Travel Workouts

Promix travel workouts

Between training celebrity clients at SoHo Strength Lab and working as one of New York’s top fitness models, Chelsey Wilkens is pretty much always on-the-go. This former gymnast and current handstand master travels all over her city and all over the world for work, so one of her specialties is being resourceful with her workouts. While not all of us might be able to practice some of the inversion progressions that keep her in crazy shape (watch her instagram stories for some true yoga-style #fitspo), we can all work up a sweat with these four bodyweight-only moves she swears by. Here, she brings you a killer, total body workout that you can modify as needed and do anywhere, whether you’re traveling for business or pleasure.

WHY WE LOVE IT

  1. This sequence smacks every muscle in the body: lower body (legs & glutes), upper body (arms, chest, & back), and purposeful core work all combine for a badass total body blast. BONUS – Chelsey shows you how to work multiple muscle groups at the same time for maximum burn.
  2. Not only is this scalable for all fitness levels, but a great place for anyone to start. Beginners can modify and regress these options to focus on form, while advanced athletes can pump up the moves, making them ultra-fancy and challenging!
  3. Chelsey knows that time constraints are a real obstacle, but believes they shouldn’t hold you back. Bang out a single round to get your heart rate up if you’re short on time, or complete 10-12 rounds for a full hour of solid work.

WHAT YOU’RE WORKING WITH

This one is all you and your own bodyweight, however, you’ll be up and down, so if you have sensitive hands and can only find a rough surface, consider placing a towel or yoga mat down as a barrier between the ground and your palms.

Find your space and start your playlist:


1. AIR SQUAT TWIST

50 seconds on, 10 seconds rest before moving on

PRO TIPS: Keep your weight distributed throughout your entire foot when on the ground. Exhaling through the twist will help you dive into that oblique work at the top.

AVOID: Going too fast. This move is ultra powerful when done step by step with correct form, but can easily become ineffective (and not to mention silly-looking) if you’re rushing through it.

MODIFY: To scale it back, nix the twist and just focus on getting in some great air squats. If you’re a beginner and haven’t done much balance training but still want to go for the twist, remember that slow and steady keeps the quality of movement high. Advanced athletes who have significant balance and agility training under their belt can turn these into squat jumps, propelling upward to hit the twist at the top and picking up the tempo for an extra cardio bump.

2. PUSH UPS (YOUR WAY)

50 seconds on, 10 seconds rest before moving on

PRO TIPS: If the thought of doing 50 seconds of push ups makes you nervous, try tackling this 5-10 repetitions at a time within the time frame, holding a plank in between or dropping your knees to recover. This will keep your quality high and give your arms a second to get themselves together before going for another 5-10.

AVOID: Even the strongest athletes can let their chins drop, which causes heads to hang and tension to gather in the neck. Keep your eyes focused about a foot in front of your finger tips to ensure the neck stays long.

MODIFY: For beginners, dropping to your knees is a fantastic option to decrease some of the weight of your push motion. Just be mindful of keeping the glutes low and in line with the shoulder. The beauty of the push up for advanced athletes is that there are one million ways to progress them!

Try:

  1. Altering your tempo (going down slowly, pushing up quickly, or the inverse, dropping quickly with control and then pushing up nice and slow)
  2. Lifting one leg at a time for some bonus glute engagement
  3. Adding an alternating shoulder tap at the top
  4. Pushing up into one arm to hit a side plank before returning to both hands for the next rep
  5. Jumping both feet in toward your hands between reps to elevate your heart rate

(Okay, so that’s only five. But we could go on!)

3. SWITCH LUNGES

50 seconds on, 10 seconds rest before moving on

PRO TIPS: No matter which variation you are doing, remember that in your lunge, your knee should track somewhere between your heel and toes. Any additional bend takes work out of the thighs and glutes and puts unnecessary strain on the knee.

AVOID: Doing this one halfway. Go at whatever pace you need to in order to be able to find your best range of motion in you lunges at the bottom.

MODIFY: A great lower impact modification is to simply perform alternating step-back lunges with no jump in between, hitting a standing position with feet together between every rep. The best way to progress this move once your lunges are rock solid? Just go faster. Trust us, that’s all you need to feel 50 seconds of pure, powerful burn.

4. MOUNTAIN CLIMBERS

50 seconds on, rest 60-70 seconds before starting back at the beginning

PRO TIPS: Just like push ups, an effective set of mountain climbers starts with an outstanding plank position.

AVOID: Allowing your glutes to sneak up to a downward dog position. This takes work out of your core and throws it to your shoulders, and in general, just looks goofy. We’re here to protect your image. Stay cool, climbers.

MODIFY: If you’re finding it challenging to hold a 50 second plank and get your legs moving, attack this move the way you tried your push ups earlier – that is to say, 5 reps at a time (one right and one left counting as one rep), then either take your knees down to recover or hold your plank. Intermediate folks who can execute the movement can go as slow or fast as necessary to feel the core doing the brunt of the work while pulling the knee in. Advanced athletes will go as fast as they can in immaculate form until the 50 seconds elapses.

Now let’s talk travel nutrition. Chelsey is the master of keeping meals healthy and nutritious anywhere, anytime. To keep her hunger low and energy high, she starts her day with these decadent Chocolate Collagen Protein Oats that utilize Promix’s Chocolate Collagen Peptides.

(Steal Chelsey’s featured recipe – you won’t want to miss this one!)

(Read about the amazing benefits of collagen peptides. They are seriously a staple for all fitness models, and easy to implement into your day for stronger bones, joints, and connective tissue, not to mention healthier hair, skin, and nails!)

Coffee, Coffee, Coffee

Chelsey has also been known to whip up a fancy Keto & Paleo Protein Coffee here and there, using any delicious flavor of Promix Grass-fed Whey Proteins, Promix MCT Oil, and even Promix Unflavored Collagen Peptides.

(Confused about the Keto Diet? We’ll give you the facts.)

Emergency Snack Attack

Chelsey’s absolute favorite grab-and-go snacks are Promix Protein Puff Bars. They are the perfect treat to throw into her gym bag and give her an emergency blast of sweetness and protein right when she needs it most!

(Learn more about our game-changing Puff Bars.)

(Read about the benefits of a high protein diet for strength training and fat reduction.)

(Learn what to eat for lean muscle mass & the role supplements play in strength training.)

We Take Requests

Want to add more travel moves to your vacation workout plan? Check back in on our workouts section for additional combos from top trainers and Promix Athletes, and make sure to refuel with the elite level nutrition that every athlete deserves.

Promix is proud to serve athletes of all levels the quality protein supplements, critical nutritional supplementssafe performance enhancers, and the education they need to support training and hit their goals.

If you have any requests for routines, or questions regarding our products and how they enhance your lifestyle, visit our FAQs page, or feel free to email us at sales@promixnutrition.com. Be sure to follow Promix Nutrition on Instagram for the most up-to-date announcements and more workouts to inspire you!

Now you can book your vacations and feel confident knowing you’ll stay on track no matter what!

Bon voyage!

References

(1) Wilkens, Chelsey. LIFESTYLES OF THE FIT AND HUNGRY: A CELEBRITY FITNESS TRAINER’S DAILY GUIDE TO HEALTH, STRENGTH AND BALANCE. Cools Website. https://cools.com/lifestyles-fit-hungry-celebrity-fitness-trainers-daily-guide-health-strength-balance. Publish Jan 8, 2018. Accessed May 2019.