Three Miles and 300 Pushups is my favorite travel workout: run three miles and complete 300 pushups anywhere along the way, in any combination you like, with zero equipment. It works in any city, doubles as a way to explore a new place, and becomes a benchmark you can race against back home. In this Physical Friday I break down exactly how to structure it, how to stay safe in an unfamiliar town, and how to use time instead of distance if you do not know the area.
Listen now: press play in the player above and follow along.
It is exactly what the name says: run three miles and complete 300 pushups, and you can do the pushups at any time during the three miles. Knock out all 300 before you leave and then run, drop down for 10 pushups every couple hundred yards, or do 100 at the beginning, 100 in the middle, and 100 at the end. It requires zero equipment, you can do it just about anywhere, and it is one of my favorite workouts when I get to a place I do not know.
Any way you want — that is the beauty of it. All 300 up front, sets of 10 spread along the route, or three blocks of 100. Back home on a course you know is exactly three miles, you can put a clock on it and start experimenting with what the fastest strategy is. As you get in better shape you will complete the three miles and 300 pushups faster, and doing more work in less time means your conditioning is improving.
It is my go-to. When I land in a new city I want to look around, and this workout lets me survey the scene while I train. No gym, no equipment, no excuses — just a route and the ground. It also keeps your training consistent on the road, which is where most people's fitness falls apart.
Ask before you go. Ask the doorman or the concierge whether the area is safe to run and whether there is a park nearby. Not every place I stay is somewhere I would run three miles in a random direction, and if the area looks shady, do the workout on a treadmill instead. A little local knowledge keeps a great workout from becoming a bad story.
Run by time instead. If you are an experienced runner, go out fifteen minutes and come back fifteen minutes — at ten-minute miles that is your three miles. Faster runners can go out and back twelve minutes each way. It does not have to be exact. Run roughly three miles, do 300 pushups, and you have done the workout.
On a measured three-mile course at home, time the whole thing and log it. Then experiment: is it faster to front-load the pushups or break them up? Each time you repeat it, you are testing your conditioning against a fixed amount of work. If you can do the same work in less time, you are in better shape. That makes it a perfect benchmark you can take anywhere in the world.
When I get to a city I do not know, I want two things: a workout and a look around town. Three Miles and 300 Pushups gives me both. I have written about this workout a couple of times, but I had never talked through it on the show. It is very, very simple, and that is exactly why it works — there is nothing to set up, nothing to pack, and no gym to find. Press play in the player above for the full breakdown.
Here is the exact structure I lay out in the episode.
I walk through each of these in the episode. Press play in the player above.
This is a benchmark workout you can take on the road with you anywhere in the world. Three miles, 300 pushups — that is it. It keeps your training alive while you travel and gives you a tour of a new town at the same time.
Give it a shot and let me know how you do. Send me an email at podcast@saltwaterexperience.com — I would love to hear about your three miles and 300 pushups experience. Press play in the player above.
travel workouts · bodyweight training · pushups · running · benchmark workouts · hotel fitness · Physical Friday · Saltwater Experience
Physical Friday is my weekly fitness series for fishing guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen — the training, nutrition, and mindset to stay in the game for life. Watch and listen to every Physical Friday episode from Tom Rowland.
I'm Tom Rowland, a professional fishing guide based in the Florida Keys, host of the Tom Rowland Podcast, and the longtime host of the Saltwater Experience television show. On the podcast's Physical Friday series I share the workouts, nutrition, sleep, and mindset practices that keep me ready for long days on the water — practical fitness for fishing guides, anglers, hunters, and anyone who wants to stay in the game for life.
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