Travel exercises with water weights

Exercising when travelling full-time can be a bit of a challenge. Sure, you can do bodyweight exercises for a while, but eventually, your body is going to adapt to that. So, before you plateau, or worse, gain weight, you’re going to need to shake it up a bit with more resistance. One of my favourite solutions is this routine of travel exercises with water weights.

I bought these water-filled dumbells the first year we started travelling. They weigh less than 1kg when empty. So, basically nothing. And when full they give me a resistance weight of 25kg. This is perfect for the little circuit routine I like to do. It leaves me feeling strong and keeps my muscle tone as I ‘mature’ in life 😉

My experience

For the first half of my life, I was a personal trainer. I even owned a chain of fitness studios way back when. So, I could create a routine with lots of different exercises but I tend to stick to my old favourites below. In my experience, they give a full-body workout, I don’t have to think about it too much, and I enjoy them. I hope you do too.

Please consult with your physician before doing these travel exercises with water weights. And if you have any injuries or health issues you will need their approval plus I recommend consulting with a qualified personal trainer to show you exactly how to complete the exercises. Otherwise, you run a risk of injuring yourself and that’s no fun when you’re travelling.

My favourite travel exercises with water weights circuit routine

Go through the circuit 3-5 times and repeat each exercise 10-25 repetitions depending on your fitness level and strength.

You can change the dumbbell weight to make them lighter by removing two of the weights. However, I find this slows me down. I like to get in and get my workouts done so I can enjoy the rest of my day.

Bicep Curls, Bench Press, Shoulder Press, Upright rows

Lunges, Squats, Deadlifts

Side Tilts, Crunches (with weight above chest), Plank and side planks

Always include abdominals!

Self-care when travelling

Self-care, when you are travelling, is equally as important as when you aren’t. In some cases, it’s more important because of the challenges you face on a regular basis as you step outside your comfort zone. One of the ways to care for yourself is to ensure you are getting the right amount of exercise.

If you’re lucky you might be staying at a place that has a gym or there’s a gym nearby but that’s not always the case. For those times when you don’t, this routine of travel exercises with water weights is ideal.

Always mix up your travel exercise

You can always increase or decrease the number of repetitions to adapt to your level of strength. Change the number of times you complete the circuit based on your fitness level. Mix it up with some yoga or pilates.

Sometimes I will visit a dojo and do some martial arts (good stress release). Add a nice balance of cardio and you’ll be able to keep your body strong, fit and flexible while travelling full-time.

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Where to get the water dumbbells

These water weights are available through Amazon and can be delivered almost anywhere in the world. The links supplied in this post are our affiliate links so we may earn a few dollars if you choose to click through and purchase. But you’ll pay nothing more and we don’t recommend them because of that.

We both love using these water weight dumbells because they are light to carry, are a decent weight when filled, and have endured five years of travelling use. So, these opinions are our own. Try them out and see what you think and we hope you like them as much as we do.

Love always and travel,

Tegan and Clark