By Cheri Sicard
For anyone who wants to stay in shape and keep up their fitness routines while on the road, Jared Gillis from All About RVs has some RV fitness equipment tips and advice.
This RV fitness equipment does not take up a lot of space nor does it weigh a lot. Nonetheless, it can still help you achieve your fitness goals, wherever you travel.
Jared starts his recommendations with fitness equipment and activities that allow you to get out and enjoy your surroundings wherever you travel while being active. These include:
- Hiking and walking shoes: These will encourage you to take advantage of your surroundings and get out there and walk!
- Bikes or electric bikes: (with the electric part turned off) are also great ways to stay fit while exploring.
- Paddle boards: While large, they pack flat and allow you to explore your area on water while getting a great total body workout.
Beyond fun, active recreational activities, Jared also recommends a number of lightweight high performance items:
- Fitness bands: weigh next to nothing but provide resistance for strengthening exercises and stretching. There are a HUGE array of different workouts you do with these. Some are simple, others more complex. Jared, however, does not recommend you use your RV doors or walls to attach the bands to, as they are not meant for this kind of stress. But there are many bands that don’t require this. Check out the video for details. Resistance bands are also inexpensive.
- A jump rope: packs small and weighs next to nothing but can provide you with a great cardiovascular or endurance workout, plus it can be lots of fun.
- Your own body weight: there’s nothing to buy here, but Jared talks about how you can use your own body weight for effective resistance exercises.
- Max Pro Cable Home Gym: for those serious about fitness and who don’t mind making a substantial investment, this compact product, featured on Shark Tank, takes the place of traditional weights. The small unit only weighs 10 pounds, but you can dial it to “lift weights” from 5 pounds to 300 pounds. While you are not carrying weights, the device mimics the feel of weightlifting, so it is not providing resistance in the same way the bands do. Check out the video for details.
- Fitness Trackers: such as those by Fitbit and Apple Watch, can help keep you motivated and gauge your progress. You can even download apps on your current phone.
Be sure to watch the video for additional RV fitness tips and to watch some of these things in action.
##RVDT2042
I belong to Planet Fitness using the black card. Where ever I go I look for one in the area. If none are around I use my fitness bands and a light weight pole made out of three 1×2 pieces of wood glued and screwed together, with eye hooks at different locations along the pole (bottom, middle and top) and tie the pole off to a tree or our bike rack. I use a carabiner clip to attach the bands to the eye hooks. Along with the bands I do push-ups and use the picnic table to do dips. Combine that with a bike ride and a walk with the dog.