Week of Workouts: PEI Hotel Edition
One of the things I look forward to the most when I travel is access to a different gym. Since I do all of my workouts at home, and my home gym is mostly barbell based, it’s nice to just have the excuse and the equipment to do something different. The hotel we stayed at (Hampton by Hilton) had all the usual equipment - treadmills, elliptical, recumbent bike, cable machine, kettlebells, medicine balls, dumbbells - that I expect from a hotel gym, but also a stair climber (which I unfortunately couldn’t turn on… I love stairs), and the dumbbells went up to a meaty 75lbs, rather than just the usual 50lbs. Next trip where I have access to a gym, I might bring a bit of chalk with me for better grip on the dumbbells, since they take up very little space and once I’m done, it won’t take up any more space in my bags.
The gym was open from 6am to 11pm, and I chose to do my workouts at aroung 6:30am. I only had to share the space with people 3-4 times, and usually those people would enter around 7-7:30am. I also saw people working in the evenings and around 9am, so future me will probably continue with 6am workouts.
Workout schedule
With the exception of the first workout, which was an adapted version of my current program, all the workouts are full body - some type of squat, hinge or lunge movement, followed by some press movements, some pull movements and finally some vanity movements - tricep/ bicep/ delt work. I tried to mix it up with some unilateral work, since I don’t do as much of those as I should in my regular program.
Unfortunately, Hugo won’t let me have checkboxes in a table, so we’re just going to have to use emojis instead.
Thursday (Sept 8)
| Name | Sets | Reps | Weight | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ✔️ | Single arm bench supported row | 3 | 12 | 30lbs |
| ✔️ | Incline chest press | 4 | 12 | 30lbs/ each |
| ✔️ | Single arm cable pulldown | 4 | 12 | 45lbs |
| ✔️ | Lateral raise | 2 | 15 | 15lbs/ each |
| ✔️ | Single arm tricep pushdown | 4 | 12 | 35lbs |
| ✔️ | Bicep curls | 3 | 12 | 20 - 25lbs/ each |
Friday (Sept 9)
| Name | Sets | Reps | Weight | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ✔️ | Kettlebell swings | 3 | 12 | 35lbs |
| ✔️ | Goblet squat (single DB) | 3 | 12 | 50lbs |
| ✔️ | Romanian deadlift | 3 | 12 | 50lbs/ each |
| ✔️ | Step ups | 3 | 12 | 15lbs/ each |
| ✔️ | Farmer carries | 3 | back/forth room | 50lbs/ each |
Monday (Sept 12)
| Name | Reps | Sets | Weight | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ✔️ | Kettlebell swings | 3 | 12 | 35lbs |
| ✔️ | Goblet squat (single DB) | 3 | 12 | 75lbs |
| ✔️ | B-stance Romanian deadlift | 3 | 12 | 40lbs/ each |
| ✔️ | Chest press | 3 | 15 | 30lbs/ each |
| ✔️ | Cable chest flyes | 4 | 12 | 25lbs/ each |
| ✔️ | Single arm cable pulldown | 3 | 12 | 45lbs |
| ✔️ | Tricep rope pushdown | 4 | 12 | 60lbs |
| ✔️ | Seated incline bicep curls | 3 | 10 | 15lbs/ each |
Wednesday (Sept 14)
| Name | Reps | Sets | Weight | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ✔️ | Kettlebell swings | 3 | 12 | 35lbs |
| ✔️ | Lunges | 3 | back/forth room | 40lbs/ each |
| ✔️ | Step ups | 3 | 12 | 15lbs/ each |
| ✔️ | Standing calf raises | 3 | 12 | 40lbs |
| ✔️ | Single arm kneeling Arnold press | 3 | 12 | 20lbs |
| ✔️ | Single arm bench supported row | 3 | 12 | 40lbs |
| ✔️ | Front raise | 2 | 15 | 15lbs/ each |
| ✔️ | Face pulls | 3 | 12 | 60lbs |
Thursday (Sept 15)
| Name | Reps | Sets | Weight | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ✔️ | Kettlebell swings | 3 | 12 | 35lbs |
| ✔️ | Squats (DBs on shoulders) | 3 | 12 | 35lbs/ each |
| ✔️ | Romanian deadlift | 3 | 12 | 55lbs |
| ✔️ | Incline chest press | 3 | 12 | 30lbs/ each |
| ✔️ | Kneeling single arm cable row | 4 | 12 | 60 lbs |
| ✔️ | Lateral raise | 2 | 15 | 10lbs/ each |
| ✔️ | Single arm tricep pushdown | 3 | 12 | 35lbs |
| ✔️ | Bicep curls | 3 | 12 | 25lbs/ each |
Workout outfits
I originally only planned on wearing the loose shorts, cropped tank, cropped tshirt, Knix bra and longline bra as workout clothes. The plan would be to wear them for the day before, then put them back on in the morning for a workout before washing them in the shower (which takes between a day and two days to dry fully). However, we ended up at an Old Navy near the hotel and they had some items on clearance, plus I was able to use a coupon I had… so I ended up buying the run shorts, another pair of loose shorts and another longline bra for about $5 apiece.
The loose shorts and longline bra work great in casual settings, but take 2 days to dry. The tank top and run shorts dried quickly, but didn’t work as well in non-exercise settings (they work at the beach though!) I will need to continue optimizing my workout related packing setup. I originally packed a pair of swim/ workout/ casual shorts which dried quickly, but had absolutely no stretch and would not have worked at all.
I also chose to do my last workout on Thursday rather than the Friday we flew out, as I originally planned - as I realized that carrying around a pile of dirty, sweaty laundry was probably not a great plan.
Links to the items
- Old Navy UltraLite All-Day Performance Crop Tank Top for Women: soft, dries quickly, surprisingly does not show dark sports bra underneath under ceiling lights.
- Old Navy Mid-Rise StretchTech Dolphin-Hem Run Shorts for Women – 3-inch inseam: dries quickly, light stretch, leg openings are nice and wide and not restrictive. Has inner underwear style liner. Wish it had pockets.
- Old Navy Light Support PowerSoft Longline Sports Bra for Women: soft, very light support, if you have a larger chest size then this might be a bit revealing at the sides. Double layer (due to inner bra support) means it takes longer to dry as well. Works great as a casual top otherwise.
- Old Navy High-Waisted PowerSoft Loose Shorts for Women – 3-inch inseam: soft, dries decently quickly (only the waistband takes a while).
- Old Navy PowerSoft Cropped Short-Sleeve Top for Women: soft, dries fairly quickly, cute back detail. I bought a size up to have it more loose-fitting, but it seems to be meant to be more figure-hugging.
- Knix Catalyst Sports Bra: good support, probably better for cardio. For some reason there are these weird plasticky stubbly bits sticking out the side of the cup under the arms, and irritates my sideboob and arms. And the straps kept coming loose in the middle of a workout. However, it does dry fairly quickly and is smooth under clothing, which makes it attractive for a daily wear bra as well.
- Vessi Everyday Move: it may be waterproof but it’s definitely not mudproof. Works fine for workouts (no running), and keeps my feet dry in puddles. Comfortable enough for a full day of walking.
- Puma Women’s Athletic Sock, 12-pack: dries in ~2 days, does hold onto smell more than if I had merino socks, but pretty durable so no complaints.
- KnixTeen Leakproof Underwear: dries quickly other than the pad area. The ones I have from 2018 are starting to peel where the pad area is attached, but the newer ones aren’t as affected. It does smell after a day, despite the advertising.