How to Stay Healthy While Traveling

By Wieke von Scheidt

www.sarabozich.com

Summer is almost here, or at least we hope it is. This is the time of year when many take vacation to travel, and relax. Kids have long breaks and parents can use up some of their vacation days. If you are traveling this summer it’s a good thing to know some ways to stay fit. Health is something that is often forgotten while traveling. On your next trip try to keep some of these tips in mind.

Explore the Area

Before you travel, plan your trip. Buy a map or a travel guide with interesting places to visit. Once you get to your destination be sure to get out of your accommodation at least once a day and walk around outside. Going for a long walk, whether you are exploring the city, or strolling along the beach is a great way to relax the mind and keep your body going. If it’s raining you can visit museums, shopping centers, or other indoor places that allow you to walk around.

Eat Healthy

While on vacation it is always easy to just get a quick meal from any fast food restaurant, but it is better to take an extra five minutes to bring your own meal. It will also be better for your wallet. For the little hunger in-between you can pack snacks like apples, bananas, and my personal favorite, granola bars. If you still decide to go out to eat choose a restaurant that serves a variety of good foods and make sure to get some vegetables with your meals.

Be Active

Many hotels have amenities such as gyms, swimming pools, tennis courts, and so on. Even if the place you stay at does not offer any of these services, get creative. If the weather is nice, plug your headphones in and go out for a run, hike, or rent a bike. This is also a great way to explore the area.

Take the Stairs

If you stay in a room that is a couple floors up, and not all the way in the sky consider taking the stairs instead of the elevator. Have you been sitting all day, or spent a lazy day lounging by the beach? It will feel good to walk some stairs and maybe stretch. Anywhere you go you will probably find stairs, so make it a habit to use them.

Bring a Workout DVD

In case your hotel does not have any amenities you can always bring some workout DVDs and exercise in your room. Many hotel rooms have DVD players, or you can just bring your own laptop. This is a great way to get a quick workout in, especially if you don’t like exercising around people.

Vacations are a wonderful time to disconnect from our busy lives and truly relax. This does not mean you should take a break from your healthy lifestyle you normally follow. If you are used to working out and staying fit, don’t blow all that hard work by skipping it completely during your vacation. And if you love staying active it should not be a hard task to keep it up while traveling. Do you have any tips on how to stay fit and healthy while traveling? Share your tips and tell us how you stay active below, on our Facebook, or Tweet us.

Gym Etiquette by Captain Clarex, aka Eric Ballenger

Gym etiquette-2 words that usually don’t go in the same sentence. Whether its cross fit, boot camps, the freeweight gym, or a chain style gym, etiquette seems to be a lost art form in today’s fitness settings. When we discuss gym etiquette, not only are we talking about hygiene and the cleanliness of a facility, but for many it is just common courtesy. here are some examples of ways to not become “that guy” or girl at the gym.

1. Handling of weights

When lifting weights, especially free weights, be sure that you either have a spotter or can comfortably handle the weight that you have chosen. Nothing is more expensive or irritating to gym owners or personnel than someone who is constantly slamming dumbbells to the floor. The old saying was if you have to drop the weight you probably shouldn’t be lifting it in the first place. So if at any point during your workout, you find yourself “dumping the weight,” then either up your reps with a lower weight or find someone to spot you. (You know who you are.)

2. Stripping the weights

Is there anything more irritating then going through your full pre-workout routine, dragging yourself to the gym, and finding your favorite machine already racked up with multiple rows of plates? Not only does this take away from your time in the gym, but also puts you in the wrong mindset for an effective workout. So the next time you are on a machine, whether it’s a flat bench, hammer strength, or a squat rack, have some common courtesy and put the weights back where you found them. This will go a long way in building long lasting relationships with not only gym personnel, but your fellow fitness enthusiasts. You might even make a friend or two in the process. (Again, you know who you are.)

3. Wiping the bench.

This may be the most disgusting element of gym etiquette that you will ever encounter. Nothing is worse then watching someone push themselves to their personal limit and watching them walk away from their machine without the common courtesy of wiping down the machine. All gyms now have “sanitation stations” with either wet wipes or a spray bottle and paper towel. The two minutes that it takes for you to clean off the apparatus that you have just used. can be the difference between being a valued member of your gym or “that guy” that suddenly gets his membership cancelled without notice. Yes, this is an act of courtesy, but more importantly, eliminates many of the health risks commonly found in a gym setting including bacteria, staph infection, and other health concerns that can be eliminated by taking this one simple step.

This will be an ongoing series. Gym etiquette is something we can all work on to some degree. A few simple acts of kindness and common courtesy can go a long way in developing and maintaining the positive fitness experience. We at Clarex are here to promote good health and good will. Stay tuned-more to come. Be good to others-you’ll be surprised how far it might go!

Have a healthy day,

Captain Clarex

Breaking Down the Intelligent Workout with Eric Ballenger

Eric Ballenger

Welcome to the Clarity Corner! I’m Eric Ballener, and a daily Clarex user. As a fitness enthusiast, my background includes ISSA, ACE, NFPT certified, certified personal trainer, former NPC competitor, and a Pre-Contest Prep Coach. I’ll be posting regularly with all things fitness, so check back often! Feel free to comment with any questions to answer in future posts.

What we do before we work out can be just as important as any exercise we do during our workout. Pre-workout preparation has been studied, dissected, and argued about since before Arnold lifted his first barbell. .Let me back up here for a second, we’re not just talking about the gym rats. (You know who you are, because I’m one too!) I’m talking about the triathlete, the cyclist, the runner, the CrossFit enthusiasts, the powerlifter, and even the bodybuilder. We are all familiar with the term “muscle memory.” Muscle memory has been used along simultaneously with motor learning, which is a form of procedural memory that involves consolidating a specific motor task into memory through repetition.

In other words, every Monday, we wake up thinking today is chest day and our mind prepares our body for the trauma that it will endure during a typical workout. We have all been there. We take the thermogenic gotten the jitters the heart palpations the sweats but what did we really accomplish? We have once again attacked our receptor sites and overstimulated our adrenal glands.  Through the use of Clarex, I have personally found a new form of laser focus while in the gym. Though I still enjoy my heavily caffeinated and synephrine based pre-workout RTD, I have now added Clarex as a complement to my regimen.

This is where “The Intelligent Workout” begins. I take my Clarex with my thermo 30-45 minutes pre-workout. The most profound and lasting impact of Clarex on my workout is found in the level of clarity that did not exist before, I no longer find myself asking what exercise is next. Rather, I find myself with that feeling of complete focus and concentration.

As a result, my workouts have become more intense, and shorter in duration. Let me reiterate. CLAREX IS NOT A THERMOGENIC! Clarex is a stimulant-free complement to any pre-workout regimen. Clarex, when taken as directed, can help you get the most out of every workout no matter what hurdles life has thrown at you before you step through the gym doors. So try Clarex today, “Eliminate YOUR Mental Limits” and unlock your body’s full potential with no side effects and no crash.

-Team CLAREX