Keeping up your training while travelling can be a challenge. Your routine has been interrupted. You’re probably busy with trip-related activities and maybe a bit tired from the travel itself. And it’s not easy to replicate your martial arts training — or keep up your motivation — when you’re far away from your martial arts gym and training partners.
With a little creativity and portable training gear, though, you can maintain your physical and mental fitness while you’re on a business trip or vacation. Here are five top ways to train while travelling:
1. Jump Rope Drills
Jump ropes aren’t just one of the most effective pieces of training gear, they’re also one of the most portable. A jump rope takes up next to no room in your suitcase and opens up a world of possibilities for working on your sports-specific fitness training while travelling. Jump rope drills are most commonly associated with boxing, but they’re a great form of crossover training for any martial artist training in any martial art. They can help you develop and maintain your interval and steady state cardio, coordination, and focus. Jump rope drills are also fun, which means you won’t have to work too hard to motivate yourself to do a few rounds. And they don’t take up a lot of space. You can do jump rope training in a hotel gym, a park, or even the comfort of your hotel room if you have a few feet of extra space.
Recommended training gear: The ProForce® Fast Action Jumprope
2. Focus Pad Partner Drills
If you’re travelling with a fellow martial artist — or have a game travel companion who’s willing to try holding pads for you — you can work on your striking techniques and cardio training while travelling. If you have the room to pack a pair of focus pads and boxing gloves, you can put together punching and kicking drills for boxing, Muay Thai, MMA, Tae Kwon Do, and many more martial arts. And if you don’t have room for boxing gloves in your luggage, a pair of MMA gloves are even more portable. You can also focus on your technique with lighter striking drills and bare or wrapped hands. As long as you have a few square feet of space to move around in and a willing partner, you’re good to go.
Recommended training gear: Proforce® Gladiator Advanced Focus Pads, ProForce® Leatherette Boxing Glove, Proforce® Ultra II Leather MMA Gloves, ProForce® Handwraps
3. Shadowboxing Drills
If you’re travelling solo, or you can’t find a willing volunteer to hold pads for you, shadowboxing drills are also a great way to work on your striking techniques in boxing, Muay Thai, kickboxing, and more while you’re on the road. If you’ve got a few feet of space and a timer, you can put together a number of drills to work on your precision, agility, speed, and cardio. And, if you do have extra room in your luggage, you can also pack of a pair of boxing gloves to add some resistance to your shadowboxing workouts, which will strengthen and tone your muscles.
Recommended training gear: ProForce® Leatherette Boxing Gloves
4. Mat Drills
Grapplers can be very resourceful travellers. People who train in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu seem to be particularly good at finding local BJJ training facilities wherever they go in the world. If you’re training in BJJ, wrestling, or MMA, you can always ask your teammates and instructors if they have any training recommendations for your travel destination. If you can’t find a local and accessible martial arts gym where you’re going, or you don’t have the time to go there, though, there are still workouts you can do to keep your fitness and mind in fighting shape while you’re away. You can always build a workout of wrestling, Jiu-Jitsu, or Judo mat drills. Sit-outs, on-the-spot shrimping, sprawls, and triangle choke setups, just to name a few, can all be put together into rounds or HIIT (high intensity interval training) intervals for technique, cardio, and strength training.
You can do all of the above at any gym with some free space and mats. If you don’t have access to a gym, or are feeling a bit self-conscious about performing grappling drills in front of an audience that might not understand what you’re doing, you can also pack a mat in your luggage and do your grappling training for travel from the privacy of your own room.
Recommended training gear: AWMA has a wide selection of ProForce® mats for martial arts training.
5. Research
Even if you don’t have the time and energy to train your body while you’re away, that doesn’t mean you have to entirely forgetting about your martial arts training while travelling. You can always keep your mind sharp — and enjoy a whole new perspective on your game — by reading martial arts books and watching martial arts DVDs on your business trip or vacation.
Recommended training gear: AWMA has a large variety of martial arts reading and martial arts viewing materials for your martial arts brain training while travelling needs.
