Make the most of your situation
Between regular travel and deployments, my gym schedule is often disrupted. I absolutely hate it.
No doubt, this past pandemic and other life circumstances have interrupted the use of facilities for many gym-goers across the country. Depending on your dedication and preferred method of exercising, this might be a serious detriment to your lifestyle or hardly a passing care. For me, I prefer the weights and varied amount of equipment offered at a full-size gym. I’ll make do with a hotel “gym” or other facilities, but oftentimes, I’m faced with not being able to use anything at all.
What do you do in these situations? You use what you can.
This was something I was forced to take a hard look at once I was stationed on a Coast Guard cutter that deployed regularly to the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Eastern Pacific Ocean. I still remember inspecting the boat on my first day and assessing what I could do during months on end floating in the ocean.
I was actually excited when I visited the flight deck and saw my new gym within the ship’s helo hangar:
Besides a great view, it only offered a few key pieces of gym gear. It had a smith machine (which I’m not normally fond of but found out they’re absolutely necessary for pushing weight while moving up and down in the ocean), a cable machine with pull-up bars, a couple benches, and a rack of dumbbells that went all the way up to 100 pounds. I was excited because even a lot of hotel gyms didn’t have all that.
The dilemma, then, was that I would be using this while in anywhere from three to twelve foot seas. Not the most stable environment. I wouldn’t be able to lift heavy unless we were in at least two to three foot seas or at anchor. My strength gains were going to take a hit, so instead, I resolved to use everything at my disposal and work on building lean muscle. I could still complete compound movements, along with some isolated ones, with what I had. And though I couldn’t lift as heavy as I wanted, I could still do my routine of hitting each body part twice a week.
There were some days where the seas were too rough to do anything (see above) – so on the days that the seas were calm, I opted to work a little longer and a little harder. It wasn’t ideal, but my crew and I were going to make the most of the opportunities we had.
It’s just what the military does.
How does the military take someone through boot camp and get them in shape enough to complete all the physical and mental objectives required to pass basic training? They use body weight and body resistance along with basic movements. The dumbbells and barbells at basic training were off limits to recruits – we weren’t allowed to touch them. They were reserved for the regiment staff and officers. What were we allowed to use? Pushups, situps, crunches, body-weight squats, pullups, biking, and running.
It’s these basic movements I return to when my schedule is compromised. Deployed? Rough weather? Hotel room without access to a good gym? Your body is your gym today. Don’t bother being worried about whether or not you’ll get a good workout. I guarantee if you even attempt to do a 500 repetition, four-part rotation of pushups, squats, crunches, and flutter kicks, you’ll feel dead before you even reach the end (if you do).
Another factor you must consider is that your nutrition is far more important than your current workout. If it’s on point, you only need to do something that gets you moving. You can’t outwork a bad diet, but you can compliment a good one. Let’s say, for example, that you’re traveling for a few days and you’ll be stuck in a hotel. Your regular gym schedule will be put on hold. If you have been tracking your nutrition and watching your caloric intake (and continue to do so), your interrupted gym routine won’t matter much. More so, if you adopt a basic bodyweight regimen in your hotel room while you’re there, your body won’t miss a beat by the time you return to the gym.
Don’t make any excuses the next time you travel and your schedule is interrupted. It’s going to happen frequently. Use it as an opportunity, instead, to build up your body’s calisthenics and bodyweight conditioning that you often neglect when you’re able to use an actual gym.
– Beau