One of the great parts of having a home gym is having easy access to your equipment, at all times. Even when travelling. We always bring some equipment with us on our trips. Below is how we decide what we’ll bring, and an overview of what we brought on a recent 2-week carry-on only trip to Europe.
Easy to Pack
For all trips, but especially when there are luggage constraints, ease of packing is a very important consideration. You generally want to stay away from bulky or rigid equipment. We focus on small and flexible equipment. We also stay away from weighted items.
Bands and empty sandbags/waterbags are great options here, instead of weight plates or kettlebells. Empty sand and water bags can end up being super heavy but weigh next to nothing during transit.
Multi-Use Equipment
Functionality is king when travelling with gym equipment. You will want to bring the least amount of equipment in order to get the most out of your workouts.
Bands for strength work and skipping ropes for conditioning are great options.
You can basically hit any body part you want with a combination of mini bands and long bands. If you’re strategic in your selection, you don’t even need a full set of each kind to get the resistance you need for any given exercise.
Fun Workouts
Being on vacation switches up to your routine – both in fitness and the rest of your life. Having different equipment than normal, or having to mix and match equipment and exercises can bring about new, fun workouts.
Maybe you try a new exercise you saw on Instagram. Or you do a different superset combo than what you’d normally do at home. Maybe you only do circuit training for a week or two.
Regardless, the switch up in equipment and routine generally results in fun workouts. We always try to make our workouts fun (and easier 🙂 ) when on vacation. Fun usually means fairly short, too.
What’s the point if it’s not fun, right?
Sometimes we’ll just throw a YouTube-based minimal equipment workout on our computer and follow along. This is great because you can just turn your brain off and go through the workout without thinking about anything.
Get Your Travel-Friendly Equipment
As mentioned above, bands and skipping ropes are great options for travelling because they’re so versatile. We usually bring small sliders for core and hamstring work, too. This year, we have added small stability balls for extra glute work.
Below is a shopping list with links to buy:
• Mini Resistance Bands – Amazon
• Long Resistance Bands – Amazon
• Thick Glute Bands – Amazon
• Skipping Rope – Rogue Fitness; Amazon
• Core Sliders – Amazon
• Mini Stability Balls – Amazon
What do you travel with? Let us know in the comments