What happens when a gym rat goes on vacation? Well, we all deserve a cheat day (or week), but that doesn’t mean you have to let your #gains go to waste just because you’re on the road. You’ve worked hard to become your fit, strong, healthy self and you can stay active while traveling if you pack along these workout videos you can do in your hotel room. We huffed and puffed our way through the best hotel room workouts on YouTube and found nine sweat-fests that require nothing more than your body and the furniture. (Because we’re not trying to travel with dumbbells, either.)
A good hotel room workout needs to be equipment-free and quiet enough to keep the guests in the room downstairs happy. It also needs to be quick enough to not take too much time away from your vacay, which is why none of these routines clock in at more than 30 minutes. Finally, it’s gotta be doable in a small space — fabulous as you may be, you’re probably not always staying in the VIP suite. These nine hotel room workouts make the cut, so hang the Do Not Disturb sign on the door and get ready to sweat.
Quick + Quiet Hotel Room Workout
Filmed in a real(ly tiny) European hotel room, this low-impact workout challenges your whole body with exercises like quiet burpees, step-back lunges and planks. Instructor Brianne Grogan, a doctor of physical therapy, even utilizes the hotel bed for an oblique-crushing round of side plank pulses. It’s not the slickest video, but the way that she sometimes bumps into the clothes hangers, not to mention the cute running commentary from her family members who are helping time and film the video (“Gonna show your sweat marks?”), make this 10-minute workout seem really approachable, no matter where you are.
30-Minute Dorm Room Yoga
If you’re not already a devotee of Yoga With Adriene’s down-to-earth instruction, this half-hour practice will convert the yogini with even the smallest of spaces. Designed for the dorm room, but perfectly applicable for travelers, this gentle yet deep yoga workout starts on the bed with hip stretches, moves to a desk chair with forward folds and finishes on the floor with lengthening side stretches. Check out the comments section for proof that you can do this one anywhere: A female truck driver says that even she can squeeze the sequence into her life on the road.
20-Minute Hotel HIIT Workout
The Body Coach’s brutal HIIT (high-intensity interval training) workout is not for the faint of heart. It is perfect, however, for self-torture-seekers in tight spaces. Instructor Joe Wicks’ full-body circuit has you sweating through classic moves like high knees, mountain climbers, push-ups, crunches and squat jumps. Somehow his English accent makes it hurt a little less.
Quiet Low Impact Cardio Workout
We all just want peace and quiet when we’re staying at a hotel, but if you also want to get some exercise in, consider Fitness Blender’s quiet cardio as soundproofing for your workout. Super precise and encouraging instructor Daniel takes you through 30 minutes of heart-pumping moves, like jumping jacks, burpees and sumo squats, all modified for minimum noise and maximum calorie burn. This hotel room workout won’t make a peep, but it may make you sore.
10-Minute Small Space Cardio HIIT Workout
Prolific YouTube fitness instructor Millionaire Hoy currently has not one, but seven workout videos that are quiet, low-impact and equipment-free — in other words, totally hotel room-friendly. This 10-minute burnout is our favorite because of the punch it packs into such a short time and small space. The trainer doesn’t mess around and gets you right into insane rounds of pikes, sprints, squat taps and power kicks that have even him gasping for breath by the end.
Hotel Room HIIT Workout
“No excuses…you can work out anywhere,” says fitness/nutrition guru Christine Salus. If she can take time out from her vacation in Penang, Malaysia to film this high-energy workout in her teensy hotel room (with a fresh henna tattoo on her arm to prove she’s really on vacay), you can sneak a workout into your trip, too. She makes use of the hotel bed for elevation as she cycles through seven different moves, like split lunges, hip thrusts and tricep dips. You can just do the video once and get back out to the beach or follow her recommendation and go through the workout a total of three times to burn approximately 300 calories.
5-Minute Hotel Room Workout
Czech fitness fanatic Zuzka Light has created a hotel room workout so quick, you won’t miss a single sight on your itinerary. Five minutes may not seem like enough to get your sweat on, but this short and sweet routine puts you through the paces with hip raises, push-ups, lunges and elevated planks, all utilizing just your own body weight and a chair. And you know this one is quiet enough to keep your neighbors happy because her travel buddy is sleeping off the jet lag on the bed the whole time.
Quiet Cardio Shhhh!
YouTube fitness mogul Cassey Ho says this routine was made for anyone who wants to work out late at night without bothering the neighbors below — in other words, the quiet cardio routine is perfect for when you get back to the hotel after a full day of sightseeing. She’s joined virtually by SparkPeople’s Coach Nicole, so you get double the instruction. The ladies take turns showing you low-impact moves that you can do anywhere, like box steps, skater hops and punches. If anything can motivate you to work out on your vacation, Cassey’s bubbly personality is it.
8 Best Hotel Room Exercises
Forget everything your mom told you about not jumping on the hotel bed because this workout video by the goofy Buff Dudes has you leaping from the floor up onto the bed to work your legs. (You may want to skip this one unless you’re staying on the bottom floor.) You won’t need a full rack of weights to feel the burn because the trainer ingeniously uses his heavy bag as a weight for original moves, like the “luggage lateral front raise” — on second thought, you may want to pack light or you’ll be begging for mercy just a few reps into these eight plyometric, unilateral and alternating exercises.
