Here’s a paradox about full-time RV travel. Let’s call it the RV Exercise Paradox.
If you camp for a short period of time, you probably spend a LOT of time outdoors getting exercise. You go to your campsite, set up camp, and explore your surroundings with gusto.
But if you camp a long period of time, you may actually spend less time exercising on a daily basis. Why? The reasons are varied.
First of all, familiarity breeds contempt. While that phrase seems a little extreme in this context, it’s true that the more familiar you become with your surroundings, the less likely you are to explore them.
It kind of works this way with food. Lobster every once in a while is a treat. But what if you have lobster every day? How about lobster three meals a day? Pretty soon you’ll be begging for a taste of peanut butter.
In other words, the more accustomed you become to being at a campground or park, the less “gung ho” you are about any particular park. It’s just another place to park your rig.
Secondly, if you camp all the time, that means in bad weather as well as good. Inclement weather means you’ll be spending lots of time nestled inside your RV cocoon. While nestling can be a quite satisfying activity, it doesn’t burn a lot of calories.
Finally, there are some space and amenity compromises in most RVs. In our Airstream, we can’t exactly do jumping jacks in the living room. While theoretically possible, I’d probably whack my head on the ceiling and require medical treatment.
So what’s the solution for the RV Exercise Paradox? Have a plan, and stick to it.
When Kristy and I take to the road for an extended journey, we now strive to at least take long walks on a daily basis. While this doesn’t solve the inclement weather problem, at least it gets us outside.
If you have a larger RV, then maybe you can do Wii Fit or a similar indoor exercise program.
Either way, be aware that RV travel by itself doesn’t guarantee a fit lifestyle. That’s up to you!
Sean,
How’s it going with the Wii Fit? I started on P90X five weeks ago and have lost 12 pounds and 5% body fat. I think this might be a great fit for RVers since all the resistance training can be done with lightweight portable elastic bands.
Here’s my a link to my P90X blog – http://xtreme90days.com/
Let me know if you’re interested in trying.
-Scott
Hi Scott,
Funny you should ask! We still have Wii Fit and like it (and we don’t use it hardly enough).
But we just found another exercise outlet that I’m optimistic will really help us stay in better shape throughout the year. We joined a gym! We just joined Anytime Fitness. The concept is ideal for anyone who travels a lot. We are really committing to it this spring.
In a nutshell, you join at your local Anytime Fitness gym ($40 a month for one person, $55 for a couple), and use it just like you would any gym membership. It’s open 24/7! So you can literally workout anytime you want. And here’s the really good part: when you sign up, you get an electronic key that gives you access to any location throughout the world. They are all over the United States, and are also proliferating overseas.
From our standpoint, this means that when we stop to “Walmart camp” in the middle of some faraway state, we’ll have a local gym membership that we can use no matter what time we arrive! I think this will make a big difference for us when we are on the road.
Our local gym has a copy of the P90X DVD program that we can use. I will check it out. After your post, I spoke with a trainer there about P90X , and she said it’s a very effective program.
Congrats on your progress, and I will check out your blog. Keep up the good work!
Sean