Toronto Cleaning Tips

Staying in shape must be the #1 lifestyle problem facing most business travellers today.
I know that for me, eating right and working out used to be completely out of the question while on the road. And within a few weeks, I would lose all of the benefits that I had gotten from working so hard at the gym.

So I’ve put together a nice little travel system that you can use almost anywhere to get a nice, high-intensity, full upper-body workout.

In order for this to work, I would recommend you starting out the program at home, and making this part of your regular routine. This way, it won’t feel so awkward or improvised when you travel. Building a strong and consistent work-out habit is, in my opinion, the most important thing you can do for your health. Otherwise, there really isn’t any point in exercising.

Contrary to what the infomercials will tell you, there are no magic pills.

This program is based on the popular 5*4 system that so many fitness coaches talk about. Essentially, you do 5 sets of each of these 4 exercises, and you add one more rep to each set over time until you’re able to do 10*5 of each or more.

The goal is really to build STRENGTH rather than just MUSCLE. If you want to do a bodybuilding program at a later point in time, you would need a fully-stocked gym. Strength training is meant more to help you with your daily life, rather than simply packing on weight for aesthetic reasons.

I know that for myself, being a cleaner, I’m required to do a lot of physical labour, moving heavy objects around in odd manners. My regime is the only reason I can have any energy left at the end of a long day of office cleaning.

Exercise 1: Chin-Ups (Biceps) For this one, you’ll need a chin-up bar. I recommend this one. It’s very inexpensive, and fits inside any suitcase. It’s been a lifesaver for me on so many occasions.
In order to work out your biceps, you simply do the chin-ups with an nderhand grip.

Exercise 2: Chin-Ups (Back) Same as before, except with an overhand grip. This is amazing for the back muscles. After a few weeks of doing these, I began noticing much less strain on my back from moving heavy mops around.

Exercise 3: Dips (Triceps) If there’s one thing that hotels have, it’s CHAIRS. They seem to be everywhere, so you won’t have too much trouble finding 2 of these to work out with. Just place them about 2 feet apart, back to back, and do your dips using these chairs.
Be careful though, don’t let yourself fall down. This is a somewhat unstable piece of equipment.

Exercise 4: Push-Ups (Chest) The traditional push-up is a good exercise, but the straight up-and-down motion misses a lot of the minor muscles that help with your stability in handling oddly-distributed weight.
In order to avoid injury later on, I prefer something that hits the stabilizers and strengthens them.

A great way to do this is to carry a deflated basketball and a portable pump in your luggage. When you do your push-ups, place your feet up high on a chair and grip the basketball on the floor as you do the push-ups.

This greatly increases the resistance and benefit. Most people have trouble just doing 3.

Bonus 1: (Abs) There are dozens of great ab exercises out there. I’m a big fan of Billy Blanks. He has a lot of great impromptu exercises that really isolate the core.

Just don’t lie to yourself. You won’t see your abs until you get your body fat way down.

Bonus 2: (Cardio) A simple skipping rope is a great way to work out. It’s portable and fits easily in any suitcase. For a more intense workout, I’d recommend the Tae-Bo T3 workout system. All you need is a DVD and your laptop.

With everything I’ve described here, you should be able to get a really high-intensity workout anywhere you go. Whether you’re an accountant or a commercial cleaner, this will help a lot.