The 7 Best Ways to Exercise for Frequent Fliers

While walking through airports and on and off planes is exercise in its own right – it’s not quite enough to stay fit especially when you’re going to be sedentary for a few hours in the sky and cab rides between locations. It’s a challenge to keep fit for frequent fliers because your routines can vary based on your travel itinerary, and we empathise with your challenges because the majority of our passengers are frequent fliers too. Without further ado, here’s the 7 best tips we’ve heard from our community that you can try out to stay fit as you travel!

Walking is easily one of the simplest and most effective forms of exercise most people would scoff at. But all the muscles you use when walking help you maintain core strength, raise your metabolism a little and overall keeps your blood circulation going so you constantly feel fresh. Sure, it doesn’t beat a jog or blasting your glutes on the stationary cycle in the gym – but when you’re all dressed up for your meeting it’s a good little way to keep active on the regular.

You would already be walking the lengths of airports to get to your gates and lounges, but you could get a few more steps in if you skip using the travelator or moving walkways (unless you’re in a hurry!) Casually walking around the airport during your layovers is better than sitting in one place too. All in, a good number to keep your metabolism high is roughly 8,000-10,000 steps per day as a good rule of thumb.

We don’t mean lay out a yoga mat on the aisle when the seatbelt light is off. That’s too much attention and things will be a little awkward for the rest of the flight now won’t it? You don’t need to go that far to have a good stretch on the flight, all you need is a little leg room. For our taller audiences, you could get a seat near the emergency exits then you’ll have all the legroom you need for a good stretch. Otherwise, you could take a few minutes in the washroom, which always works on any plane.

If you’re not going to have access to gyms with weight plates or exercises that can help increase the difficulty of your exercise, resistance bands may not be ideal but they are definitely useful in helping you get the most out of your workouts. Besides, there are many advantages to getting to know how to use these handy tools especially for frequent travellers.

For starters, they are lightweight and foldable, making them incredibly compact exercise companions that add completely no bulk to your luggage if you carry them in your carry-on luggage or in your pockets even. How are they not perfect for travel? You could find plenty of online tutorials on YouTube on how to use them to increase the difficulty of your squats, lunges, bicep curls, and shoulder presses to name a few exercises.

They’re versatile and practically the best you could carry with you wherever you go to get a quick workout in.

This really depends on how you prefer to workout. If you build your body to look like The Rock, there probably isn’t a hotel gym that has the equipment you need to get your workout in and you’re better off booking a hotel nearby a professional gym that has pro-level facilities you can use to train.

For the rest of us who get a light workout 1-3 times a week, you could totally take advantage of hotel gyms. You really only need 3 things – cardio machines like treadmills and the stationary cycle, weight machines and free weights. Practically every fitness centre/gym in hotels nowadays would have a mix of the three so all you need to do is to plan your workouts in advance and show up to the gym!

High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) for When You Have No Time

While it’s great to be able to hang out in the gym and get a full 2-hour workout in to blast off all the calories we’ve been eating, not everyone has the luxury of time to do so. That’s where high-intensity interval training exercises would be a big help and when done right, you should be able to squeeze the workout benefits you have from 2-hours into a 30-minute session instead!

From what we understand (we’re not fitness influencers so please take this with a pinch of salt), HIIT workouts are designed to make use of dynamic movements usually with bodyweight exercises with burst movements and short active rest intervals to keep your heart rate within fat-burning range, and that’s how it helps you make the most of your workout when you have little to no time.

Do check out YouTube tutorials and save them to try out for your next trip!

Instead of spending your downtime in your hotel room, why not look for activities that you could enjoy outside to explore the local surroundings? The beauty of travelling has always been the culture, food, and various sights you can take in that’s unique to the country you’re in. If you could get that step count up while you do so, why not?

In cities like Singapore for example, there are public bikes you could rent to pedal around the city as you explore our parks and sea views. On top of being incredibly safe since we have dedicated paths for cyclists and pedestrians, you get to experience the city differently from a walking tour and feel the wind of your face. What’s not to love?

Look up hiking paths, walking/cycling tours if you want to socialise while travelling solo. You’ll be surprised how fun it can be and you’ll forget you were exercising along the way.

Instead of spending your downtime in your hotel room, why not look for activities that you could enjoy outside to explore the local surroundings? The beauty of travelling has always been the culture, food, and various sights you can take in that’s unique to the country you’re in. If you could get that step count up while you do so, why not?

In cities like Singapore for example, there are public bikes you could rent to pedal around the city as you explore our parks and sea views. On top of being incredibly safe since we have dedicated paths for cyclists and pedestrians, you get to experience the city differently from a walking tour and feel the wind of your face. What’s not to love?

Look up hiking paths, walking/cycling tours if you want to socialise while travelling solo. You’ll be surprised how fun it can be and you’ll forget you were exercising along the way.