Maintaining muscle mass and weight...

[Anghang]

I been working out for months now using free weights and machines, but I've recently been sent to the UK for several weeks, maybe a month, for business, my diet is now harder to keep and there's no gym in the hotel. Anyone got any advice on maintaining the muscle mass and weight I'm already at without having to pay for a gym?

I still continue workout, but now instead of weights, I'm doing variations of pushups, situps and crunches. And with no pull up bar, I've got no way to workout my back (dips maybe?).

Any advice is much appreciated...

 

[HomerSapien]

Look at mens health and fitness magazine. They had an article in the may/june issue that dealt with traveling around alot and excercises you can do in a hotel room.

 

[purplecow]

Working out is fun. I weigh 144-147 and my max for benching is 170 (only one rep though ).. I can bench 150 five times .. I'm pretty skinny, so don't laugh!

I notice that after working out one afternoon, the next day I'm noticably stronger.. weird.

 

[Anghang]

<< Look at mens health and fitness magazine. They had an article in the may/june issue that dealt with traveling around alot and excercises you can do in a hotel room. >>


saw that article, i don't have a bar with me tho like the article suggests to bring...*DOH*...

 

[Looney]

if you're going to be there for several weeks, it may be advantageous to join a gym for a month or so... i know most gyms have temp membership. Cost a little more, but it's better than pushups.

BTW, glad to see you're so dedicated... i've been in a rut myself lately.

 

[Anghang]

yea...the worst is having your groove messed up cuz it's always a pain to get back into the routine...i was thinkin of joining a gym temporarily, but today i just found out i'll be travelling to another part of the UK, so no gym joining for me...

 

[vi edit]

Well, dips are more for your triceps and your obliques than your back, but you can do them in a hotel room. Just find a chair with a solid seat on it. Stand with your back to the front of the chair, put your palms down on the edge of the seat and lower yourself to the floor. Put your legs straight out in front of you and then just push yourself up and down like you were doing a dip in the gym. It's not the same as a regular dip, but it's better than not doing anything at all

 

[Anghang]

how about working out the back muscles, how would one go about it w/o any kind of equipment?

 

[StageLeft]

Make sure your diet is as good as you can get it - you'll lose a bit of strength probably but not much. I remember when I used to work out all the damn time I went to UK for 10 days once and was horrified I would lose a whack of strength and when i came back my muscles had been so well rested that my strength was significantly higher than before because I'd been overtraining.

Workout before you go and you won't even start losing strength until probably week 3 anyway...then when you come home it won't take more than one workout to get back on track.

 

[vi edit]

Yeh, what Skoorb said too

There are some more controversial workout methods that I've seen that have a three week resting period after a week worth of workouts. Basically, you just destroy yourself for a week straight, and then rebuild for the next three. You'd do some cardio and cross training in the off time, but no weights. I guess these guys were yeilding some pretty good results.

But like Skoorb said, it takes about 3 weeks for you to start &quot;loosing&quot; strength and muscle.