone with
fifteen for an hour. Now every now and again I
would go upstairs to do something different, so strength day
for me when this happened. And I was mostly doing
(19:06):
strength inside. That's pretty much all I was doing is
doing all the other stuff outside. But I would go
up occasionally and you know, use some other stuff that
was up there. But this person was not spending the
hour using the fifteen. They would he would do a
set and then there would be five ten minutes in
(19:28):
between where there were so many other exercises. So basically
took the equipment upstairs. If you actually counted how many
minutes he used the fifteens, it was a couple of
minutes out of an hour, and no one else could
use them. And fifteens are actually I do like a
(19:49):
crazy number of exercises with fifteens at this age. I
love them. Now many of you are probably saying you
could have said to him, can I use those not
doing it? Let me say that right up front. I'm not.
There's so many other things and this is where I'll
end up that I can do in a hotel gym,
and I'm not there to confront people. I don't want
to have a bad experience. I'm on vacation. I could
(20:12):
have and if I really needed to for a specific reason,
I would have. It's not me. Let me just get
that right out of the way, and I shouldn't have to.
I shouldn't have to, and that it's a huge part
this whole discussion. In the gym etiquette the Pet Peeves
(20:32):
podcast I did, I said, it's back to kindergarten people.
Sharing is caring. Okay, there's one set of something, you're
taking it for an hour, and there were so many
other people in that gym, and I would argue many
who would have used those No one else engaged with
(20:54):
this person either, and they had the dumbbells right in
front of them, and were you know, faith wouldn't have
been a fun interaction. Let's leave it at that, all right,
But sharing is caring. We need to share the toys.
We need to share the toys. Most of us want
to get in and out, want to do our thing
and move on and enjoy the day or go to
(21:16):
work or depending on why you're traveling. And so you
can't do that. And I can hear some people saying, well,
that person got there first, right, guess what I get there?
Think there's a couple of days because I get up
super early and the gym was open twenty four hours.
I was the first person in the gym, so I
(21:36):
could have done all that. I don't do that. It's
not my style. It's not who gets there first. And
let me say this, when I'm in a normal gym,
many of you may think this is nuts. This is
how much I believe sharing is caring, and how long
I've been in the gym. I will do. Let's say
I'm doing three sets of Dumbell curls with fifteen. I
(21:57):
will do one set and I will put it back
in the rack. Don't put it in front of me.
I put it back in the rack, and then I
go do like abs or something else, or even if
I rest, I don't put it in front of me.
Someone else might want them right away. So I am
putting everything back after I use it, while I'm resting
(22:17):
or doing something else. That is uncommon and it will
lead to I think it's my fourth tip here. It's
connected sharing people. We are sharing, and in a hotel gym,
there's less stuff, less space, less time, all right, So
not okay? And this is tied into the video workout
(22:39):
because I watched someone else do the same thing different way.
It's different day video workout. Get a bunch of stuff,
put it all in front of them, and keep it
so no one else could use it. I can hear
you now many people going, well, that's what I do, Tom,
I have this great workout routine. I got this app,
and I need eights and fives and twenties. I get it.
(23:00):
But this is gonna be my personal philosophy and take
on all this people. You can't necessarily do those workouts
in a hotel, Jim. You've gotta change what you do
because we're all sharing it, right, we all want to
use it. So when variation is one of the most
important things to so many people's programs, to continue to
(23:22):
see results, to avoid the plateau, to avoid injury and
burnout and everything else, hotels him, it's a perfect time
to mix it up. I understand many of you are
following a program and you know or you have this
favorite you know, workout routine that you do. Life is
not fair now when you're no hotel Jim. You don't
hear many people say this, but it's true. There's sometimes
(23:43):
that I want to go do a two hour run
on a treadmill and a gym. Guess what, I don't
do it. You know why, because there's one treadmill and
other people waiting for it. I will run as long
as I can until someone walks in. Sometimes, but when
there's limited equipment, you can't do what you want to
do all the time. It hard for many do understanding grass.
(24:04):
But we are playing on the same field. All right.
There you go, and I know many of you are
going to have an issue with that. Want you to
think about it, all right. Sharing is caring number two.
So there's a cable crossover machine that's rare to find
in a in a hotel gym, So cable crossover machines
(24:25):
a big machine, right, and there's cables on either side,
so you can either use either side. Right, you can
do try sept press downs on one side, you can
do cable crunches on the other side. So at the
very least there's two stations and then you could grab
both and do chest cable crossovers things like that, right
stand in the middle of it. Well, I've seen this
(24:47):
many times in many gyms, but Hotel Jim even more egregious.
Someone took one of the two benches, put it in
the middle of the cable crossover machine because was a
mirror in front of it. I would argue and did
their exercises so no one could use the cable crossover
(25:08):
machine while the person was in there. Again, I'm not
going to get into should I told this person to
move and all that kind of stuff. All good, there
are times and when I will I'm on vacation, I
could do so many other things. So this person was
taking away a minimum of because there's other stations around
(25:30):
this too, but let's say too so put the bench
in the middle of the cable crossover machine and was
doing some dumbell work. And I'm going to bring in
number four quickly because it's tied into this. Not only
were they in the cable crossover machine doing dumbell work,
so no one could use the cable crossover machine. The
way he was positioned, he was on his phone, wasn't
(25:54):
getting a lot of work done. Hotel Jim share, get
in and out, think about others around you, and move on.
Not even as they say this, like not crazy about
this topic because I like to accentuate the positive. But
this is it's good to know. It's good for everyone
(26:17):
to know, right, because I want everyone to be healthy
and happy and do what they need to do right.
So don't move the bench into the cable crossover machine.
And I've seen people do this with other things in
the cable crossover machine or in other machines, so that
the people cannot use that machine for what it's meant
(26:38):
to be used for. And this goes to the space issue.
You need to be cognizant of where you are in
that room. And this was cavernous place, which made it
even more egregious because this person should have left it
where it was in front of the dumbell rack, all right,
And that segues into the next one. Try to keep
(26:59):
these uh short, shorter, simple. So I talked about this
one in the gym pet Peeves, but even more important
in the hotel gym. Don't exercise in front of things
like the dumbbell rack. So you can be the person
who takes the bench and puts it in the cable
(27:21):
crossover machine and then they can't use that. Well, this
is a really common one. People will take set of
dumbells off the one dumbbell rack, back up one inch
and start to exercise. Now, in certain gym's, hotel gyms
that are really small, you don't have a lot of options,
but you generally always have an option to back up.
(27:42):
And I watched more than one person stand in front
of it and do an entire routine. One person had
their phone out doing a workout directly in front of
the dumbbell rack. So to get a dumbell or a
set of dumbbells, you had to interrupt their routine. And
there were so many other places to do it, and
(28:03):
they were doing things like split lunges with the bench
right in front. It wasn't a good use of space, people,
It wasn't a good use of space, and it was
putting everyone else out. And I would argue, there are
people that go by and listen. I am the type
of person who, when I need to, I will obviously
say what I need to say, but there are many
that won't. And so that's what this show is about. Two.
(28:24):
You know, I watched the teenagers in there, the younger
kids male and female, who definitely aren't going to engage
with these people, and I want them to get their
workouts in. This is about caring and sharing people and consideration,
all right. So for those of you who might not
be aware of what you're doing, that's what this show
(28:44):
is about. You go, whoops, I didn't realize. That's what
I hope. I hope I get more of those, although
I didn't get any of those messages for the direct
messages for my pet peeves. So where you situate your
health should be a consideration. And then with that new
phenomenon of people doing an entire thirty minutes sixty minute
(29:09):
workout to their phone, when you position yourself as I
watched these people do right in front of the one
small dumbell rack, that's a problem. I don't want to
have to interrupt you. And there was no reason to
do it right there. That was there was no reason
to do it right there. Know where you are in space,
you know that there are other people around you, and think,
(29:31):
what if someone needed the dumbells that are right in
front of me? Should I be standing here for an
hour blocking not only that but other things in the
small hotel. Jim, okay, en, you get it finally, and
I already got to this one or touched on it,
but it needs to be touched on again. On your phone,
(29:53):
it's never okay to be sitting in a machine for
a long, long period of time on your phone while
other people are waiting. Step back, step outside, do what
you need to do if you're texting things like that,
and get back in. Let someone do a set. And
I talked about this, and this was what got one
(30:15):
person particularly riled is when in that Jim pet Peeves,
I talked about walking up to a rope tricept cable
pressed down station and holding This happen to be dozens
and dozens of times in my lifetime because of all
the time I've spending gym and someone coming up to
me and saying I was using That person was like
(30:39):
nowhere to be seen. When I walked up to it,
they said they were using it. My answer was I'm
using it now and you can have it when I'm finished.
And it's got a lot of people riled, which is
not a lot one person in particular, but I know
the people like to take a bunch of machines and
do their thing. It's not how it works. You need
(31:01):
to share. If you're not there, someone else can use
it now. Different for barbels and different things. As I
say this out loud, I'm thinking, you know different places
where it might not apply, but by and large people
it does. And if there's one barbell in the gym
and you're taking breaks, listen, if you're doing fifteen minutes
(31:22):
NonStop by the barbell, good for you. But again it's
it's really hard to think of a case where you
shouldn't put it down, get out, move aside, and let
someone else use it, especially if you're taking rests. I
will get up. If I'm in a machine where there's
(31:43):
only a couple in a gym during my rest, I
generally go do something else. Okay, I'll do set of
chest press, then I'll go do some abs. I'll come back.
But when you're on your phone and there's people standing
around waiting and you say I was using that, No, no,
I'm holding it. I'm using it now, And I know
(32:05):
that that may sound harsh to some people. It goes
back to kindergarten. We're all sharing the toys, all right.
I think be considerate and get a great workout in.
But I'll say it one final time because it's so important.
One thing I love about traveling and working out a
(32:26):
hotel gym is it forces me oftentimes to not do
my normal routine, to change, to stimulate and create different
stimuli on my muscles and cardiovascular system, to use something
I never would use, or to use something I you know,
a cable in a different way because there's only one
(32:46):
handle that I normally don't use with that cable machine,
or to be creative with five pound dumbbells. Do you
get my point? So we can't always do what we want.
We have to think about other are people when we're
in shared spaces, and this can be a positive. It
is a positive. Now you have it. I'm too nice,
(33:11):
see I. I'll leave it at that. I love traveling.
I love it. I love spending time with family. I
love traveling for work. I love hotel gyms. I love
everything about fitness, and I love everything about new experiences.
And I want more people in the gems, and we
are seeing more people in the gyms, and that's why
(33:32):
this show is important. So don't take offense. Just think
if you want to yell at me. Tom h Fit
is Instagram. Tom age fit is my Twitter account. You
can message me through there. You can also go to
Fitness disrupted dot com email me through the site. And
the newest book is the Micro Workout Plan, which is
what I'm often doing when I travel and on spring break.
(33:55):
Shorter workouts, body weight, simple equipment. Stuff that works, especially
when equipment is at a minimum. All right, again, remember
there are three things we all control. How much we move,
(34:16):
what we put into our mouths, and our attitudes. And
that is awesome. I am Tom Holland, exercise physiologist, certified
sports nutritionists and lover of everything fitness. So let's all
do it together people, Let's all have fun, let's all
get in a great workout, and let's all live our
best lives. I'm Tom Holland. This is Fitness Disrupted. Believe
(34:40):
in yourself. Fitness Disrupted is a production of I Heart Radio.
For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the I
heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows.
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