BODYBUILDING GUIDE TO SUCCESSFUL TRAVEL
We know consistent adherence leads to success. This statement can be applied across the board
for jobs, school, sports, and bodybuilding included. If you want to be great at something you have
to be able to string together days of perfection and that leads to months, then years of perfecting
your craft.
Bodybuilding is a tough pursuit as every moment matters. Your sleep, daily stress management,
meal timing, hydration, meal consistency, consistent lifts, and the list goes on. Not all of us have
the lecture of a monotonous bodybuilding life. Jobs happen, work travel happens, life situations
pop up and all this can derail us from stringing together these days of perfection.
Traveling is one area that is a pain in the ass for a bodybuilder as it removes you from your
daily environment and kicks our routine out of whack. So, today let's dive into our first tips
on successful travel.
THE PLANNER STAYS ON TRACK
Fail to plan, plan to fail. This saying has stuck in my head for many years and it is true.
Before you travel you need to have a plan for your meals, gym and schedule.
The more resources you have to work with the easier this is going to be for you.
WHERE TO STAY?
First look at your hotel set up or airbnb. The ideal situation is having a full kitchen with
a microwave and fridge. Search for extended stays in the area or most Airbnbs come fully
equipped. Look for hotels that offer minifridges and call ahead to find out if they have
a microwave available in the lobby or that can be brought to your room.
Keeping food cold is your number one priority if you are bringing perishables. I have zero
issue eating cold food, so the microwave is a luxury item. The real crappy situation is no
minifridge at all, but I have some workaround we will cover in tips to come.
WHAT IS THE FOOD SET UP?
You want to also map out what grocery
and food access you will have around you.
Do you have access to a full grocery store?
If so, the plan goes uninterrupted. Even if you don’t
have time to cook you will be able to get some
precooked or ready options that let you nail the
macros. Usually any place you travel
is going to have some form of grocery store.
I understand more of the issue is the time component
to cook food, this is when our contingency foods will
come in place and I will discuss those more below. If
you are a spoiled bodybuilder maybe you just have a
meal prep company mail the food to the hotel.
Personally I am not a fan of meal prep companies as I like to control my food and also food
might not show up right on time.
THE PLANNER STAYS ON TRACK
HOW TO TRAVEL?
Once you have the plan of what to do when you arrive at your destination, then you just need
to plan what to do on the trip to and from the location. If driving, by car this eases some
of the burden as you will have gas station stops along the way to heat up food or grab back up
food items. If traveling by plane you might get stuck on the plane and not have back up items
around. Either way count out how many meals you need and pack one extra meal and one
back up food item. This way if you hit traffic or get stuck in a layover you have food ready.
Next we can cover Tools of the trade you might need for travel.
TOOLS OF THE TRADE
If you have the travel mapped out the best that you can and you know how you might be
limited for cookware. There are some helpful items to travel with or even pick up at your
destination.
Cold Food
Keeping food cool is essential. A helpful item is a portable car cooler/warmer.
These can plug into your 12 volt car plug and can come with a 110 volt home plug.
So, you can keep your food cool/warmer on the road and even use it in your hotel room.
If you are really desperate to cool food, go buy a styrofoam ice chest and use some hotel
ice to fill it and keep your food cold if no fridge is around.
For the plane ride thermal insulated bags can be packed with food and stuck into
your luggage. Keep your lunch box as your personal carry on item.
Packing Food
Regarding luggage, if you are able
to check on an extra bag you can have
an entire luggage filled with your
precooked food. Keep it simple though.
Frozen veggies, freezer bag of rice
and freezer bag of your meat choices.
That is everything you need to get
the job done. I have even carried
my lunch box as a personal item
and then a small backpack full
of my travel food as my carry-on bag
to save the cost of having extra bags
checked on the plane.
TOOLS OF THE TRADE
Measuring Food
Other items you are going to need for success are measuring tools. Get some collapsable
measure cups, have your tablespoon measures and a food scale.
For the food scale always remove the battery so you never show up with a dead scale.
Bring extra tupperware and plastic baggies. These will be handy for packing meals when
you get to your destination. You might need some baggies for pills and powders to take
around with you too.
Hot Food
Remember I said hot food is a luxury and not needed. Well if you do want hot food you
can get a single burner hot plate and pan and cook food in the hotel room.
Just don’t set off the fire alarm!
I know traveling can not always be perfect and we are going to have a back up plan in place,
this next tip is not one to miss.
FOOD CONTINGENCY PLAN
With the hotel and travel set, your tools are in place, we also need some food for a back up
plan. These are good items that not only can serve as back ups, but also ease the burden
of meal prep if you don’t have the full kitchen and resources.
PROTEIN
Protein Sources can be more of the challenge as most
are going to need to be cooked. Powders are your friend
when it comes to traveling. Bring some pre portioned
baggies of Whey Protein with you. You can pair this with
any carb and fat source to make a macro matched meal.
Too lazy to do that, no problem! Grab a meal
replacement powder (Animal Meal at 46g protein, 49g
of carbs, and 14g of fat) that was made for convenience
and long shelf life.
Need a more substantial protein source and not a drink? Pre packaged tuna is the really easy
one to keep on hand. You could even get packaged chicken or salmon as well. Really in a
tough spot, you can grab beef jerky and make the macros work.
FOOD CONTINGENCY PLAN
CARBOHYDRATES
Carbohydrates a bit easier as you can grab carbs from almost
anywhere. I like to keep a sleeve of rice cakes on hand as they
are low fat and easily digested and no refrigeration or heating
required. If you are high carbing the diet and don’t want to eat
20 rice cakes, then take some bagels or English muffins with
you. Fruits can be another one to grab and usually can find
them anywhere or go with dried fruits as they are carb dense
and store well. I’ve even made do with a gas station bagel of low
fat pretzels when I had no other carb options around.
FATS
Fats can be the most accessible out of all macros. Nearly everywhere sells all kinds of nuts.
These are great fat source options you can take with you. I know nut butter might be on your
mind, but good luck getting it through TSA, so nuts are the friendly plane travel option. If you
have a nut allergy, then grab sunflower seeds or even olives will work. Both can be found in
travel packs.
BACK UP MEAL OPTION
150g Tuna (from pack/can)
5 Lightly Salted Rice Cakes
20g Almonds
462kcal, 46g protein, 41g carbs, 13g fat
I know you might forget you back up meal and something really still goes wrong with travel.
No worries, your emergency plan is on the way.
I RAN OUT OF FOOD…HELP!
I know I gave you a lot of planning to put in place and if all deployed you should really be pretty
set up for all situations. However, life happens and part of the plan needs to include what to do
in the worst case scenario. This is the situation when you have no food with you, no grocery
store, no kitchen. You are the stranded bodybuilder only surrounded by a mirage of
restaurants. Well it's not ideal, but let's make it work.
You want to think about the options of who is going to be able to serve you a controllable
amount of protein, carbs and fats and not have it all mixed into a dish you can't control amounts
on. Let me lay out some options for you. Also, don’t be embarrassed, bring your food scale into
the restaurant. You have goals, stop caring what people think. You might download an App like
Cronometer to help pull up restaurant options as well for macro tracking.
OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE IHOP CHICK FIL A
9oz Center Cut Sirloin (ask 6 Servings Egg White 1 Grilled Chicken
for no steak butter) Scrambled Sandwich (use mustard
200g Baked Potato (plain) 2 Slice Sourdough toast only)
Grilled asparagus (ask for 60g avocado Medium fruit cup
no butter) 390 kcal, 39g protein, 355 kcal, 29g protein,
533 kcal, 59g protein, 45g 49g carbohydrate, 14g 48g carbohydrate, 6g
carbs, 13g fat fat fat
The options might not fit in your macros, but these are some ideas to work within to adjust
for what you need. Most apps have foods logged or the restaurants have calories tracked.
Do realize though when someone else is preparing your food they are not measuring and
weighing it out like you would and this can add a lot more calories you are not planning on.
Oils, butters, and condiments can really drive up calories so always ask how it is prepared.
It's not ideal but when the worst case situation happens it is better to eat something then
stave.
Traveling is hard on the routine bodybuilder, but with some planning we can halt nutrition
deviations from occurring and keep you consistent and moving towards your physique goals.
