Stay Fit during a Busy Summer

By Chris Castellano, Special to Lone Star Golf

We’re nearly halfway through the year, and you’ve gotten into a nice rhythm with your fitness routines. You’re still going strong on your New Year’s resolutions. Congrats!

So what happens when you travel for a golf tournament, business trip or vacation? How can you fit exercise into your travel plans and keep working on all the gains you’ve accomplished?

Enter “Hotel Room HIIT” routines.

High-intensity interval training is a proven method for blasting body fat quickly. The best part about HIIT is these exercises can be done without equipment, making them perfect for your hotel room.

Whether it’s for a golf tournament, work or a family vacation, you’ll encounter situations where you want to work out but have no access to a gym. Thanks to the information below, that will no longer be a problem. (And you won’t have an excuse to slack!)

In recent years, HIIT has become popular and for good reason. It works. In fact, you can expect to burn 8-12 calories per minute and a total of 261-374 calories in a 30-minute workout.

HIIT is a training technique in which you go all-out for short bursts with short breaks in between rounds. Your heart rate stays up, and you burn more fat. If belly fat is an issue for you, HIIT workouts will help to solve that problem.

Just remember these key points with HIIT workouts:

Put in the effort
Don’t get too fancy with the moves (the basics work best)
Don’t do HIIT too often (3-4 times a week, at most)
Take a few minutes to warm-up prior to your workout

Here are five workouts that take less than 30 minutes to complete and will torch fat at a faster rate than anything else you can do without leaving your hotel room.

Hotel HIIT Workout #1

Complete the following 2-3 times. Do each exercise for 30 seconds, followed by 10 seconds of rest before the next:
Mountain climbers
Burpees
Jumping jacks
Push-ups
Jump squats
Rest for one minute between rounds. Give maximum effort during the exercises.

Hotel HIIT Workout #2

Complete the following circuit four times, resting for one minute after the burpees.
30 Push-ups
60 Jumping jacks
30 Burpees

Hotel HIIT Workout #3 (Abs)

Complete the following circuit four times, resting for one minute after the burpees.
20 Leg Raises (from lying position)
1 Minute of Bicycle Crunches
20 Sit-ups
20 Oblique Crunches (each side)
10 Burpees

Hotel HIIT Workout #4

Perform each exercise for 45 seconds, completing as many reps as possible, with no rest between moves. Rest for one minute after finishing; repeat one more time.
Inchworms
Prisoner jump squat
Spiderman push-ups
Alternating lunges

Hotel HIIT Workout #5

Do as many rounds as possible of the following exercises in 12 minutes:
50 Jumping jacks
30 Squats
10 Burpees
10 Diamond push-ups
10 V-ups

HIIT is efficient and effective. It works great for busy schedules and traveling. The benefits speak for themselves. Try these workouts right in your hotel room on your next trip and be prepared for some serious results.

Chris Castellano is a travel fitness specialist. He holds a Bachelor of Science from Briarcliffe College in Long Island, N.Y., and attended graduate school at Boston University. He is a combat veteran and currently works as a firefighter in New York City. Chris lives in Babylon, N.Y. with his wife and daughter. Read more of his work here.