Travel Survival Kit: Staying Fit
One of the hardest things to do when I travel is keep up with my fitness routine, especially since I am not a fan of hotel gyms. Though I usually walk 3x my normal steps when I’m traveling, some days I just need a little something extra. Here are some of my faves to keep in shape when I’m bopping around.
My Model On The Go
Whether you are a workaholic or aspire to have the body of a supermodel, I highly recommend a customized routine. My favorite is the Vongova Bodylift. BODY BY VONGOVA provides customized routines based on what you are looking for. Her approach to fitness aims to give you a toned, lean, and efficient body. Founder, Brenda Vongova, believes that it is not only about your physical body, but also about your mental well being, energy, and how you feel about the world. I have known the Brenda for years and she has been my health and fitness guru ever since.
The routines range from a full body workout that only takes 20 minutes to curated targeted area exercises. She offers personalized consultations and you leave your workout with a menu of your routine, which is usually 5 different workout routines with 5 different exercises for each routine. The best part for me is that Brenda doesn’t speak in workout jargon, so you understand what you are doing and will remember when you do it solo. For example, one of her exercises is called “the sexy” — not only is it effective, but it makes me laugh every time I do it, which equals more endorphins! Other exercises include the flamingo and the pretzel, inspired by her former background as a competitive synchronized swimmer.
If you are torn on which one to try, my favorite workout from her arsenal is the Vongova Bumbum Lift. I learned how to do 1000 butt exercises a day like it is no big deal!!
Brenda has also been featured in the September issue of Vogue, and has a roster of supermodel clients including Petra Nemcová, Madison Headrick, Herieth Paul and Alina Baikova. Talk about #bodygoals
Pro-Tip: Even on those days where you feel like you have no time, find the 20 minutes. Sometimes I do the standing exercises while doing another part of my daily routine.
My Yin & Yang
My new favorite go-to is a combination of barre and yoga. I highly recommend this workout for those who like an all in one combination of an intense workout and a healing recovery flow. I recently attended a retreat hosted by California Barre and Gemma Vassallo Yoga. I’ve never considered combining the two and was not sure what to expect at the retreat, but it was honestly the perfect blend (hence the yin and yang) I needed in my life. I left the retreat feeling both physically and mentally stronger than I had when I arrived.
I have taken California Barre Founder, Sophia Jeremiasz’s, barre classes in Paris and started virtually during the pandemic; they are not only hardcore (kicks my a** every time), but extremely effective. She offers many programs and membership subscriptions on her site for whatever goal you are looking to achieve. One of my absolute faves is the Cheeky Lift, which includes over 20 different types of glute exercises. I do this any time I have a special event I need to go to and I’m wearing something form fitting, and it’s also great for bikini season!
After an intense barre workout, Gemma would lead us through a variety of flow movements and yin yoga exercises. This was my first time doing yin yoga and it was a great experience for me, as it not only gave my body the stretch it needed, but also brought me to a relaxed and meditative state. I could actually feel each part of my body as she led us through and was able to consciously (or subconsciously) relax the muscles in question, which was pretty surreal to me as a non-relaxed Type A personality! I definitely recommend trying Yin yoga if you have never done so before—truly a gamechanger for me.
Though these are separate platforms and you don’t need to do both, I highly recommend doing a combination these two workouts together. A month after the retreat, and I have now incorporated Gemma’s yoga routine into my workout practice and just those moments when I need some zen in my life!
Pro-Tip: Make sure to check their online platforms and instagram for live classes, future retreats, and collaborations in Paris and destinations unknown!
Fitness In My Pocket
If you’ve followed me for awhile, you know I am OBSESSED (obsessed enough that a lot of people thought I worked for them!) with the Peloton app. Their main differentiator for me is that they have an instructor for everyone, and all of my many moods, again if you know me, you’ve probably experienced a few in one day 🙃.
The one thing most people don’t know is that the peloton app offers every workout under the sun—meditation, strength training, boxing, dance—you name it, they have it. You can take any of their instructor led workouts wherever you are and even do them on your hotel’s exercise machines (some hotels even have pelotons). You can also track your metrics with your smart health device and sync it to your peloton app so everything gets recorded. I definitely do this if I do a bike ride because every mile counts when medals are involved!
They also recently launched “Peloton Gym”, a new option providing step by step guided strength workouts people can do at the gym, to change user perception that they are not just a bike company. I like going freestyle depending on what I have time for and use the app mostly for arm workout, core exercises, stretches and meditation. They also have a bunch of workouts designed to do anywhere, which you can now find with their new search function. The one practice I do daily while I’m traveling is a 10 minute stretch from Ben Alldis—he has many and you really can’t go wrong.
Pro-Tip: if you are having jetlag issues in your location, Ross Rayburn’s sleep meditation is the bomb! He may be the only man in the world who will never disappoint you in bed 🙃.