Road Warrior

Back when I was playing college baseball at Hartford, some of my best workouts were on road trips in a hotel gym with nothing but a treadmill, a bike, a bench or two, and some beat up dumbbells going up to 40 or 50 pounds. (Not to say these sessions weren’t triggered by a 0-4 with a couple of strikeouts earlier that afternoon....)

Anyhow, a lot of you are busy and can't always get to the gym- and traveling constantly for work throws things off track since it's not the facility you’re used to. If this sounds like familiar- start utilizing the concept of density training.

Density training involves creating time pressure (say a 20-30 min timer) and a handful of simple exercises involving different muscle groups (a row, squat, push-up, etc.) with a sprinkle of interval conditioning. Run through these movements at a good pace for the allotted time and that’s it. No fancy squat racks, barbells, or machines- just a good sweat to kick start your day.

Going a step further- maybe you travel frequently and have made yourself a workout similar but feel you can’t progress because the "weights are too light". There’s two options to increase intensity of the workout without increasing weight. First, go ahead and add volume and leave time the same. Instead of doing 3 sets of 10 of everything in 30 minutes, make it 3 sets of 12-15 reps in 30 minutes. Try to finish more reps in the same amount of time. Second, keep the reps the same and try to finish the workout quicker. Now you are shortening recovery time and build a bit more endurance.

Now, is it your ideal setting? Not really, as you’d rather be lifting heavy weight at River North Strength. But as we preach constantly, don't be perfect... just be consistent and get it done!