Three miles and 300 pushups is my favorite travel workout for a new city, run three miles and do 300 pushups at any point along the way, with zero equipment required. Do all 300 before you leave, drop for ten every couple hundred yards, or split them 100 at the start, middle, and end. You get a workout and a tour of the town at the same time. This Physical Friday breaks down how I run it safely anywhere.
Listen now: press play in the player above and follow along.
It is my favorite travel workout for a city I do not know, run three miles and do 300 pushups, with the pushups done at any point along the way. Knock out all 300 before you leave and then run, drop down for ten every couple hundred yards, or do 100 at the start, middle, and end. It requires zero equipment and you can do it just about anywhere.
Because it doubles as reconnaissance. Running three miles through a new town lets you look around, survey your scene, and get oriented while you train. You arrive somewhere unfamiliar, lace up, and an hour later you have a workout done and a mental map of the neighborhood.
Any way you like, and experimenting is half the fun. All 300 first and then run, 100 at the beginning, middle, and end, or small sets of ten scattered along the route every few hundred yards. Back home you can put a clock on it and test which split gets you through the fastest, which makes it a great benchmark workout.
Ask the doorman or the concierge whether the area is safe to run and whether there is a park nearby, and if the neighborhood is questionable, take it to a treadmill instead. Experienced runners can also just run by time, fifteen minutes out and fifteen back is about three miles at a ten-minute pace, twelve and twelve if you are faster. It does not have to be exact.
None at all. That is the beauty of it, running shoes and the ground are the whole gym. There is nothing to pack, nothing to find at the hotel, and no excuse anywhere in the world.
Back home, run it on a course you know is three miles and put a clock on it. Test whether 300 pushups first, pushups scattered, or pushups at the end gets you the fastest total time. As your conditioning improves you will do the same work in less time, which is one of the cleanest measures of fitness there is.
I have written about this workout a couple of times, but I do not think I had ever talked through it on the show. It earned its spot because it solves the two problems of every travel day, no equipment and no familiarity with the area, while turning the run into a tour of the town. The episode covers how I scout a route, when I move it indoors, and how I split the pushups. Press play in the player above.
Zero equipment, any city. Here is how I run it.
I walk through each of these in the episode. Press play in the player above.
Not everywhere I stay is a place I would run three miles in a random direction, and I do not want to send you somewhere I would not go myself. The doorman and the concierge know the neighborhood better than any app, and a treadmill is always an honorable fallback. I share how I make that call in the episode, so press play in the player above.
The freedom to place the 300 pushups anywhere creates a strategy game. Fresh arms say do them all first, tired legs say spread them out, and the clock eventually tells you who was right. Once you start chasing a faster total time, an ordinary road run becomes something you genuinely look forward to. I talk through my favorite splits in the episode, so press play in the player above.
If you can do the same work in less time, you are in better condition, that is the whole theory of this benchmark. Three miles and 300 pushups is a fixed amount of work you can repeat anywhere in the world for the rest of your life and compare honestly. Few workouts give you that kind of yardstick. I explain how I track mine in the episode, so press play in the player above.
Want the full breakdown? Press play in the player above and listen to the whole episode.
Three miles and 300 pushups, zero equipment, any city in the world. Put it in your travel kit next to the deck of cards and you will never land somewhere without a plan.
Let me know how you do. Send me an email at podcast@saltwaterexperience.com and tell me about your three miles and 300 pushups experience, I would love to hear it.
travel workout · three miles and 300 pushups · running · pushups · benchmark workout · hotel workouts · treadmill · 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, and mindset that keep guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen strong on the water and in the field, in short, focused episodes you can put to use right away.
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