Getting the best workout in the worst hotel gym comes down to walking in with a plan built around the three things that always work: one dumbbell, a treadmill, and that weird cable-machine pull-up bar in the corner. You know the room: too small, a Swiss ball, yoga mats, medicine balls too light to matter. Most people drink a cup of water and go back to their room. Do not be most people. In this Physical Friday I give you five workouts to take on every trip.
Watch now: press play on the video above and follow along.
The Magic 50 comes from Ross Enamait, one of my favorite fitness people and a past podcast guest, and it requires nothing but a single dumbbell and a little space. One round is five dumbbell snatches per arm, five dumbbell swings per arm, and ten burpees, and you do five rounds. The original calls for sixty seconds of rest between circuits, though I skip the rest. Track your time and the dumbbell weight; a 50-pound dumbbell makes it seriously challenging.
Walk in with a plan instead of wandering. Nearly every hotel gym has a dumbbell rack, a treadmill, and some kind of pull-up bar, so build your workout around those three things before you arrive. My five go-to options are the Magic 50, a single-arm clean and press paired with pull ups in a 21-15-9 scheme, manmakers, weighted twists alternated with treadmill runs, and dumbbell carries mixed with runs. Ten focused minutes beats an hour of indecision.
A manmaker is a single-dumbbell movement that combines a pushup, a row, and standing up. With your hand on the dumbbell, do a pushup, row the dumbbell to your chest at the top, switch sides, and repeat; some versions add standing all the way up between reps. Either style works. Pick a number, fifty, sixty, or a hundred, choose whatever weight you like, and you have a complete full-body workout from one piece of equipment.
It is a classic CrossFit rep scheme, the format of the famous workout Fran. You do 21 reps of two movements, then 15 of each, then 9, racing the clock as the sets shrink. In the hotel-gym version I pair single-arm dumbbell clean and presses with pull ups: 21 clean and presses split between arms, 21 pull ups, then 15 and 15, then 9 and 9. A pushing movement, a pulling movement, done in minutes.
Two ways. First, weighted twists and runs: 25 weighted twists sitting with your feet off the ground, touching the dumbbell to each hip, then a 400 or 800 meter treadmill run, repeated for rounds. Second, the carry workout: walk a quarter mile holding the dumbbell in your right hand, switch to the left for the same distance, then drop it and run. Heavier dumbbell, shorter carry; lighter dumbbell, longer carry.
Because travel removes your environment and your schedule at the same time. You are doing great at home, then a trip puts you somewhere with no time, no gym, and a dozen excuses, and once you get off the path it is hard to get back on. My rule is simple: do not get off the path. Even when the real workout is impossible, acknowledge it and do something. Something is always better than nothing.
Five workouts built entirely around a single dumbbell, a treadmill, and a pull-up bar. Pick a weight that challenges you and track your times.
I walk through each of these in the episode. Press play above.
You walk into a room too small for its own equipment: a Swiss ball, a couple of yoga mats, a rack of two-to-eight pound medicine balls too light to do much with, a treadmill that may or may not function, and a cable machine in the corner with a weird pull-up bar bolted on. The good news is the dumbbell rack is usually decent, and that is all you need. I paint the full picture in the episode, so press play above.
Ross believes in hard work and simplicity, and the Magic 50 is exactly that, which is why it is at the top of my head whether I am in a crappy hotel gym or my own fully equipped gym at home. One dumbbell, three movements, five rounds, and you are wrecked in the best way. I talk about why his philosophy has stuck with me since our interview in the episode, so press play above.
Most people walk into a bad hotel gym, look around, do not know what to do, drink a cup of water, and go back to their room. The five workouts exist so that never happens to you. Once you have used these formats a few times, you will start inventing your own on the fly: a push, a pull, a carry, a run. I explain how to build your own in the episode, so press play above.
These are not perfect workouts and they are not designed for elite fitness. They are designed to keep you on the path when the road tries to knock you off it.
If you can only remember one, remember the Magic 50: five snatches, five swings, ten burpees, five rounds. I also want to see the crappiest gym you have ever trained in. Text a picture to (305) 930-7346. Press play above for all five workouts.
Ross Enamait · the Magic 50 · manmakers · 21-15-9 · Fran (CrossFit) · dumbbell snatch · dumbbell swing · weighted twists · dumbbell carries · hotel gym training · burpees
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. Physical Friday is my weekly fitness series for fishing guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen, where I share the training, nutrition, and mindset that keep me ready to fish, hunt, and live hard for the rest of my life.
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