How to keep fit & healthy when remote working & traveling

If you have already started remote working and are someone ‘Working From Anywhere’ (WFA) in different locations around the world, one problem you might experience is how to keep fit and healthy.

The lack of routine, unfamiliar location/s, the ease with which socializing and drinking occur, and many other factors can make health and fitness that bit harder to control and organize.

The great news though, as we have found whilst working remotely, is that there are many things you can do to maintain the right balance when traveling and working abroad and I’ll explain how below.

Table of Contents

1. Create Your Own Equipment Free Resistance Workout

When traveling abroad for any length of time as a remote worker, choosing what to pack and what to leave behind becomes a real dilemma.

For this reason, packing fitness equipment (with the exception of sports clothing) is something you will likely want to avoid.

For this reason, having a resistance workout where you use the weight and power of your own body to act as the resistance, is a great idea.

The great thing about a body resistance workout is that you can do it from anywhere including if you have limited space, time, or money.

Exercises you can do include the following:

Press-ups (you can do the press-ups with your knees down to start with as needed)
Planks (or side planks)
Squats
Burpees
Sit-ups
Lunges

Action: At least three times a week do a 15-minute routine (or more often if you wish) combining the bodyweight resistance exercises above. Try and do three sets of each exercise in the list above.

2. Have a Social Drinking Strategy

One of the great things about being a digital nomad, especially if you choose to live in a coliving space or are part of a great coworking community, is that there are so many great social events and get-togethers than go on every evening and on weekends.

The challenge thus is how to avoid drinking alcohol too often (or every evening).

If you are tea-total and thus do not drink alcohol then of course you can skip this step.

For the rest of us who find it hard to turn our backs from that inviting glass of wine or beer, these tips might help:

Try to have 3 nights in a row during each week where you drink water. Consider experimenting with flavored water or with gas. Anything that makes drinking water seem more fun if you are not naturally a water guzzler.
You might want to buy a stylish collapsable water bottle to give you more incentive to drink more water.
Drink as much water during the day as you can, i.e. try and drink at least one or two liters. This will at least help you to stay hydrated.

Action: Have 3 nights in a row every week where you do not drink alcohol. Alcohol-free days give the time for the liver to recover.

3. Use the Seven App Fitness App

Seven is one of my absolute favorites apps for keeping fit.

How does the idea of seeing great benefits in your overall fitness from only having to do 7 minutes a day of fitness sound?

Do not be fooled though because, as you will soon realize, you can cram quite a lot of fitness into seven minutes.

This app is very cheap in terms of costs less than USD$10 a month (and works out less if you pay annually).

You can do the exercises literally from anywhere so, no matter where you are working from, you can use this app.

It is a brilliant app if you are a remote worker, digital nomad, or career traveler, because of the ease to use the app and you need no equipment.

Set the alarm feature within the app and it will remind you each day when it is 7-minute exercise time!

You can do the exercises in your bedroom, on the beach, in the local park, or anywhere you wish to.

It is a fantastic app and worth every penny, so easy to use.

Find it on iTunes
Find it on Google Play

Action: Sign up for the 7-day free trial of the 7 app and tomorrow start your first seven days.

4. Find a Local Park, Bay, or Running Trail

Running in Parque Romano in between career work — Valeria my wife in Parque Romano

Whilst coworking from Las Palmas in Gran Canaria, I came across a wonderful park by the name of Parque Romano, and I found that it is much more inspiring to run and do outdoor fitness when there is a good vibe with other people doing the same.

In addition to being great for doing exercises such as a 5km run or jog, you can otherwise choose to speed walk, use the park for doing your 7-minute app workout, or use it for other fitness.

There are often hidden gems in the larger parks such as:

outdoor fitness equipment
somewhere to swim
in addition to great places to relax (great for overall mental wellbeing)

Action: Wherever you are working from, seek out the local parks, the local bay trail, or the local equivalent. Do it within the next one week and go at least once a week.

5. Buy a Pair of Hiking Boots and Start Walking or Hiking

No matter where you are traveling and coworking or remote working from, there are always places to go on long walks or to go hiking (hiking being a walk with more gradient).

There are many great sites and apps for hiking local hikes and a couple of recommendations include:

Alltrails – is an excellent site for trails worldwide and has over 125,000 trails and over 22 million users. You can use the free version of their app or, if you are a serious hiker, then their paid app is also worth considering. Here for the Apple Alltrails app or here for Alltrails on Google Play.
Gaia GPS – is an equally impressive app and is especially good when it comes to up-to-date live information and data. A fantastic app and the one that I use.

Action: If power walks or hiking is your thing, I recommend downloading the FREE Alltrails app and seeking out a great hike to do locally this month.

6. Pay as You Go in a Local Gym

Wherever in the world I have traveled, it has always been possible to use a gym on a pay-as-you-go basis.

In Las Palmas recently during my stay, for example, I found a great gym and was able to pay 5 Euros for each visit (roughly $5).

You might have to try two or three gyms before you find a suitable one, but get out and find a local gym, if you find machines and free weights to your liking.

7. Strava App for Running and Cycling

Strava – is an excellent free app for measuring your progress when running or cycling.

You can also share your times with friends on the app automatically and this can be great if you benefit from motivation from others, as I do.

You can use the free version and, if you have an old iPhone as I do, you can use it without needing any SIM card or anything in it.

The iPhone will automatically pick up GPS and track your route on Strava without any sim card.

I have never been a runner but started when traveling as a digital nomad recently and, despite only running 5km in 30 minutes the first time, it is amazing how quickly you improve.

You will soon beat my 23 minutes 10 seconds for 5km that I last ran!

8. Start Participating in Yoga Classes

One thing that I have found as I travel and stay in coliving spaces and meet others who are traveling, is that so many people do yoga.

Yoga is brilliant for developing your core strength, building good balance and breathing, and is great as an overall workout.

The great thing also is that you can practice yoga pretty much anywhere with a little space.

I normally travel with a top and bottoms suitable for doing yoga and personally, I prefer Vinyasa style yoga.

It is up to you to decide what style of yoga you like or you might just want to go with what is available where you are staying.

There are also some great YouTube channels and online streaming services if you need a teacher online (and you can download these for offline use if you use YouTube paid version for example).

9. Do Not Sit Down All Day

There are known to be serious health risks in sitting down all day and these risks include cardiovascular diseases and effects on the cholesterol levels.

The chances are that, if you are a digital nomad, then you will likely spend a lot of time on computer.

The difficulty, of course, is that once you start concentrating and are really getting some good work done, you do not then want to be distracted and stop working.

Standing up and moving regularly though is essential!

There are some simple ways to build in some easy-to-use habits that can help you break away from sitting all day. These tips include to:

Stand up if you are talking on the phone.
Make sure that you do NOT eat lunch at your desk. Get up. Go for a walk and eat outside or at least somewhere away from the desk.
Consider using a stand-up desk (or an adjustable one so that you can choose when to sit and when to stand).
Ask colleagues if you can walk or stand whilst doing short meetings.
Consume more water (means you’ll be more hydrated and also need to get up more often for the toilet).
Set yourself an alarm or reminder to get up every 55 minutes. Use a vibrating alarm on your phone or have an Outlook reminder if you always have Outlook open. Go for a walk up and down the stairs if there are any.