How to Find a Gym and Keep Fit When Travelling

I've travelled to various countries over the years, whether that's via flying, driving in a rickety bus for 20 hours straight or sleeping in a third world train with no air con. And yet, I always make an effort to keep fit and healthy throughout my world travels.

With obesity rates increasing throughout the developed world, (and also throughout the developing world), I make it a priority to work out at a gym at least three times a week. I know it can be damn hard to find a suitable gym when travelling and bouncing around from place to place, but I don't want to become another statistic, therefore keeping fit and healthy is something that I can't take for granted.

In saying that it can be really difficult at times to find a gym, even when you do a search on Google. This is so, particularly in developing countries whereby the number and quality of gyms varies a lot, having to contend with language barriers or even transportation issues. I'll however, show you the step by step methods I use to find a gym no matter where on earth I am. All you need is your laptop and a decent wifi connection.

1) Go to Google
2) Type in "City location" + Gym
3) From the search results ideally you want to find a review site submitted by an expat/traveller that has given at least 3-4 reviews of gyms near your current location.
4) Check out the website (if it exists) of the gym you want to go to. As a hack, I always call them up and say something like this: "Hi, I'm thinking about joining your gym and am wondering if you offer a free trial pass". Remember that not all gyms will state this on their website, for obvious reasons to avoid people taking advantage of their services and going from gym to gym for free. From my experience, this works about 50% of the time, and the worst they can say on the other line is no.

Once you found your chosen gym, you should go at a time when the gym is not busy. One of the most frustrating things is having to wait around for 10 minutes whilst someone else is hogging the benchpress with their mates. Most gyms are busy before and after work hours, i.e. 6-9am and 6-8pm. If you're a backpacker/traveller therefore go between 10-3pm (except lunch time), and you'll have no issue with waiting in line. I usually go mid morning, and find that only retirees or rich house wives are hanging around, and being a macho guy, the free weight section is usually free.

So, follow this simple 4 step process to finding a gym anywhere and you won't be disappointed.

Yours in health,

Richard

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