As someone who travels 5-6 months out of the year for work, I've seen the full spectrum of hotel gyms.
I've been in a 6x6 room with just a treadmill and elliptical and I've also been in massive fitness centers with rowers, pools, medicine balls, spin bikes, sliders and resistance bands.
Is it frustrating to be trapped at a hotel with a shitty gym for 2 weeks? Absolutely. But it's also a fun challenge to come up with creative workouts that use minimal equipment in unconventional ways.
I'm lucky that I have some great friends/coworkers and when we join our fitness minds together, we can come up with some killer workouts!
Now I actually look forward to developing these workouts. I write them up the night before so that I don't have to think about anything in the morning. Just need to get up and get it done.
Here's one that Sabrina and I collaborated on in Annapolis - using just a bench for a total body workout! You don't even need weights to get in a major sweat - but there's always the option to add dumbbells if you want to many of these exercises.
- Hands Elevated Mountain Climbers (example)
- Hands Elevated Push-Up (example)
- Shoulders Elevated Hamstring Walk (example)
- Feet Elevated Donkey Kick (example)
- Plyo Pushup to Plank Transfer (example)
- Hands Elevated Burpee (example)
- Bench Squat Sit Jumps (example)
- Split Squats (example) *add a hop at the top if you're feeling crazy (example)!
- Feet Elevated Push-Up (example)
- Feet Elevated Mountain Climbers (example)
- Step Ups (example)
- Tricep Dips (example) *IT ME!
- Reverse Crunch (example)
There are a number of ways to structure the workout. Personally, I did each exercise for 10 reps and went through the circuit 4X. You could also do:
Exercise #1 for :30, Rest :10 - Repeat 4X
Exercise #2 for :30, Rest :10 - Repeat 4X
Etc. through Exercise #13
Or:
Exercise #1 for :30, Rest :10
Exercise #2 for :30, Rest :10
Exercise #3 for :30, Rest :10
All the way through Exercise #13, then repeat 4X
The options are endless!
The hope is that one day I'll figure out how to photograph/film these workouts so that I don't have to use examples from the most random sources on the internet! But until then...this is the best I can do.
If you want some more difficult bench exercises - watch this video from Men's Health that showcases 57 bench exercises! A lot of them are in this workout - but there are also a number that I was a little intimidated to attempt.