So you’re super into Crossfit, you’re hitting PR’s left and right, spending hours in the box grinding away and seeing all the gains! But….. you’ve got a big trip coming up. You’re going backpacking for a month around Europe. So what do you do? Do you just throw in the towel and let all that hard work go to waste? NO! As someone who does Crossfit, and travels, I have some tips and tricks for you Crossfitters out there who are looking to travel, and keep up your training.
The first thing you need to do is make sure that you bring your Crossfit gear with you! I usually just bring the bare minimum, my shoes, and sometimes wrist wraps and knee sleeves. You could bring as much or as little with you as you need, but that’s what my husband and I both bring and find that it gets us through a trip. For shoes, I have Reebok Nano’s and NoBulls. I tend to only travel with my NoBulls though since they look awesome with a pair of jeans or shorts, so they’re more versatile when traveling.
You also will need to decide how often you want to get in for a session, as well as what’s reasonable. If you are traveling mostly in cities, you’ll find a lot of Crossfit’s around, but if it’s more rural, be prepared to maybe not have as many options, if any. In general, when we’re home we hit the box around 5-6 times a week, but when traveling, we realize that we aren’t there to work out, so we will aim for more 3 times a week, and supplement that with our adventures, or quick workouts on our own.
If you are planning to go more frequently, contact the boxes you plan on visiting ahead of time and see if you can work out a deal for a short term membership. If you’re traveling to a lot of different destinations, you can do drop ins for relatively cheap, or some boxes even have 1 free drop in, so moving around, it could be free! If you’re in one place though and are going to go multiple times to the same box, that’s when you want to talk membership, as the drop in fee will be more expensive. Ask your coach back home if they have any connections where you’re going. There is a coaches forum that they can check for you, and may be able to connect with other coaches to hook you up with a great deal!
If you can’t always access a Crossfit box, remember that there are a lot of body weight work that you can do to, and you can always bring a jump rope along with you! Push ups, sit ups, pull ups, tricep dips, etc. can all be done pretty much anywhere, throw some double-unders in and you’ve got yourself a sweaty workout! Ask your coach if they can put together some accessory work for you that you can do with minimal equipment, or check out youtube and find something to work on.
Remember, it’s important to keep up your routine and not lose all your gains that you’ve made, but you are also traveling for a reason. Don’t make your whole trip about finding a Crossfit box, or trying to get in as many workouts in a week as you can. If you miss a few sessions, don’t beat yourself up! Enjoy the trip and focus on doing what you can. Once you get back home you can get right back on the gains train!!
Remember, it’s important to keep up your routine and not lose all your gains that you’ve made, but you are also traveling for a reason. Don’t make your whole trip about finding a Crossfit box, or trying to get in as many workouts in a week as you can. If you miss a few sessions, don’t beat yourself up! Enjoy the trip and focus on doing what you can. Once you get back home you can get right back on the gains train!!