Is Business Travel holding you back?

Every time you build some momentum with your exercise and fitness regime you get sent on another work trip which disrupts everything and you're tired of feeling like you're back to square one. It doesn't have to be like this. Over the course of this article, we'll show you some tried and tested strategies for staying on track so that you come home in better shape than when you left

Extensive travel is essential to businesses across Hong Kong and Singapore. Many executives spend more time travelling than they do at home and their health often suffers as a consequence. But what can you do to offset the negative impact of frequent business travel?

We'll breakdown the areas into DNA

Daily Routine, Nutrition, Activity

It's worth emphasising the importance of adopting the right mindset.

Some business trips are more demanding than others and you'll have a good idea ahead of time. Head to China for a series of dinners, with little say over the menu, you'll have to adopt a particular strategy. Spend a few days in Hong Kong with everything you need to ensure continuity, you'll need another.

Make sure that you are honest with yourself about what you can achieve on each trip. Give yourself a clear goal, agreed upon with your trainer ahead of time, and go into each trip with a plan.

One final point. Business travel is not a holiday. So it's important to adopt the mindset of business as usual.

Daily Routine:

• Jetlag/Sleep disruption
• Logistics
• Itinerary

Nutrition:

• Pre-flight and Flight
• Food to pack
• Hotel Food
• Client lunches and dinners

Activity:

• Packing
• Hotel Gym
• Hotel Room Workout
• NEAT

Daily Routine

We are creatures of habit and our environment shapes our habits. Changing your environment two to three times per month will challenge your resolve.

Try to own the process of travelling and seek to master every element of it. Don’t leave anything to chance. Enjoy the challenge posed by the break from the norm. This means taking a very granular view of everything that you are going to be doing. There is a tremendous benefit to tracking food intake for a short period of time. It pays to give your travel itinerary the same treatment. Once you have the details locked down it will become automated and over time will be no effort at all.

Travel Checklist:

Plan your packing to take advantage of training opportunities.

Supplements:

Electrolytes- I use NUUN which are available everywhere. Electrolyte imbalance can throw you off your game and is more common than you might suspect. Mainstream advice is to hydrate, hydrate, hydrate and restrict salt intake. This is terrible advice for those living, working and training in humid countries.

Protein Powder: Don't lug an entire tub around with you. Measure out 6-8 servings into a smaller tub, Tupperware, or Ziploc to save space. Protein powder is convenient, cheap and portable.

MCT Powder: Quest Nutrition makes the best one. If you're following a low carb diet these are a great addition. The will help you enter ketosis, suppress appetite and boost concentration.

Magnesium Threonate: There is some evidence that this magnesium has a more cognitive impact.

Training Kit:

It seems obvious but, remember to take enough training kit with you. You want lightweight, versatile gym wear, and remember to bring a couple of sets.

Some of my clients swear by Ten Thousand (no affiliation)

If you know that you'll have to train in the hotel gym or hotel room then take some resistance bands with you. They are versatile and will ensure that you can have a productive workout in 20-30 minutes.

Flight bag:

Does your packing match your dietary strategy?

Sleep:

The biggest negative impact of travel is often related to sleep.

This can be from jetlag, or due to the unfamiliarity of a new sleep environment. Understand how you function best and try to organise a schedule that is optimal for you.

Control your environment and create continuity with home.

Anchor your sleep environment with familiar sounds, smells and routines.

At home adopt sleep routines that you can mimic whilst travelling. This will allow you to create a cuing system that helps you unwind.

Smell:

• Essential Oils can create potent sensory cues for sleep. Use them at home and when travelling. Either a small diffuser or a few drops on the pillow.

Light:

• Buy a pair of blue blockers.
• Add either f.lux on your laptop or install Iris tech.
• Use an eye mask- at home as well as in the hotel room. This will block out all light and will become part of the routine that triggers great sleep.
• Keep your post 8 pm light exposure to a minimum.

Sound:

• Earplugs are a great option.
• A lot of the meditation apps have white noise features built-in which can help as part of a sleep strategy.

Environment:

• Pillow- either pack your own or ensure that the hotel has one that you are familiar with.
• Room temperature- set it to the same temperature as home.
• Melatonin can help you readjust to new time zones but is only available in certain countries.
• Magnesium exerts a calming influence when taken pre-bed. This can be something that you build into a pre-bed ritual.
• Workspace- don’t work in bed, establish a workspace within the room or suite.

Jet lag strategy:

Morning sunlight is the single best strategy to help you to adjust to a new time zone.

Exercise comes in second place. Exercise performed in the morning will reinforce proper circadian clock functioning.

Both of these strategies will boost endorphin production, so get outside and move.

Itinerary:

Plan your training ahead of time. Make an appointment with yourself, tell your trainer and commit to train. This way you'll be far less inclined to hit the snooze button and blow off training for the day.

Nutrition:

Quick Tips that work:

1. Drop your meal frequency- if you eat 4-5x per day drop the frequency to 2-3 meals.
2. Opt for a Protein Sparing Modified Fast (PSMF) as your default strategy. This means making sure you go for high protein, low carb and low-fat options. If you follow this strategy 80% of the time then you will have calories to spare for the 20% of meals you can't control.
3. No more than one off plan meal per day. No day is a total write off. You are always in control of your dietary destiny. Take control and don't let things escalate after an off-plan meal.

Dietary Strategy:

There are many ways to skin the dietary cat. If you are fat-adapted, following a lower carb diet, then you can be minimalistic in your packing. Rather than worrying about food use the flight as an opportunity to fast.

If you’re eating more of a mixed diet, and /or are trying to add lean tissue then you need to be more diligent in your packing. Ensure that you have enough food to sustain you through the duration of the flight

Preflight meal:

Do you have it at home, at the office or at the airport?

Don't make the mistake of drinking preflight in the executive lounge. You're on a business trip, not a holiday. If you have a couple of drinks the lounge food will become irresistible and you'll eat the in-flight meal too.

Airport lounge- know ahead of time what is available at the airport.

In Hong Kong, for example, I go to Beef and Liberty and have a bunless burger preflight. I'm super fun.

In-flight meal replacement shake:

• 1-2 scoops of protein powder
• 10-15 grams of powdered MCTs
• 10-15 grams of fibre
• 1 scoop of greens powder  

Hotel:

The hotel will be your mission control centre. The Houston to your problem.

What restaurants are nearby? Do they deliver?

Are any healthy meal delivery services operating in the area? (BTW: Nutrition Kitchen operate across Hong Kong and Singapore.)

Breakfast:

A great tip I picked up recently: organise to have meetings at breakfast versus dinner. This will likely spare you from social drinking, or it could backfire, spectacularly.

The later the meal, the more likely you are to drink.

Breakfast > Lunch

Lunch > Dinner

Breakfast >> Dinner

Hotels serve great breakfasts. Steer clear of the pastries and juices and instead head towards the protein sources.

• Eggs. I'm sceptical of the egg mixes that they use to make omelettes, so opt for poached or boiled eggs. Also, these are the lowest calorie options as you don't have to account for the cooking oil used.
• Bacon. If your macros allow it then a few rashers of bacon can be a good option. I would have liberal amounts of bacon if I were following a ketogenic diet and knew I would be skipping lunch.
• Sashimi. A lot of hotels have a good selection of sashimi available at breakfast. This has become my go-to breakfast whilst travelling. Fatty fish will provide a healthy dose of anti-inflammatory Omega 3s. Add Wasabi, Ginger and Fish Roe for extra kudos.
• Coffee. Black with a small amount of milk or cream added. No lattes.

Bonus: Grab some hard boiled eggs and some fruit for a portable snack.  

Restaurants

If you have business meetings over lunch and dinner there are some strategies you can adopt.

1. Choose the restaurant- find somewhere that allows you to order protein and vegetables. Steakhouses are good for this.
2. Order first- exert peer pressure, don't be on the receiving end. It is much easier to order Salmon and Vegetables with Sparkling water if you are ordering first.
3. Allow more calories at this meal. If you're in a restaurant you haven't chosen, eating food you haven't ordered then relax. Enjoy the meal. Make the best choices you can. Get back on track next meal. But don't stress over things you can't change.
4. Keep to one off-plan meal per day. It is easy to adjust around one higher calorie meal per day. Much harder to adjust around two.

Example Client Lunch Set Up:

Breakfast: Black Coffee, 3 boiled eggs- 270 calories

Lunch: with clients Dim Sum- 1200 calories

Dinner: Fish and Vegetables- 400 calories

A daily total of approx 1900 calories.

Example Client Dinner Set Up:

Breakfast: Black Coffee w/ Cream- 100 cal, 4 boiled Eggs - 360 cal, 6 pieces of Sashimi-300 cal =800 calories

Lunch: Skip

Dinner:10oz tenderloin -550 cal, Mushrooms- 100 cal, Asparagus- 100 cal, 3 glasses of red wine- 600 cal l=1300 calories

A daily total of approximately 2100 calories

Activity:

Perfect is the enemy of good

Training:

Lose the all or nothing mentality. It won't help you. Instead, focus on taking advantage of every opportunity to train that arises. Consistency trumps intensity. Get your sessions in and maintain momentum.

Where ever you are in the world there is never an excuse for abandoning training altogether.

Best Case Scenario:

You locate a great gym near to your hotel- they have all the equipment you need. You execute your planned sessions as usual. Secure a guest pass or negotiate with them ahead of time.

If you train with a PT they should be able to put you in contact with someone reputable. If you workout at F45 or a Crossfit box then you shouldn't have much difficulty in finding a place to train wherever you are in the world.

Most Likely Scenario:

Hotel Gym- send photos of the gym to your trainer as soon as you arrive. Your trainer should be happy to put together a routine for you. (Side note: I relish the creative challenge posed by hotel gyms. The less equipped the gym the greater the challenge.) For some clients, we devised workouts specific to each hotel they would stay at.

Here is a quick hotel gym workout using minimal equipment:

A1. DB Push Press 8 reps

A2.DB Romanian Deadlift 8 reps- 10 minutes alternating back and forth resting as needed, accumulating as many sets as possible

B1. Alternating DB Lunge- 5 reps on each leg

B2.Single Arm Db Row- 5 reps on each arm- 10 minutes alternating back and forth resting as needed, accumulating as many sets as possible

Finish this off with 10-15 minutes of aerobic intervals on the stationary bike (15 seconds work: 45 seconds off) for short, intense workout.

Worst Case Scenario:

Hotel Room Workout. You can always get an in-room workout done.

I love using resistance bands for hotel room workouts which you can anchor on door handles.

You want a couple of bands and you could use a small bag loaded with books or water bottles for a makeshift DB.

A great full-body conditioning workout using two bands:

1. Right Leg Reverse Lunge/ Banded Row Left arm

2. Left Leg Reverse Lunge/ Banded Row Right Arm

3. Right Leg Glute Bridge/ Banded Press Left Arm

4. Left Leg Glute Bridge/ Banded Press Right Arm

5. Right Leg RDL/ Banded Row Left Arm

6. Left Leg RDL/Banded Row Right Arm

7. BW Squat to Banded Press

8.Right Leg Lateral Lunge/ Left Arm Overhead Press

9.Left Leg Lateral Lunge/Left Arm Overhead Press

10. Banded RDL to Row

30 seconds on 10 seconds off

repeat 4 times for a 26 minute work out

An extra stimulus is to perform the workout whilst breathing only through the nose. This will challenge the cardiovascular system whilst allowing for less loading.

If you have no bands:

A1. Push Ups

A2. Squats

A3. Hip Thrust

A4. Hinged over YTWL

10 reps of each x 5 rounds: rest 90 seconds between rounds.

Cardio:

If you really want to make a dent in your glycogen stores and make space for food then Run or Bike. Cardiovascular conditioning will dent your body's levels of stored carbohydrates in a way that lifting weights really can't.

Try running 400-metre or 800-metre aerobic repeats around a local park. Rest matching your work time.

Repeat x6-8 reps or as much as you can handle.

Non-Exercise Activity

In a new city, it is very easy to be reliant on taxis, uber and grab to get around the city. This will make it very hard for you to maintain your activity levels.

Walk around the city. Not only will you be ramping up your activity, but you'll also be exposing yourself to morning sunshine.

Don't become obsessed with hitting a certain number of steps. Simply walking frequently has massive benefits for metabolic health. Just 90 seconds of walking every half hour has been shown to be advantageous.

I prefer to aim for 10 minutes of walking around each meal as a goal versus obsessing about a certain number of steps.