I know this may be a question some of you have…will I be able to exercise on the race? What will that aspect of my life look like? Being near the end of my race (month 11), let me share my experience as it may help you see what it looks like on the race…
Trekking in Nepal
But before I start, let me say this….
–If you don’t already exercise on your own it will be harder to motivate yourself in an environment that is foreign to you. This is not to say that you can’t get motivated by a teammate but as you’ll see exercising on the race takes commitment!
I am a P.E. teacher so for me activity is a normal part of my day….so I definitely enjoy being active and regularly make time for exercising.
Each month your whole living situation changes – as you’ll discover. Your sleeping space, space around your lodging, ability to move about freely in the town/village, WEATHER & temperature, shower facilities, teammates, etc. Knowing this you can expect then that your space and freedom to workout as you’d like will also change and vary each month. What I have done below is given you some ideas of what to bring and also some workouts for different spaces you may encounter.
What to bring for working out:
- Have some pre selected workout plans that you like – consider how you can do those with limited space and equipment (like Insanity or P90X on your computer)
- A good pair of running shoes
- Jump rope
- Resistance bands – 2 or 3
- Sports bras (ladies!)
- T-shirts or work out tops
- Yoga pants and workout shorts**
**each country will have different rules for how long your shorts can be or if you can even where shorts. Bringing a pair of yoga capris will work in most countries – you may have to wear shorts over the capris if they are tight.
- Short socks
Workouts
RUNNING
If you have the ability to RUN on the streets/roads – DO IT! This will not be the case in every country….you’ll just need a BUDDY to run with.
These are the countries I RAN in…
Month 2: Nicaragua (Granada)
Month 3: Philippines – We did a 5k & 10k
Month 4: Thailand (Chiang Mai)
Month 5: Cambodia – Olympic track!!!
Month 8: Swaziland – dirt roads
Month 9: Botswana – sandy roads
Month 10: Montenegro – beach front roads
Month 11: Ukraine
Limited spacing/no running space
JUMP ROPE – with or without a partner
*Even if you don’t have a jump rope you can just jog in place or do jumping jacks
This is basically a count down (starting with 10 reps of each exercise and then going down to 1) type workout. To start pick 5 or 6 exercises (push-ups, abs, squads, leg throws, wall sits, etc.) and decide an order for them. With those exercises here is how the workout looks…
-Start with 500 jump ropes
-10 reps for each of the exercises (10 push-ups, 10——)
Recover ~30 secs*
-9 reps of each exercise
-8 reps of each exercise
-7 and so on down to 1 rep for each
-End with another 500 jump ropes
*The key is to get your heart rate up so not taking too long of a rest in between sets should be strived for…
Now within this workout there is A LOT of variation. Here is how I have varied it
–Started and ended with higher jumps (600 to 1000 for start and end jump reps)
–Added 100 jumps in between each set (so after 10, jump rope, 9, jump rope)
–Added 100 jumps after every other set (so 500 jump ropes, then 10 & 9 set, then 100 jump ropes, then 8 & 7 set, then 100 jump ropes)
–Changing the exercises I do depending on what your focus is – making it all upper body, or lower body, or alternating by set number (odd or even) or pure core
INTERVALS – with or without a partner
This workout is similar to that of the jump rope workout but without the rope and the 10, 9, 8, etc. reps.
I pick 4+ exercises and decide how many reps/time I want to perform the exercise. Then I do 4 sets of those exercises. Notice how I make sure to work both the front and back of my body. For example,
1st set:
-100 jumping jacks
-20 push-ups
-1 minute of front planks
-30 secs of superman (back)
-10 leg throws
-50 squats
2nd set:
-100 wacky jacks (P-90X exercise)
-15 push-ups
-30 secs of side planks – each side
-10 pelvic thrusts (on your back, feet flat and bring your pelvis up &
back down)
-10 seated rows (with resistance bands) -back
-10 leg throws
-50 squats
3rd set:
-50 jumping jacks
-10 push-ups
-A different core ab exercise (running man in push-up
position alternate bringing your knees to chest), or dead bug
-30 secs of back exercise – superman or seal ups
-10 leg throws
-50 squats
4th set:
-50 wacky jacks
-5 push-ups
-1 minute of front planks
-10 seated rows (resistance bands)
-10 leg throws
-50 squats
So you’ve worked your core and also squats – you can vary the squat amount too.
SQUAT Challenge
This happened for me in India. Why? Because it was flippin hot and we only had a rooftop to workout on…. Basically you start at 30 and increase from there….just google it.
BIKING
Some countries you may be fortunate enough to rent a bicycle! This only happened in Chiang Mai, Thailand during a debrief and Kotor, Montenegro.
Chiang Mai, Thailand
Kotor, Montenegro
I hope you have benefited in some way from my thoughts here…enjoy the race and the health and ability God gives you throughout it to work out.
I love what Timothy says in 1 Timothy 4:8,
“For physical training is of value, but godliness has value in all things holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”
Pursue Jesus first!!!!
Lauren
><>
