Working Out Whilst Travelling: Advice For Weebs At Conventions
Being a weeb and a cosplayer you get used to staying in hotels for long lengths of time or travelling internationally to a variety of places. For the weeb who lifts, this can sometimes be a pain in the arse if you're serious about your training. Thankfully, I have solutions!
Hotel gyms are almost always sub-optimal, but I still get a good workout in every time I have the option. For example, whilst attending Otafest I used the hotel gym attached to the con. I went in to train my chest and back, but there was no barbells and I could easily press the heaviest dumbbells they had. So instead I:
-Picked exercise substitutes that closely resemble my regular routine
-Set a timer for 7 minutes
-Tested how many reps I could get total in that time frame
-Tried to beat that record the next time
This is my go-to template for movements that I can easily get 12 reps of. Sometimes I’ll also make it harder by using one hand/one leg (one armed/leg dumbbell deadlifts are way harder than they sound!) and if I have no equipment at all I’ll just do bodyweight stuff (100-200 real push ups in 7 minutes will challenge most mortals). It’s also pretty fun to try movements that are so totally foreign to my regular training.
No hotel gym? You can do bodyweight exercises using this template either in your hotel room or even outside. With a few creative choices I can usually do something similar to my normal workout with bands, my luggage, or just my body-weight.
Another option is this: just find a local gym. During World Cosplay Summit in Japan since there wasn't a hotel gym I bought day passes for Golds Gym so I had full access to all the equipment I was used to such as a squat rack, bench, chin up bar etc and I just continued my training as normal. This is my preferred travel training option, but it can get expensive and it's not always accessible.
So if you’re travelling just remember; you don’t have to abandon your training, not unless you want to anyway! If you want to know more about getting as ripped as a shonen anime protagonist check out my free training manual 'The Super Saiyan Six'
Have a nice day guys and always remember: Be More Shonen
Side note: Regarding the attached image, I cosplayed Sailor Scout Goku during one of these workouts at Otafest as I didn't have time to get changed twice before costume judging for C4. Standard!
Cosplay: Sailor Scout Goku (Dragonball X Sailor Moon crossover!)