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James and I get asked all the time for tips about staying healthy while on the road. We love it, because it means fellow RVers are interested in leading a more healthful RV lifestyle. Yes! That’s just what we hope for, and it makes us feel like our little ole’ Fit RV website is serving a purpose.
So that’s why we were pretty excited when Mike Wendland interviewed us recently during his weekly podcast. We were able to answer many of the more common questions about healthy RVing and hopefully get people thinking about ways to incorporate health and fitness in their travels.
You can listen to the podcast here (we don’t come in until 43 minutes):
Mike Wendland’s Podcast RT33
Here are the highlights of what we discussed, in list form, for all you mildly OCD list lovers out there. Lists make James very, very happy.
The Fit RVs tips for staying fit on the road:
- During long road trips, stop every 2 hours, and be active for 15 minutes. Sitting for long periods of time wreaks havoc on the body and causes all sorts of negative physiological responses.
- Don’t eat and drive. If you eat when driving, you’re more likely to overindulge out of boredom and/or sleepiness. Set a rule that you’ll only eat during driving breaks.
- Plan your meals and snacks ahead. Portion out your snacks so you are less likely to overeat. Bring lots of fresh fruits, veggies, nuts, and other healthful foods. Having snacks on hand will help you resist the temptation of loading up on gas station junk.
- No taking a “vacation” from fitness and nutrition just because you’re on “vacation.” No one says, “I’m on vacation, so I’m going to stop taking my blood pressure meds.” So why do we take that mentality with fitness when on vacation? Exercise and nutrition are actually medicine. Maybe not in the traditional sense, but think about it. You take your blood pressure medicine to live better and longer, right? Well, you exercise and eat well to live better and longer, too.
- Strength training exercises are non-negotiable to age well. If you don’t do exercises that build strength, sarcopenia will set in. Sarcopenia is natural muscle wasting that occurs as we age, and we all face it. Strength training is the one and only thing that can combat sarcopenia. Like I said already, exercise IS medicine.
- 10,000 steps on your pedometer isn’t enough. There’s a lot of misunderstanding out there about walking for exercise. Here’s the truth. Walking only brings about a training response when you walk with moderate or higher intensity. So, strolling around the RV park, window shopping downtown…those kinds of walks aren’t increasing your cardiovascular endurance, aren’t lowering your blood pressure, and aren’t improving your diabetes risk. You need to be walking at an intensity where you cannot pass the singing test. If singing is easy, then you aren’t walking hard enough. Pedometers are effective tools to let you know your number of steps, but they do not measure intensity. And intensity is the key to increasing your health.
We cover quite a few other topics during our interview with Mike. If you’re interested in more, definitely check out his podcast HERE! Let me know if you have any comments or questions (below); I would love to start a conversation and hear from you all on this one!
I would love to see what you put in your binder. I am VERY organized and would be interested in what you put in there to plan your trips.
Great idea for a post, Shari! We do discuss it to some extent in this post: http://www.thefitrv.com/blog/roadside-america-quirkiness-why-we-obsessively-plan-ahead/
In a nutshell, our binder has everything. A map overview of our entire route, an itinerary, a print-out for each night’s camping accomodations, meal plans, etc. We even go so far as planning our stops every two hours of driving. We use the website http://www.roadsideamerica.com, and we find silly/unique stops along our driving route.
We love traveling with our Binder of Fun! Makes the trip go smoothly, and we don’t have to do any extra thinking or decision-making.