Maria's Boat Travel Workout

Published:  11/08/2019

Maria Faires, RD with her dogs

We have a sailboat in the San Juan Islands in Washington and when we are on it I like to keep up with my workout.

The workout below is a simple workout that I can do on the sailboat, at the dock or on shore with minimal equipment. I keep a set of exercise bands on the boat and pull out two paper plates. I've recently added a foot and leg stretching strap to my equipment collection. It has a heel cradle that allows for a comfortable fit into the strap and is ideal for stretching my foot, calves, hamstrings, quadriceps and inner and outer thighs.

Even if you are not boating, this makes a nice workout for travel!

Below is my workout travel bag ready to be packed for a weeklong sailing trip. I also take my TRX with me for an even more intense body sculpting session. (The TRX can be purchased on Amazon here)  At our boating destination I look for a spot to anchor it -  on the boat, on a tree, playground equipment or post and enjoy the change of scenery for my workout.

See my blog post here for a complete demonstrated TRX workout. And see this post for a workout with links to video demonstrations.

These Pullup Loop Bands are great resistance for a variety of exercises to work arms, legs, back and glutes.

And the Black Mountain is a gym in a bag! It has bands of various tensions, a door anchor, handles, an ankle strap and an instruction booklet.

Here is a full body workout using the gym in a bag. 

Using the foot stretch strap to stretch my hamstrings.  

Body Weight, Loop Band and Paper Plate Sailboat Travel Workout
Instructions: Initially, try each exercise and see if it works on your boat and see if the exercise seems appropriate for you. If one exercise just doesn't work, omit it. There are plenty others to challenge you!

I do not have instructions for every exercise but I think most you will be able to find on the internet. For subsequent workouts,  go through each of the exercises at least once. If you'd like more, do it again!

The first workout can be done in the boat using a large or the small yoga knee pad. I typically will do this when our boat is motoring to our next destination. The second workout is one that I do on shore using a picnic table. I have found I do not like to take a yoga mat to shore but you certainly could and do the Boat Workout.

In Boat or on Yoga Mat Workout
There are several ways you can do this workout. 1) as a circuit aiming for 12 reps each 2) as a HIIT aiming for 30 seconds each 3) as a superset, pairing two exercises, performing 2 sets of 12 each then moving on to the next pair.

I suggest printing these workouts out and trying each exercise. I have a lot here! Figure out what works for you and ammend the workout utilizing the exercises that work for. The blue links take you to video demos. 

Front Arm Running Jacks

Arm Circles

Leg Swings

Standing Opposite Elbow to Knee Touch

1 Leg Step Squat on Step

½ Jacks - Just the legs, there isn't enough room overhead in the boat to do hands too! If you have room, add the arm movement too. 

Pushups with or without paper plates

Bridge with Reach

Crab with Reach

Split Stance Kneeling Adductor

Frog Squat

Dirty Dogs

Single-leg Cross-body Punches

High Knees

Forward Leaning Lunge

Pillar Bridge with rotational reach (Pillar Plank with one arm reaching for ceiling)

Side Plank Leg Lifts

Glute Lifts on bench or step

Justin Tucks

Bulgarian Lunge

Crab Toe Touch

Pillar Plank to forearm plank

½ Kneeling Twist

Y, T, I, W. 4 reps each with 8 second hold

Prone Shoulder extension (palms up, arms by side & lift)

Prisoner Squats

Seated Shoulder W

Diagonal Arm Lift from knees

Fire Hydrant

Thoracic Rotations

Seated Bench Windmills

Plank

Serratus Press

Paper plate hamstring curls

Lunge with paper plate

Open Books

Low Ab March

Bird Dog

Cat Camel

Foot Prints, aka, glute heel presses

Mt. Climbers

Reach, roll, lift and hold

Scap Retractions prone

Stretch: Chest, IT, Calf, Hip Flexor, Piriformis, Quad, Ham, Child's Pose, Pigeon, Child's Pose with hands on bench

Picnic Table Workout (No Mat Required)
Justin Tucks

Cook Squats

Arm Circles

Leg Swings

Squat and Reach

Jumping Jacks

Single-leg Cross-body Punches

Skater Jumps

8 high knees to Jump tuck

Seated Shoulder W

1 Leg Squat Touchdown

Windmills, Standing or sitting

Romanian Deadlift with hop

Scap Retractions Standing

Monster Walks with Loop Band around thighs or ankles

Split Squat or Bulgarian

Balance Triplanar Foot Taps w band around lower thighs

Pushup on Bench

Forward Leaning Lunge

Triceps Dips

Prisoner Squats

Serratus Press on bench

Stretch:
Quad, Ham, Chest, IT, Calf