We have a guest blogger this week! Kelly Robins enjoys reading, traveling, writing, and is currently pursuing her career in writing. She is currently a part-time staff writer for a travel insurance site that gives travel advice and insurance quotes.

Take the stairs. Who knows, it might just lead to a title fight with Apollo Creed

Business trips are notoriously bad for your health. You’re often sitting for hours during travel and meetings and the food is whatever you can grab from fast food restaurants — the hotel’s breakfast offerings or fancy dinners out. You’re often booked solid, and it’s tough to find time for a long workout. But whether you want to offset those unhealthy meals or just keep from being too sedentary, here are some ways to stay fit on your trip.

Start with the little changes. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Before you go, look at a map of the area in which you’ll be staying and working. If your hotel and work site are within a mile of each other, and there are sidewalks or walkways, you can schedule in the time to walk instead of driving to work. Some cities also have bike rentals that you could use. Taking the bus might be better for your suit and professional look, but you’ll still get in a short walk from the bus stops to your destination.

Try to stay in a hotel that offers a workout room. Often, hotel workout rooms are simple affairs, so don’t expect much. Usually there will be a few cardio machines, some weight lifting machines and a television. Explore the room so that when you do have time, you can start a workout right away without trying to figure out how to turn on the machines. There’s nothing more demotivating than showing up to work out and finding broken machines. Ask the desk clerk about busy or slow times for the room so that you can be sure to snag the machine you want.

Find area walk ways to add a touch of beauty to your morning commute

If your hotel doesn’t have workout amenities, look into local gyms. Some national chains will let you use their facilities if you have a membership back home. You can also usually get a single day guest pass at a gym if you express interest in signing up. You’ll have access to all of the machines as well as showers and, often, towel service.

Control your expectations. If your days are busy, don’t beat yourself up if you don’t get in a solid hour of working out. It’s all too easy to give up when you can’t reach your goals. Even ten minutes a day will have benefits. Add microworkouts to your free moments: Do ten pushups or ten crunches if possible. With fitness, every little bit helps. Often, taking advantage of small breaks will add up to a better daily workout than if you force yourself to commit to one long chunk of time.

Don't be a couch potato on your next business trip. Get out there!

Schedule concrete workout times planned around your day and travel habits. If you have trouble getting up in the morning, schedule a workout then to increase alertness. If you have trouble sleeping because of jet lag, workout in the early evening, and you’ll find yourself more tired when you hit the hay. Make sure to add more time than you think you need after a workout to prepare for any meetings or events that you may need to attend.

Business trips don’t have to turn you into a couch potato. Working out will relieve stress and help your body adjust to travel. Take the time to plan ahead, and it’ll be a piece of cake to stay healthy and fit on your business trips.

You tried jogging, but found that pounding the streets wasn’t for you. You thought about a home gym, but there was nowhere to put it, and even if you bought it you were afraid that it would just sit gathering dust in the spare bedroom. You paid for an expensive gym membership, but you couldn’t get there every day, and you felt too many of your fellow members were only there to pose rather than to keep fit, so you only went four times and then found excuses not to go again. You knew you wanted to keep healthy but you also knew that you needed the motivation and sense of camaraderie of being with like-minded people to keep up a proper fitness regime. Maybe you tried step aerobics, too manic; yoga, too slow; martial arts, too threatening; or maybe you even went to a dance class, but none of it was for you. Then one day you came across the idea of exercise resistance bands, and ‘hey-presto’, you had discovered an exercise system that suited your needs, and you can use them for  jumping bands to jump higher (if you are a basketball player ) or pull-up bands (if you are a CrossFitter) or even rehab bands (if you are rehabbing).

That was a few months ago, and now you’ve dropped the extra poundage that you’d been carrying for the past couple of years, you’re feeling much fitter, and you’ve got more energy. The one thing that’s missing is the sense of being part of a group, motivating each other to keep to the fitness regime you’ve chosen. You may be fortunate and find a class locally, but even if you don’t you needn’t despair. Ask around and you will probably find that there other people also using exercise bands as part of their fitness program, or at least some who are interested in the idea. Once a few of you get together you can organize somewhere convenient, such as the local school gym or church hall for regular sessions, but if you want to establish a feeling of mutual supportiveness within the group then you’ll need to gel as a team, and become more than simple exercise buddies.

‘Band Aid’ with a difference

You could do that over a drink in a bar afterwards, but that rather defeats the purpose of being there. A more purposeful alternative may be to consider doing something together for the benefit of the community. You could raise money for the homeless, drug abuse treatment, the local hospice, or any other good cause that you think will capture interest in your area, and at the same time you may even recruit a few new members along the way.

Set the Challenge

Firstly, have a chat with those already involved, and no doubt you’ll discover that most of them are as socially aware as you, and may want to contribute in organizing some fundraising activity. You could aim to get high numbers all exercising at once, but that may be difficult to co-ordinate and difficult in terms of the amount of equipment available. So it is probably best to set a challenge in terms of the number of a particular exercise someone can achieve in a set time, such as three minutes. Remember that there will be beginners, and hopefully people of all ages taking part, so keep to the basics, and perhaps choose to base the challenge on a seated row or something similar, which will open things up to the widest possible participation.

Be Savvy

Secondly, be savvy and ask around to see if there is an existing event such as a fete, fun day or carnival that you can attach yourself to. It’s better to be part of something bigger, varied and already established than to try and start from scratch. Organizers are often looking for something different to add to an event, and if your group offer to do a demonstration as well it will make the offer even more attractive. This also means that you won’t have to think too much about publicity, and someone else will probably do the worrying about any insurance requirements.

‘Ka-ching’

The third thing to remember is that although you might not have to produce posters, if you intend that people should get sponsors, you’ll need sponsorship forms, and you’ll need to try and contact as many potential participants as possible beforehand. So you could try the local high schools, gyms, amateur sports teams, and even pensioners clubs, as well as any others you can think of. Those interested in taking part would usually ask family and friends to sponsor them for a set amount of money per sit-up or row-pull. It also means that it is up to them to collect the money in and deliver it to you. A simpler alternative is to have people pay a small fee to take part and to offer a small prize for the winner, or for different winners in various categories, although inevitably this will bring in less money than sponsorship normally would.

Fun Time

Finally, have fun. It’s meant to be bringing your group together as a team and showing others that using exercise bands is a good way to achieve and maintain fitness. Be generous with your time, offer to demonstrate to those who are interested, and let them have a go with the bands to show how versatile and easy they are to use. If you want people to join your group, then you’ll need to show that it’s something they’ll enjoy as well as derive fitness benefits from, and the best advert for that is you… okay and your pull-up bands.

Thanks to Izzy Woods for this valuable contribution!

After finally joining the late majority and buying a knockoff ‘Perfect Pushup’ device, I figured it was high time to unlock some of the magic embodied in this push…up.  Since pushups and pull-ups are perhaps the two best body weight exercises for complete upper body strength strengthening, it is only fair to dedicate a whole blog post as a way to pay our respect.  Here is an abbreviated list with several ways you can vary your pushups and keep it fresh:

1. ​​Old Fashioned: the most widely known pushup with arms a touch wider than shoulder width, so that when you lower, your elbows stack over your wrists.

2. Incline Pushups: do a pushup with your upper body elevated on a bathtub, bench or ball.

3. Decline Pushups: do a pushup with your legs propped up behind you on a bathtub, bench or stability ball.

4. Travel Pushup: similar the old fashioned, but after doing one, come back to plank, and cross the right hand over the left hand and then open the left up so that you have moved a few feet to the left. Do a pushup there. Then cross the hands again and push-​​up at center. Cross again farther to the right and do a push-​​up, then cross the hands and push-​​up in the center. Repeat to the left, center, right and center.

5. Close Hand Triceps Push-​​Up: put your hands much closer lined up under you shoulders and hug your elbows to your rips as you lower down. This will engage the triceps and shoulders more.

6. Spidermans: while doing a regular push​​up, pull your right knee toward your left shoulder (same side) on your way down. Press back up and repeat on the right. This is great as well for the obliques.

7. Side Steppers: pushup into the plank with your left hand on top of a step or block. Do 20–30 baby push-​​ups here, then repeat with the right hand.

8.  Knee Twist: Working you core,  do a push-​​up and then twist your left knee toward the opposite (right) elbow. Push-​​up and repeat on the opposite side.

9. Diamonds: place your hands together just under your heart, which should form  shape a diamond shape. Then do your pushup!

10.  Side Plank Pushups: do a push-​​up and then do a side plank, balancing on your left forearm or hand, then push-​​up and plank on the right.

11. Glute Raise Pushups: do a pushup while you are balanced on your left toe, with the right leg lifted (keeping the knee straight) and then pulse it at the top of your move. Repeat while balancing on the right toe when finished.

12. ​​Alternating Push-​​up: do a push-up using mostly your right are… then the left.

13. Row-ups: do a push​​up while your hands are on two dumbells. When you are at the top of the pushup, lift the left weight off the floor and raise the left elbow to the sky (a row). Put the weight down and repeat on the other side.

14. ​​Airplane Pushup: Do a normal pushup but lower yourself all the way to the floor and then extend you arms out to the sides so your body to form the letter “T.” Lift your hands, shoulders, head, knees and feet off the ground like Superman, balancing only on your belly. Lower yourself down and then return your hands under your shoulders to return to the push​up plank.

15. Down Dog Pushup: Put your hands a bit wider than shoulder width apart in plank. Raise your butt up so that your body forms and upside-down V with your head between you elbows. Bend your elbows so that your head almost touches the floor, and then return to starting position. This is also great for your shoulders.

16. Band Push-​​Up: Remember you can always always always throw in a pushup or pull up band to add an extra challenge as well as an ascending resistance.

Sitting for long hours in a sedentary position can result in adverse health effects. Physical pain is common in the lower back, shoulders and neck as a result of poor posture or repetitive movement over a prolonged period.

Scheduled daily activity improves productivity and promotes overall health. Regular exercise improves your immune system, stimulates the formation of new brain cells, reduces the likelihood of depression, conditions the heart and circulatory system and endows you with general strength and stamina.

Many Japanese companies have adopted integrated exercise programs, especially aimed at white-collar workers, which reduce pain and stress levels while improving productivity, morale and health. These exercise programs have spread across Asia as employers have witnessed successful results.

For most of us, discretionary time is at a premium. Motivation and time constraints are often the culprit of personal fitness neglect. Check out one of our low-impact five minute exercise routines to be implemented in the workplace. Exercises are performed using a circular band system and help stretch, strengthen and tone while increasing blood flow, all without getting sweaty in work clothes. You use the same equipment as assisted pull up bands as well, which is common among CrossFit athletes.

Each series can be performed at a desk or in any open space every few hours as a baseline for daily fitness. Dedicating 10-20 minutes of exercise over the course of the workday will improve employee morale, health and wellness while lowing insurance costs.

For more information about how to integrate fitness in the workplace and reduce insurance related costs, check out a sample routine at http://www.youtube.com/user/Rubberbanditz.

Fruits and veggies contain fructose and glucose at naturally healthy levels (within reason), but sugar-sweetened beverages can increase your intake dramatically.

Sugars form a necessary part of the human diet and have been embedded into our DNA for eons.

If you eat vegetables, you eat naturally occurring fructose and glucose every day. If you eat fruit, you eat naturally occurring fructose and glucose every day. Duh, shall we proceed…

All tree, bush, and vine fruits, and all berries that people eat contain fructose and glucose, as do most vegetables. In plants, fructose may be present as fructose, and glucose as glucose, or both as components of sucrose. Sucrose is composed of a molecule of glucose and a molecule of fructose bonded together. Below is some valuable nutrition information from US Department of Agriculture, which always leans a fair way to support commerce. Note that the figures are for 3.5 ounces. A good-sized apple, the size I would consider to still be an apple, is 6 to 7 ounces.

Sugar content of common plant foods (g/100g)(1)
Fruits            Total Carbohydrate (grams)    Total Sugar (grams)    Free Fructose (grams)
Apples                   13.8                                                         10.4                          5.9
Apricots                 11.1                                                           9.2                           0.9
Bananas                22.8                                                        12.2                           4.9
Figs                        63.9                                                        47.9                         22.9
Grapes                   18.1                                                         15.5                          8.1
Peaches                  9.5                                                          8.4                            1.5
Pears                     15.5                                                          9.8                           6.2
Pineapple              13.1                                                          9.9                            2.1
Plums                    11.4                                                          9.9                            3.1

Vegetables        
Beets                    9.6                                                           6.8                            0.1
Carrots                 9.6                                                           4.7                            0.6
Corn                    18.7                                                          6.3                            1.9
Red pepper         6.0                                                           4.2                            2.3
Onion, sweet       7.6                                                            5.0                           2.0
Sweet potato      20.1                                                           4.2                           0.7

Too Much Sugar
Sugar or corn-sweetened sodas have between 20 to 80 grams of sugar per serving. Keep that in mind next time you open the fridge.

A major – and possibly the biggest – problem with the American diet today is our sugar consumption. High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), which was introduced into our diets in 1970 has made us (as a country) substantially less healthy. The ‘HFCS’ epidemics is linked to obesity, adult-onset-diabetes, and other metabolic syndrome disorders that many Americans face today.

What to Do?

It is simple… Eat as much sugar as you possibly can today… as long as it is a natural sugar in your vegetables!

Oh and by the way, if you do start to feel that sugar weight accumulating around the waist line, that could be your body telling you that it’s time to recommission those vertical jump bands, therapy bands and/or rehab bands or pull-up bands : )

When things get out of control and you teeter on imbalance of emotions, there are any number of little things you can do to regain composure. Here are 10 ideas to help get you get started.

1. Wash your face and hand & brush your teeth. It cools and cleans the parts of your body that you use most frequently, which is relaxing, and gives you that “fresh start” feeling.

2. Give yourself a good shave (face or legs). This is another instant refresher. Especially if you have sensitive skin or the weather is dry. Plus, when we know we are looking our best, we naturally feel better.

3. Put on clean socks and some shoes that you haven’t worn in a while. Shoes take a day or two to release any moisture they have absorbed, and this is a very easy way to put a little pep back into your step.

4. Look at any trophy, diploma, or certificate of achievement that you have earned. And if it isn’t framed and on the wall, frame it now. These are reminders of your accomplishments, and taking in your success is important to maintaining your self-esteem.

5. Bust out your pull up bands and get a good sweat. If it has been a while since you last used your assisted pull up bands, power lifting bands, jumping bands, therapy bands or any other band for that matter… this would be an optimal time to shake off the dust and use them to oxygenate your blood cells.

6. Wash your car, inside and out. Hey, when our wheels are shiny, we feel better. If you don’t think this applies to you, just remember how you felt the last time you got a ride in someone’s very funky car. Race you to the car wash.

7. Cook a lovely meal. Even if you are by yourself, preparing a tasty dinner, setting the table, and treating yourself to a wonderful culinary experience will lift your spirits. Sharing it with someone you love and/or respect will make it even more nurturing.

8. Look around you, remember that you started with nothing, and know that everything you see, you created. We can all lose our feelings of self-worth, especially when something goes wrong in our world. The truth is that if you have done it before, you can do it again-no matter what.

None of these tasks has to be uncomfortable or take you much time. Finding ways to give yourself a little boost when you’re not feeling like you’re at the top of your game is a trick that truly happy people use on a regular basis.