If you don’t want a break from your training this spring break, this blog is for you.
It’s March and spring break season again, which is good news for a lot of people. There’s a huge upside to getting a brief respite from class at this time of year. It gives students a chance to relax, refresh, reset, and prepare themselves for the academic challenges again.
But this time off can also be a challenge for some people. Time away from your usual schedule can make it harder to maintain routines in other areas of your life. And that’s especially true if you add travel to the mix.
You might not be able to pack your whole gym and take your instructors and training partners with you, but you can take a tiny part of your training on the road. There are a number of travel-friendly pieces of martial arts equipment that can expand your vacation training opportunities without expanding your suitcase.
Here are three of our favorites—and our favorite ways to use them when you’re away from home.
A Jump Rope
A simple jump rope might be the most powerful on the go training tool of all. It weighs next to nothing. It takes up less space than a hairbrush. And it allows you to do some of the greatest physical and mental training in the history of combat sports from almost anywhere in the world. All you need is a flat surface that you can jump on and a few feet of clearance in each direction.
There’s a reason why boxers swear by jump rope training. It’s excellent cardiovascular conditioning. It’s great for developing hand-eye coordination and overall body awareness. And it recruits every major muscle group. It’s also an incredibly efficient form of training. As little as five to ten minutes a day can help keep your mind and body in fighting shape while you’re away from home.
A Martial Arts Belt
A Karate, Judo, or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu belt is almost as light as your average jump rope. It’s about the size of a shoe if you roll it up, and might take up even less space if you fold it over and lie it flat in your suitcase. And it is surprisingly versatile.
Travelling with a martial arts belt opens up a whole range of vacation training opportunities. If you want to take it easy or taper, you can use it for a gentle stretch or mobility routine. It’s an excellent aid for all sorts of assisted stretching exercises. Anything you can do with a yoga belt, you can do with a martial arts belt, too.
If you’re up for a different strength and conditioning challenge, martial arts belts are also very handy for isometric exercises. (For example: Grab your belt with your hands placed about shoulder distance part. Lift your arms parallel to the floor. Now pull your belt until it’s taut and hold it there, trying to maintaining that same tension for as long as you can. You’ve just worked your back muscles!)
If you’re lucky enough to be travelling with someone who’s willing to help out with your training, you could also recruit them to wrap the belt around your waist and try to hold you back while you run froward for a few sets of resistance sprints.
Kickboxing Fitness Gloves
Weighing in at a few more ounces than a jump rope, but taking up about the same amount of space as a martial arts belt, Kickboxing/MMA gloves like ProForce® Kickboxing Fitness Gloves are the perfect getaway glove.
A small but growing number of hotels are starting to include a heavy bag or freestanding heavy bag in their fitness facilities. Some of these places also have a few pairs of boxing gloves that you can borrow while you train. But it’s always nice to have your own pair just in case. Especially when they’re as easy to pack as these Kickboxing gloves are. A 10 oz pair of boxing gloves is a commitment when you’re trying to travel light. Kickboxing gloves, on the other hand, are small enough to toss in a spare corner of your luggage and go. And they’ve got all of the padding and comfort you need to get in some good rounds at the gym.
Even if you’re not staying somewhere that has access to training bags, you can still get a good workout with a pair of Kickboxing gloves. A few ounces might not be a lot when it comes to weighing and carrying luggage, but it’s more than enough to add an extra challenge to your shadowboxing routine and give you some nice cardio and muscular endurance gains during your vacay.
And if you get really creative, you could also use a pillow like a strike shield for some ground and pound drills.
