Activities That Keep You Fit While Travelling

6 Tips to Stay Fit on Your Travel Nurse Job

1. Explore on Foot There's no better way to get to know a new city than by walking. Ask your co-workers about the best places to walk to, and then visit one or two on your day off. Museums, parks, and interesting neighborhoods are all waiting for you to explore them in your new travel nurse destination. At work, take the stairs instead of the elevator. Consider keeping track of your steps with a pedometer. The Mayo Clinic suggests 10,000 steps a day as a step goal, stating that walking helps combat heart disease, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and depression. Make it a personal rule that if you have time to make the trip on foot, you'll do it!
2. Pack the Right Tools Choose a few compact workout tools and add them to your packing list. A couple of ankle weights, a jump rope, a Polar heart rate monitor and a resistance band won't add much bulk to your suitcase and will allow for workouts on the road. Use the heart rate monitor to guide you into your maximum fat-burning zone to increase your efficiency; a short workout in your maximum zone can bring as much benefit as an hour of more leisurely exertion.
3. Go Dancing Who says exercise has to be all work and no play? Dancing activates all the muscle groups in your body, and some forms of dance can burn up to 600 calories in an hour. Pair a vigorous club night in your new city with a healthy dinner out, and stretch your social muscles at the same time. You may also want to look into dance classes in your travel nurse destination, as they may fit easily into a standard 13-week travel assignment.
4. Use an App Fitness apps have become the go-to trainer and cheerleader for many busy people who can’t fit regular gym time into their schedules. There’s a growing assortment of great fitness apps with standard features like customizable music playlists, personal statistics, and social sharing functions. Some are specifically geared to time-saving aerobic workouts, while others are engineered for runners or cyclists. Many can be customized to help you hit specific goals, whether those goals are frequency-based, calorie-based, or weight-based. Some apps even put you in touch with your own human trainer, who monitors your progress and provides individualized coaching.
5. Commute by Bicycle You need to get to and from work every day, so commuting via bicycle can become part of your daily routine, knocking out the need for additional fitness scheduling. Leave early enough in the morning to allow time for a quick shower once you reach your workplace, and you’ll start each day with a fresh, energized feeling. Don’t have room for your bicycle in your car? You can ship your bicycle to your new location using one of several companies, or purchase a used bicycle from a second-hand shop or website for use on your nursing assignment. Additionally, if you find yourself on a travel nurse job in Boston, Los Angeles, or another large city, the city may have bikes that can be rented for a fee from locations around the city.
6. Sign Up for a Nationwide Gym For some people, gyms are integral to fitness. If that's the case for you, you might be in a luck. Many gym chains are now nationwide, and offer membership plans that allow members to visit any location. Three such gym chains include Planet Fitness, Gold's Gym, and 24-Hour Fitness. When choosing a gym, be sure to check what's included in your membership - Do you want to be able to take classes? Does membership include access to a personal trainer? Can you bring guests? - as well as the hours of operation.