A jump rope and a rubber mobility band are the two cheapest, lightest pieces of training gear you can pack, and together they turn any hotel room or parking lot into a complete gym. For nine episodes we have only used what the hotel already had. In this Physical Friday I open my travel bag: a $2 jelly jump rope and a few Rogue bands ride in every bag I own. I share the benchmark workout Annie and the banded squats, push-ups, and pull-downs that cover strength anywhere.
Listen now: press play in the player above and follow along.
Two things, and they cost almost nothing: a jelly jump rope — the cheapest rope on earth, about $2 at a toy store or a dollar fifty each from buyjumpropes.com — and a rubber mobility band like the ones Rogue makes, about three feet long in different strengths. Both roll up and fit anywhere; I keep a rope in every single travel bag I own, plus a deck of cards for the deck of cards workout.
Annie is a CrossFit girl benchmark that needs only a jump rope and a little space. The rep scheme is 50-40-30-20-10: 50 double-unders and 50 sit-ups, then 40 of each, 30, 20, and 10, done for time. It is quick, it fits in a hotel room, and because it is a named benchmark you can compare your time on Beyond the Whiteboard, where there are probably a hundred thousand logged results.
A double-under is passing the rope under your feet twice for every single jump. It takes some coordination to learn, but once you have it, double-unders spike your heart rate faster than almost anything and substitute for running in any workout — perfect when there are no stairs, the treadmill is broken, or the weather and the neighborhood keep you inside.
Stand on the middle of the band with both feet and loop it behind your neck, and squats suddenly carry significant resistance. Run it across your shoulders with a hand under each end and push-ups get loaded the same way. Attach it to a tree branch and do kneeling pull-downs — an incredible core exercise. Different band strengths — I carry a green, blue, and black — let you scale the load.
Yes — loop the band over the pull-up bar, put your knee or foot in the loop, and the band assists you at the bottom of every rep where the pull-up is hardest. It is the standard way to build toward unassisted pull-ups, and it means the benchmark bar workouts from earlier in this series stay available to you no matter your current strength level.
The deck of cards workout assigns push-ups, sit-ups, squats, and burpees to the four suits, with jokers as wildcards. On the road I make every joker a set of double-unders. The deck of cards is my go-to travel workout, and with the rope, the bands, and the cards in my bag, I know I can get a workout in absolutely anywhere I land.
Here are the workouts from this episode, built entirely from the two pieces of gear in my travel bag.
I demonstrate the band setups and talk through learning double-unders in the episode, so press play in the player above.
The jelly rope rolls into a ball, weighs nothing, costs less than a coffee, and replaces every running option in this series when the weather, the neighborhood, or a broken treadmill takes running away. I buy them fifty at a time for my group. Cheap enough to lose, light enough to forget — until you need it. I explain why one lives in every bag I own in the episode, so press play above.
The bands come in different widths and resistances — I carry a green one, the heaviest, a blue, and a black, the lightest. The light ones stretch you out like the strap in a yoga class; the heavy ones load squats and push-ups when you have not touched a weight in weeks on the road. Three bands cover stretching through strength. I walk through which I use for what in the episode — press play above.
Island trips, remote lodges, places with no weights at all — that is exactly when the band earns its place in the bag. Banded squats and push-ups keep real resistance in your week so you do not come home having lost the strength you built. It is the difference between maintaining and starting over. I talk about packing for those trips in the episode, so press play in the player above.
The jump rope, the bands, and a deck of cards. Between those three, plus everything this series has covered — stairs, parking lots, pools, hotel rooms — there is no version of travel where the workout cannot happen. That certainty is the whole point. I wrap the kit together and preview where the series goes next in the episode, so press play above.
Nine episodes in, you can train with what the hotel has — and now, with two dollars of gear, you can train even when the hotel has nothing.
Order a jelly rope and a band this week, drop them in your travel bag, and learn the double-under before your next trip. Press play in the player above and I will show you everything they unlock.
Note: the original podcast audio feed for this episode is no longer available, so watch the full episode in the video player above.
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.
Annie · double-unders · jelly jump rope · buyjumpropes.com · Rogue mobility bands · jump stretch bands · banded squats · banded push-ups · pull-downs · band-assisted pull-ups · deck of cards workout · Beyond the Whiteboard
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. Physical Friday is my weekly fitness series where I share the workouts, nutrition, and mindset that keep guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen strong, durable, and in the game for life.
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