Traveling, be it for business or pleasure, means taking a step back from our exhausting schedules. If only we could have all that fun AND stick to our fitness routine, alas!

But here’s a little secret. Contrary to popular belief, being a fitness conscious traveler doesn’t necessarily mean barring yourself of all the fun. In fact, it’s quite the opposite and has many advantages. For instance, over the course of my many wanderings, I’ve realized that little fitness tweaks and additions to my list of traveling activities have made an enormous difference to the way I deal with the routine life once I get back to it.

For me, it started as a means to avoid lamenting my habit of falling out of shape after returning back to the grind following a long-winded travel exploit. I’ve long since discovered that regular fitness agendas make me less lethargic.

So you see, fitness and holidaying need not be mutually exclusive! There are ways to strike a balance between having a good time and maintaining your health and fitness on-the-go. Read on to discover a complete compilation of small but significant fitness hacks you can resort to even when you’re traveling.

Prepare a 10-Minute Exercise Regime

Is lack of time your only excuse for skipping your exercises? Believe me when I say that 10 minutes are enough to get your body in tune for an exciting day. Thanks to a myriad of phone applications, there is a host of moves to choose from for a quick round of exercise.

One or two rounds of simple stretches, a few squats, lunges, rotation, and bending exercises, and a light two-minute meditation to top it all up are enough. Like I’ve said, it all depends on your preferences. In fact, I’d ask you to go a step further and take time out to put together a brief exercise regime that you can whip up when you get a 10-minute interval.

The reason why I’m stressing on preparing a personal exercise regime is that when you’re finally at it, you don’t even need to put in the efforts to choose from the exercises you’re going to resort to. Whenever you find the time, you just need to get started with it quickly and wrap it up so that you feel fresh and energetic at the end of it. You can also add some yoga moves to this regime if that’s your thing.

Carry Fruits, Nuts and Other Healthy Snacks Along

Granted you’re dying to try out the food of the place you’re visiting, but gluttonizing on oily, greasy, and sweet carbohydrates might not be good for your stomach. Learn to strike a balance between the food you want to have and the food you should have.

For instance, if you know you’re going to a particular place to savor its specialties for lunch, stick to fresh fruits for breakfast. Carry dry fruits and roasted nuts along so that you don’t have the urge to spend on packed junk food for the small hunger pangs in-between meals. This is also true of the food served on certain airlines that can leave you feeling sluggish.

Take A Walk

Ditch the transport you’ve booked and take a walk if your destinations happen to be close-by. For one, treading on foot will take you to the local pockets of the place you’re visiting. This is something that you can rarely experience if you’re taking a car or a bus.

Secondly, you also save money on transport and commute. Of course, the underlying advantage is the additional miles you’d be adding to your fitness diary. Additionally, walking will also help digest your food quickly, thereby making you feel less bloated and sleepy, especially if you’ve gone overboard with that savory delicacy.

Always Eat and Drink Moderately

Don’t know when to stop? Just do it when you feel there’s room for one more bite or one more drink. Never fill your stomach with food and beverages to the brim. You don’t want to stagger your way through the rest of the day or even to your room, especially when you’re not in a familiar setting. You certainly don’t want to associate this a trip with binge eating and throwing up, do you?

So there you go! Even if you manage to introduce these minuscule changes to the way you travel, you’ll be having a fairly fulfilling trip. While a technology that brings portable gyms to life will still take a few years and truckloads of money, it is a relief to know that a few simple steps on your end ensure that you don’t always have to leave your fitness behind every time you travel. Like everything else, health and fitness are an essential part of your overall being, and they should accompany you, no matter where you go.