Gypsy Camp Blog

Exercise for Travelers

Excited about going on vacation? While traveling is fun, simply getting to a vacation destination-whether by plane, train, bus or car-often involves extended periods of immobility. Hours of inactivity associated with air travel-first in the airport waiting lounge and then on the plane may leave you achy and sore before your vacation has even begun!

L. Leiber, from the Univ. of California, Berkeley is offering some great suggestions on how to combat the problem of travel related body stress.

Seated Exercises

What can you do when you are virtually held captive in boarding lounges at the airport? Perform these exercises that all begin with the following sustainable seated posture:

Put your feet on the floor, just a couple inches away from each other.

Sit up straight.

Tip pelvis to bring it vertical (neutral spine position).

Push your shoulders down, away from your ears.

Breathe in, exhale, and while exhaling pull your abs in. Return to this position after every move.

Figure-4 Stretching. Place an ankle on top of the other knee. Hinge your hips forward. Keep your spine neural. Hold this position for fifteen to thirty seconds and feel a stretch on the outside of your hips. Do this on the other side too.

Seated Twists (Do not do this if you have disk issues). Keeping your knees & hips to the front, then reach to one side with both hands and hold the back of your chair. Breathe in. When you exhale go farther while maintaining a tall posture. Hold stretch for ten to fifteen secs. Repeat on the other side.

Shoulder Shrugs & Rolls. Inhale and lift shoulders up to your ears. Exhale as you push your shoulders back and down, open your chest & let your shoulder blades move together. Continue to push your shoulders down and back. Repeat this exercise three to five times.

Neck Stretch. While your chin tucked in slightly, let your right ear push down to your right shoulder. Hold this for three to four breaths, then let the weight of head stretch other side of neck. Release slowly and repeat on the other side.

Rock-a-Bye-Baby. With arms folded out in front of your body, place your hands on opposing elbows. Pull one elbow to the side as far as possible, feeling a deep stretch on the opposite shoulder. Repeat this exercise 4-6X on each side.

When You Are Standing: Waiting to get passed security at the airport is the first of many times your will stand in line on your trip. Make the best use of your time with some of these exercises.

Footwork. Stand with feet parallel, 2-3 inches apart, balancing weight equally on both feet. Come up onto balls of feet, and slowly lower heels to floor, keeping weight centered. Repeat 8-1 0 times.

Prancing. Use same position as described above. Come to balls of feet. Lower a single heel toward the ground and be sure to keep the other heel elevated. Repeat this exercise twelve to fifteen times.

Knee Raise. Keeping hips level, raise one knee until thigh is parallel to floor. Maintain neutral spine, and balance in this position 15-30 seconds. Place foot back on floor and repeat balance on other side. (You can also balance on standing leg, slowly raising and lowering knee, touching toe to floor.)

Back-Curl. While standing upright begin curling forward one section of your spine at a time until you are bent over at the waist, arms hanging forward. Be sure to keep your knees slightly bent during this exercise. Come back up to a full standing position one vertebrae at a time. Repeat 3-5X.

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