Our health and wellness is really important to us but living on the road can make meeting fitness goals challenging. We run several times a week and when we’re driving for long stretches at a time, we often pull over and take a moving break. A lot of times it’s only a five or ten minute burst of activity, but it’s enough to bring us back to life. The best part is, you don’t need a lot of equipment since most of these mini-workouts involve using your own body weight. Sometimes we get funny looks thrown in our direction when we’re doing jumping jacks in a parking lot, but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do, right? If you see us working out at a rest stop, pull over and join us!
Materials:
A beach towel or yoga mat (optional)
Water
Can-do attitude!
Are you ready for Van Life Workouts?
As you would with any other fitness routine or regimen, consult your physician to make sure this is a healthy option for you. Consider working with a personal trainer to make sure your form is correct and, as always, be sure to workout in a safe area. If you’re in a parking lot, make sure you are visible to other drivers and not putting yourself in harm’s way.
Van Pushups
If the thought of doing push-ups makes you want to cringe, no worries. Start out easy by doing one or two sets of 8-10 pushups on the hood of your van. (Put your hand near the hood first to make sure it’s not too hot!)
Advanced Van Pushups
When you’re ready to make the leap to advanced pushups, either roll out that yoga mat and get down on the ground and get to work OR, put your hands on an object inside your van (for us it’s a storage box) and start busting out reps.
Jumping Jacks
An oldie but a goodie. Do your middle school teacher proud and extend your arms and legs all the way rather than letting your arms go limp.
Planks
Make your body stiff like a board (or a plank) by activating your core. Do your best to keep your back straight without any bends or dips in it. Hold for 10-15 seconds and then work your way up to 30 seconds or more. Use your yoga mat for this one if you have one! Rocks in parking lots never feel good.
Yoga!
We are not yogis by any stretch of the imagination but we do love to go to a class here and there. It incredible how stiff your body can get after being folded up in a van for hours! What are some of your favorite yoga poses? Ours are warrior, cobra, cat and chair.
Calf raises
Hoist yourself up into your van so that your heels are hanging out over the edge. Slowly raise up on your toes, flexing your calves and then lower back down. Bonus points if you have a great view to look at while you’re doing your reps.
“B” Skips
These are basically skips with a kick at the end. Try to keep your back straight while doing them and kick up only so far that you feel a slight stretch. You should not feel a lot of pain! If you do feel a lot of pain, don’t raise your kicking leg as high.
Van Life Workouts Recap
Notes: As you would with any other fitness routine or regimen, consult your physician to make sure this is a healthy option for you. Consider working with a personal trainer to make sure your form is correct as always, be sure to workout in a safe area. If you’re in a parking lot, make sure you are visible to other drivers and not putting yourself in harm’s way.
If you liked this, be sure to check out our Van Life Workouts Part TWO!
Oh and if you’re wondering how we stay clean after working out and living in our van … hop on over to Van Life Tips: How to Stay Clean on the Road! (If you dare…)
Laugh out loud. I usually just stretch and stretch, and then I stretch again.
Donna
Whatever it takes to go another mile!
Cool :0)
Thank you!
These are awesome exercises. The best part is most of them can be adapted for our vehicles too. We don’t have vans, (we still enjoy the cramped but capable Wrangler and Niecie’s tiny Renegade) but we do spend lots of time traveling in confined spaces.
Ao glad you like them AND that they can be adapted for your rigs! I wonder if one day we’ll drive up on each other working out lol?!
That would be hilarious. Do you have any good exercises for the knees. Mine get achey after a few hours behind the wheel of the Wrangler.
Hmmmm for the knees…specifically for the knees, no, but I do have some good ones for the leg muscles…hoping to write a sequel to this one!