Sticking to a workout schedule is tough even when everything is going normally and you have a pretty standard daily routine. Once you add travel into the mix, it can feel impossible. Sure, hotels have fitness centers, but if you’ve ever gone to one only to learn it’s nothing more than a few dumbbells and an ancient treadmill, you know how aggravating those can be. There are two apps I use to stick to my routine and prioritize my health while I’m on the road, but I use them quite differently.
ClassPass
After discovering last month that ClassPass houses a little-known, but varied, selection of at-home workout classes to stream, I happily re-downloaded the app for the first time in years. If you’re not familiar, you buy monthly credits that you can redeem at gyms and fitness studios, trading a handful of credits for, say, a yoga or HIIT class. (You can also use it for salon and spa services, which is a cool upgrade that app has gotten since I last used it.)
I used it all around my neighborhood in New York City for a month, checking out all the boutique studios near me, and found some I loved and others I was glad I didn’t spend full price on a trial class for. But last week, when I was home visiting my mom in North Dakota, I checked ClassPass—and sure enough, yoga, barre, spin, and Pilates classes came up. I hadn’t entirely expected it to work; it’s one thing for a well-populated location like Manhattan to have a bunch of offerings on there, but Bismarck? Yes, Bismarck! I went to a barre class and it was awesome, exactly what I needed to stay on track with my workout schedule and destress after a disastrous night of airline mishaps.
In the next three months, I’m going to West Virginia, Nebraska, and Mississippi. That’s how your vacation schedule looks when you’re on a mission to visit all 50 states (and I only have eight to go). According to ClassPass, I’ll be able to take a yoga class in Charleston, do HIIT in Omaha, and book time at a pickleball court in Biloxi. All of that beats a hotel fitness center by a mile. Even the smallest cities are well-represented on this app and you can get a real, full class experience wherever you are.
Peloton
I am a dedicated Peloton user and the app gets daily use from me, even if I’m only using it to track my outdoor walks. If you can’t find the time or transportation to get to an in-person class, you have loads of options through Peloton, many of which can be completed in your hotel room, like yoga or stretching.
There are guided walks available so you can take yourself on a mindful explorative journey around wherever you are, but you can also find loads of hotels that have Peloton cardio equipment. Usually, the Bikes or other equipment are in a fitness center, but I’ve seen hotels that even have them available in-room.
Even if you can only devote 10 minutes to working out, it’s better than nothing and keeps you in your groove, which is why I value the Peloton app so much. I did, of course, use it to track the barre class I took in Bismarck, plus the Les Mills Body Pump and Solidcore classes I took there, too.
