Weight training while on the road?

I have seen used BowFlex machines for sale for a couple of hundred dollars and considered getting one but really don't have room to store one even when it's taken down.

I ended up getting a 40 pound set of dumbbells - the kind with removable weights. Obviously the weight is not nearly what many of us work out with for a lot of the exercises, but more reps can compensate for that to some degree.

I had left arm rotator cuff surgery last Feb and there are a number of exercises I will never be able to do again - anything that involves lifting more than a few pounds over about chest level for example - so I had a physical therapist that my doctor recommended work up a program using the dumbbells.
When we get to AZ this fall I will start that program.

When we bought a house last summer after full timing for almost 11 years we had all of our stuff that has been in storage in NH moved out here to CO. My weight machine is in the heated garage and I plan to assemble it next spring. Wanted to do it this summer but had too many other projects (plus two blood clots in my right leg) and it didn't happen.

After working out faithfully four nights a week for ten years before we started full timing I was able to coast for six years or so before my fitness degraded quite a bit. I should have gone with dumbbells several years ago.

msmith1199 wrote:

Effy wrote:
Reminds me of an idea I had a while back for weights while travelling in the RV. I sketched up a system that you fill the weights with water when you arrive and empty them when you leave. That way no excess weight while travelling and easy to store. Never took the idea any further. I thought it was a cool concept.

It's been done. They are available.

See, I knew it was a good idea.

The video linked below is my plan for next time we travel. With one or two kettlebells, you can work pretty much everything. I like traditional weight lifting at home, but on the road I'll try to use CrossFit / P90X / Insanity concepts using a lot of body weight and complex movements.

I have a 24 Hour Fitness Super Sport All-Club membership, but I don't plan to camp within driving distance of anywhere they've built a club. I saw one private RV Resort that had a gym, but I assumed it would be worse than most hotel gyms.

Here's the workout:
Youtube: Fully Body Kettlebell Workout

Looks sufficient to me. The killer moment is at the end when he says, "Rest one minute and repeat that circuit three more times." hahaha

I work out regularly when in my house and near the gym, but for some reason I can't make myself do much of anything besides walk when camping. I will try to find a grassy area and do calesthenics.

One thing about CG workout rooms.. they're never busy! (or much good)

Effy wrote:
Reminds me of an idea I had a while back for weights while travelling in the RV. I sketched up a system that you fill the weights with water when you arrive and empty them when you leave. That way no excess weight while travelling and easy to store. Never took the idea any further. I thought it was a cool concept.

It's been done. They are available.

HappyKayakers wrote:
How about equipment that weighs next to nothing? Get a yoga DVD and a yoga mat. Before you scoff, try it at home. It provides a very intense workout without a lot of heavy, expensive equipment and won't wreck your RV.

X2

The YRG or DDPYOGA program is designed to put your muscles through the paces of going to the gym, without the strain and wear on the joints. I never gave much thought to yoga before, thinking that weights were the way to go, but after giving this a shot, the weights are now gone, plus I'm now more flexible that I've ever been in my life, including my 170lb high school days.

Reminds me of an idea I had a while back for weights while travelling in the RV. I sketched up a system that you fill the weights with water when you arrive and empty them when you leave. That way no excess weight while travelling and easy to store. Never took the idea any further. I thought it was a cool concept.

We travel for months at a time and always travel with Bowflex dumbbells and a heavy set of elastic bands...Black Mountain Products brand from Amazon, and they are very good. Tough to beat multiple sets of flat and incline pushups for the chest work that you can't get with dumbbells...otherwise you can get it all done except something like a lat pulldown. For cardio we use bikes or run/hike depending upon where we are.
Hope this helps!

This idea probably isn't quite what you are looking for, but I take two twenty five pound dumbbells with me in the motorhome when I'm snowbirding for 6 months. I can keep my arms and chest muscles in pretty good shape doing curls and butterflies with the dumbbells until I get back home to use the weight bench.

gbopp wrote:

mike brez wrote:
I do 12oz curls every time we go camping.

Maybe you should consider bumping it up to 16 oz. You don't waste as much time opening the cooler. :)

40 oz beats them both and you don't have to go back to the fridge as often.