Maintaining a fitness routine while traveling is extremely hard to do.
You throw your workout gear in your suitcase with the best intentions. You are going to stay fit and slim on your trip!
But then, you have a tour that starts at 6am and doesn’t get you home until 8pm. Or, you made new friends in the hotel so you want to spend more time chatting with them.
Sometimes it is hard to keep up your fitness routine because you have to go find the best place to workout.
Does your accommodation have a gym? Is there a safe running track nearby? Are there any yoga studios you can pop into?
Instead of wasting time trying to figure all that out when you possibly already feel less motivated, make it easier by bringing the workout to you.
I do this in two ways:
1. Maintain an adventurous and active travel schedule
If you love working out and staying fit, then be sure to incorporate plenty of adventurous and active activities.
Biking, kayaking, hiking, supping, zip lining, and rock climbing are just a few of the ways I love to explore a new destination. But sadly, as I have learned the past few years, as I have gotten older this has not been enough.
Despite being so active, I also do sample too much of the local food and wine which counteracts all that fun moving my body outside exploring.
2. An online workout routine that specifically focus on strength and flexibility
I want to keep up my strength, core fitness and flexibility. To keep do this I use my online yoga and fitness membership through Grokker.
Grokker gives me maximum flexibility to work out around my travel schedule and makes it effortless and fun.
I have tried other online fitness membership platforms before, which have been great, but Grokker has been the standout. I’ll share with you why in a moment in this Grokker Review post.
You can also keep up your fitness when you travel via YouTube videos. It’s free which is a huge bonus.
However, free always trades off with time, and possibly expert trainers.
I’ve done the free YouTube videos before, but I found it so time consuming searching for the right fitness or yoga video I wanted AND then being sure the instructor was good and I’d enjoy their class.
Sometimes after spending a good 5- 10 minutes searching, I’d start the video then hated the instructor or found the class outside of my level.
So I’d have to stop and start the process all over again.
When you travel you are so time stretched.
If you want to keep up with your workouts and maintain your fitness (and keep away as much f that excess travel indulgent weight as you can) then you you want to jump quickly into it with a routine or instructor you know like and trust and at a level you know you can manage.
If you are using the YouTube route, I recommend doing all the research and planning before you leave and create playlists so you are ready to go.
The older I’ve gotten, the more I value time. I spend more money now on things that will save me time and give me ease.
That’s why I am more than happy to pay the membership fee to use Grokker and have access to classes and instructors I love.
Introducing Grokker
As mentioned, Grokker is an online fitness and yoga membership site.
It’s a holistic solution to well being and offers over 4,000 exercise, mindfulness, nutrition and sleep videos to help you feel happy and healthy.
You are probably wondering what Grokker means.
To Grok means:
“To drink or soak in knowledge such that you are transformed by it.”
To “grok” or to say you are a “grokker” is to say that you have been transformed.
Time for your transformation!
Founder Lorna Borenstein was busy working mother, in the high-stress world of tech, and saw the need for a flexible wellness program that could be accessed from anywhere.
In this Grokker review, I’ll outline reasons why I think Grokker is a great online fitness membership program to help you maintain a travel workout routine and keep your body in shape.
Why Grokker is a great online fitness membership
Variety of Online Fitness Classes
No matter what fitness style you are looking for, Grokker will have a workout routine.
From Barre to Dance, HIT and Interval Training to Cardio, and Pilates to yoga, Grokker has you covered.
It’s important to mix up your routines so your body is not getting used to one form of training. That’s when it starts to go to sleep and transformation is more challenging.
I love how this variety can work to your mood and your bodies needs. You can go as hard and fast or slow and gentle as you like.
There are also dozen subtypes of streaming yoga classes are offered, e.g., hatha, power vinyasa, and prenatal yoga. You can check out more here.
There are plenty of fitness and yoga videos that don’t require equipment. Each video description will tell you what equipment is needed.
You can search for the classes you want based upon style, level and duration.
You can also create your own collections of your favorite classes based on topics or styles that resonate with you eg. Great Workout Routines for Hotel Rooms
It’s a comprehensive online fitness and yoga membership which makes it stand out from others I have tried.
Here are some of their online fitness videos
Expert and Likeable Online Fitness Trainers
Grokker hand picks their fitness and yoga instructors and experts.
Grokker tells you the fitness training credentials for each online fitness trainer. The trainers are also very engaged with their communities, answering questions and providing help in the comment section under every video.
Just like the variety of classes there are a variety of fitness instructors as well for you to choose instructors that best suits your style.
A good idea to get to know which instructors you like and don’t like is to join the challenges.
After a couple of online classes you get to know them, then if you want to do one-off classes, you can easily find what they are offering by following them.
You can also follow topics like baking or cardio.
I like having access to a wide range of online fitness trainers that I know like and trust. The trainers give clear instructions and modifications and are very professional and supportive.
Programs and Challenges
Grokker run a series of special programs and challenges.
They run from 1 to up to 6 weeks.
It’s a great way to stay focused on a particular workout style or area of your body. I love how it’s organized for you. All you do is go to your calendar and press play.
For example, they currently have the #BeABetterYou challenge – a 30 day challenge to jumpstart your wellness and make 2018 your best year yet.
You can join others in the community doing it for more accountability and support and share your progress on their channels and your own using the hashtags.
Some of the programs I have done are:
- 21 day happy yoga challenge
- 21 day Pilates sculpt
- 7 day total body reboot
- 7 day primal vinyasa – loved this one. did it with a friend and it was fun
- Energizing Vinyasa
- Tone and Trim your body
- Evolution – great strength training
There are also programs for better sleep, nutrition boost, mindfulness, stress reduction and other well-being related topics.
There’s even wine programs!!!
Calendar and Email Reminders
I love the calendar scheduling function of Grokker. It’s effortless and helps you be accountable with your workout routine.
You could easily schedule your travel workout routine before you leave your house.
It’s so much easier to maintain your fitness if you schedule things in. This works especially well if you know your itinerary already.
I tend to workout early in the morning as it is usually the only time of the day I can control.
So find the workout videos you want to do and just add them to your calendar. You can then easily see what you are working on each day.
I love how it changes to an I did this” after you have completed (you must check the complete box once you’ve finished your workout for this to appear) but it’s a great visual for you to see how you are working out and where you are up to in your training.
Super helpful when you have chaotic travel schedules.
Adding a program or challenge to your calendar is easy.
Once you select join program, it will ask you your start date and then it will automatically add each training video into your calendar with the appropriate rest days in between.
You can rearrange them in any way you want.
The only thing I don’t like is that you can’t drag and drop a change in schedule. You have to enter in the new dates and time. The drap and drop ability would make it so much easier and faster.
You will be sent workout email reminders for when your next training video is due to start.
Don’t worry if you miss it. You can play these videos at any time regardless of when it is scheduled into your calendar.
Collecting Workout Points
Another motivating part to Grokker is the collection of wellness points.
You collect wellness points with each video you watch. The points you collect depends on how many minutes of training you do.
They are displayed under your profile, so it;s wonderful for fitness tracking and motivation.
Set yourself a goal to achieve an certain amount of wellness points and Grokker will help you track that.
There’s not much else you can do with the wellness points. But, with some challenges those who achieve a certain amount of wellness points have the opportunity to win prizes.
You can connect your Fitbit or Garmin trackers with Grokker, which will track your outdoor workouts and add it to the I did This section of your profile!
This is a great way to add in those extra adventurous activities you do when you travel like hikes, city exploration, and beach strolls. These also count to your wellness points.
Grokker is really setting you up to win with your fitness and workout routines.
Fit It Into Your Schedule
Now when you get home, or have a break in your travel schedule, instead of trying to motivate yourself to workout knowing that just the decision making and preparation is going to take you at least 10 minutes, you can throw on your gear, open up your Grokker schedule, press play and start.
With classes that can be as short as 15 – 20 minutes you can easily fit in a high intensity workout each day, or even something a little more restorative and relaxing.
Working out has become a travel habit for me now because of Grokker.
I don’t work out every day when I’m traveling as some as I just can’t fit it in, but I workout way more than I ever did before I had Grokker.
It’s just so easy to get it done.
The 7 minute HIT workout videos will be perfect on those ultra busy travel days.
I’ve already scheduled this in for my business trip to New York this week. You don’t need much time or equipment with high intensity workouts.
They can be done anywhere.
Know What to Pack
If you are taking care of your own workout schedule when you are traveling you often don’t know what to pack because you don’t know what type of exercise you’ll do.
It depends on whether you can find a good running track, or a gym, or yoga studio.
With Grokker you can plan ahead and so only take what you need.
So on trips where I am restricted on luggage I will only pack my yoga gear and make the decision to just do Grokker yoga classes while I’m away. (Yoga is not all easy training btw).
That way I don’t have to pack any workout shoes and I can usually get away with not having a yoga mat.
When we do road trips, I mix up my Grokker classes as I can take all my workout gear – sometimes even my hand weights.
So I’ll do some fitness, core strength training and yoga classes.
Recipes and Mediation Classes
I don’t really use this function of the membership site, but you might.
I’ve had my own meditation practice for years so I don’t put any time into the meditation videos.
But if this is something you want to pursue and you are just starting this is a great added benefit for you.
I highly recommend a meditation practice, especially when you are traveling to help you cope with the transient nature of travel.
Your Chakras will need help coping with the constant change. These short meditation videos will help you center and find your Zen.
Check out some of the meditation classes here.
There are a bunch of recipes to suit any style. It’s good clean eating. They all have video instructions to go with them.
I don’t really use the recipes as I have enough already in other aspects. It’s probably not something you will use when you are traveling but it’s good to have when you’re at home.
Other Things I Like About Grokker
- Easy interface. Grokker is so easy to use and find what you are looking for. You can easily see what workout videos are coming next for you and I like the recommendations and suggestions that pop up, making it easier to join classes instead of searching for them.
- You can watch it on mobile, tablet, web and TV and of course desktop/laptop.
- Grokker is very community focused, You can follow and connect with other like minded members Social media-like profiles make it easy to find friends who have the same healthy living ideals you do.
- Everything is great quality and deigned so beautifully, which does make a difference to how you feel when you use it.
- The streaming quality is good. I’ve used other sites before that constantly froze. Not great when you are stuck in challenging yoga poses and have to unwind to get it started again.
- There are fitness and healthy living articles, Q & A, and forums to help evolve your fitness knowledge.
- You can now download videos to watch offline using the Grokker app! A fantastic way to overcome the challenge of internet when you travel. I have not tested this out myself yet as I always have internet and so don’t worry about downloading before I leave home.
Price
For the quality, accountability and flexibility I think the price of Grokker is great value.
I’ve had the membership now for nearly 12 months. I purchased the annual subscription as it is a much better rate at $119.88, which is just under $10 a month.
Otherwise it is $14.99 a month.
You can try it on a 14-day trial period during which you may cancel service before your card is ever charged.
It’s annoying that they do make you put in you card to access thee trail, but it might be worth it for you to have a look.
Just be sure to write it in your diary or set up an online notification so you don’t forget to cancel!
For my local gym, my membership is $22 a month which includes all machines and fitness classes.
I only recently joined our local gym (a sign of my growing need for roots) because I needed to get out of the house to exercise and I love fitness classes and wanted to take it up another level.
I will continue my Grokker membership so I can maintain my fitness and keep up my workout schedules while traveling, as mentioned above, it is too hard to keep on top of it trying to find a gym to go to, a local yoga class, or going for a run which I hate!
So Grokker is a no brainer for easily fitting in those workouts in a hectic travel schedule.
If fitness is important to you and you like ease, accountability and a quick, efficient way to incorporate travel workout routines into your daily schedule, then Grokker is a wonderful solution for you.
You can use it at home as well for consistency, especially if you don’t like gyms and aren’t intrinsically motivated to get outside and workout.
For the price and benefits, Grokker is worth it.
Other Posts You Might Like:
- Easy yoga travel tips to keep your practice including online yoga classes
- How to Supersize your health on a USA road trip
- How to stay healthy while traveling with kids (recipes included)
- 13 ways families can stay healthy
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How do you maintain a travel workout routine? Do you use online fitness and yoga classes?
