How to stay fit on the road

As you know, we’re between seasons and checking off all our highly requested videos. This post is all about – how to stay fit on the road. We get this question often and we wanted to have a video resource and blog to update.

This video isn’t about what you *should* do, but rather what we do and how we do it. We offer some tips and suggestions for each level of fitness: Beginner, intermediate and advanced. RV life can make getting/staying fit harder or easier depending on your perspective, so focus on the benefits of having your kitchen with you all the time and find a way to incorporate the outdoors into a daily routine.

⚠️ Disclaimer

As we said in the video, we’re not fitness or nutrition experts. We are not credentialed. We’re only sharing what *we do* and our experience of how we approach fitness & nutrition while traveling. We are not making recommendations or saying this approach is correct. If you follow in our fitness footsteps, you should first validate the information with your own research and then see a doctor or actual expert to make sure it’s right for you.

Bodyweight Workout

Prior to leaving for Season 1, we were already doing mostly bodyweight workouts so the transition to fulltime travel and working out was not difficult. If you’re unfamiliar with bodyweight workouts, they include some of the following exercises:

• Situps/planks
• Push-ups
• Pull-up
• Lunges
• Squats
• Dips
• Step-ups (using a picnic table)
• Wall-sits
• Hamstring row
• Burpees

If you grab a workout app such as the Nike app, you can get endless ideas that all can be done without any equipment. With that being said, you can buy some kettlebells and incorporate more exercise for your shoulders and adding intensity to the workouts listed above.

⚠️ Important bodyweight workout tip: Some of the bodyweight exercises above can cause serious injury if not done properly. If you have not been trained on how to do a proper air squat or lunge, you’re probably doing it incorrectly. The correct form does not feel natural initially. Please find a reputable trainer to get instruction on your routine before starting. If now is the time and you don’t want to wait, focus on nutrition and long walks incorporating safe bodyweight exercises. Or watch YouTube videos on proper form.

???? Typical Workout

A typical KYD workout includes the following: Walk for .5 to 1 miles to warm-up followed by adequate stretching for 5 minutes. Then the core workout including:

This sample workout is 3 rounds increasing intensity each round separated by a run/walk.

• 10 step-ups using the picnic table
• 10 push-ups
• 10 squats
• 10 lunges
• .25 run/walk
• 15 step-ups
• 15 push-ups
• 15 squats
• 15 lunges
• .25 run/walk
• 20 step-ups
• 20 push-ups
• 20 squats
• 20 lunges
• .25 run/walk

This is just a sample workout. We would mix-up the exercises, duration and intensity depending on how much time we have and our location. If it was all lower body, we might do 30 squats, 30 lunges, 30 kettlebell hamstring row separated by longer and more intense runs.

All this worked well for the first year, but over time I started to lose muscle and needed something more. I was searching YouTube for how I could incorporate a pull-up bar into our trailer. Then I saw on Instagram the HitchFit. It’s exactly what I was looking for! There are two factors that make it perfect for RVing. First, it folds down securely and is durable. We’ve had the HitchFit since March and it’s been to Alaska and back on our hitch. Second, its mounted to the ground so it doesn’t rock the trailer when using it.

???? Book Recommendations

It’s the philosophy of KYD that what we think about most, shows up in our life. We find success with what we’re focused on. Our dreams started to accelerate when we turned off mainstream nonsense (TV, news, radio) and all the marketing messages that are designed to create stress and anxiety to warrant buying products. We replaced that form of entertainment with select YouTube channels, books, podcasts, and positive friends. If we succeed at what we’re focused on then our goal was to pay attention to things the things that matter. For us, that was location independent business, finances, fitness, family, faith and friends.

In the category of fitness, a great book is Younger Next Year. No matter what your age, there is something to learn from this book.

Before you buy the book on Amazon, consider an Audible membership. Not because Audible is an affiliate (really) and you’ll get your first book for free, but because reading/listening to 1-2 books each month will keep your goals and dreams top of mind! We are convinced that what we think about most shows up in our lives, so we think about our goals and dreams most!

We’ve been Audible members for the past 6 years or longer. If someone says a book is good, we click a button and a few days later, we’ve read it. Reading is the secret weapon in achieving dreams and staying positive.

???? Nutrition

We mentioned in the video, “There is no such thing as out-training a bad diet”. Maybe when we were younger, but at some point, our luck ran out! One of the great advantages of RV travel is having your kitchen with you at all times. You are not forced to eat out and finding quality grocery stores is simple. The key is being prepared. As we mentioned in the video 1) Buy the food 2) Prepare the food 3) Eat the food. Sounds so simple, but from personal experience, when I find myself snacking on the wrong food, it’s often because there were no other good options prepared.

One trick is to grill enough chicken for up to three days and cut it up into cubes and put into little baggies in the fridge. These make great protein snakes when in a hurry, great salad topping for lunch or dinner ingredients.

Having a plan

From personal experience, we need a plan. You’ve heard us say before, “Have a plan or you’ll fall into someone else’s. Their plan rarely aligns with your goals”. If moderation is not a strength of yours (it’s not for me) than abstinence might work better. Too often people make the decision to “eat better” which lacks a definition and habits take over. After failing in a few days, it can feel impossible and it’s easier to go back to not thinking about it. Rather, make the decision and define what “eating better” means. During season 1, we decided to not eat processed food, anything out of a package and give up sugar for 90 days. Giving up sugar in our coffee was hard, but not nearly as hard as not eating anything out of a package. Let’s face it, if it’s in a package, it’s easy. Yet, most packages have ingredients that can’t be pronounced. We decided that if we can’t pronounce it, we probably shouldn’t be eating it.

???? KETO

After Season 5 (Alaska) we were desperate to get back in shape. Yes, this is an excuse, but Alaska was a difficult environment to keep up with our life. During our trip, Tricia’s dad (61) and stepmom Mel called us to share their success with KETO and a Prolon fast. Based on the last section of needing a plan, we thought this was a good plan, we just needed to pick a time to start. We decided to have the Prolon Fast Kit sent to Seattle and we would start on September 16, the day after the KYD Insider meet-up. The fast is designed to provide all the essential nutrients over 5 days and help accelerate the transition to ketosis. If you’re unfamiliar with ketosis here is the laymen and unscientific explanation. Ketosis is a normal metabolic process, something your body does to keep working. When your body doesn’t have enough carbohydrates for fuel, it turns to fat to for energy. As part of this process, it makes ketones. 

It took us 3-4 days to get into Ketosis by using the Prolon fast. After the fast, we both lost about 8 pounds and then started a KETO diet using the book KETO for Life as a guide and to get recipes. Our fasting period and transition to KETO was fairly seamless, but it’s important to mention that we already cut out sugar from our diet and didn’t eat much processed food. Depending on how addicted you are to sugar and processed food/drinks the transition can be rough. There is something called the KETO flu that you should research prior to starting. In fact, if this is a plan you’d like to try, check out Dr. Eric Berg’s YouTube channel and learn as much as you can before starting. Don’t take our recommendation. We’re not experts!

⚠️ KETO Cautions

Bad KETO: First, there is something called “bad KETO” or “Dirty KETO”. This is because too many people misinterpret the diet as eating bacon and red meat. The idea behind KETO is that energy is coming from fat (65-75%), protein (15-30%) and then carbs (5-10%). Good fats include Coconut oil, Avocados and grass-fed butter etc. Be sure to get ALL the information on the diet before starting because there is a “clean KETO” way and that seems more like a long-term solution to having a plan when eating.

Exercising on KETO. Because your body is getting all its energy from fat (instead of glucose stored in your cells), you’ll easily be able to go on long walks or have plenty of energy for high-intensity intervals (sprints). But you’ll lack your anaerobic range. In other words, when you work out so hard you go from being able to carry a conversation to just focusing on breathing. That’s switching to anaerobic. As a result, I’ve had to switch my workout to compensate. Rather, I’ll do a high-intensity (sprint until I can’t and then walk until I can sprint) or lift at Anytime Fitness. Or just go for long walks in the morning or night.

Changing your perspective about FAT: One of the hardest things about KETO is changing how we look at fat. Once carbs are eliminated and the body is getting its fuel from fat, it needs a lot of it! This diet is 75% fat and it’s hard to get brain wrapped around that idea. Because the brain is made up of 80% fat, you’ll experience higher mental clarity, but it will hard to consume that much fat without a plan. A typical breakfast might include 2-3 eggs (5 grams of fat in each egg), some cheese and an avocado. Depending on the quantities, that will total 15-30 grams of fat, which is exactly what KETO calls for. By the way, we don’t eat breakfast until 11:30 because we’re not hungry on KETO. Once you do your research, you’ll learn about intermittent fasting which acceleratings your fat burning. This sounded impossible at first, but for us, it’s something that just happened after the first week or two.

???? Benefits of KETO

Geez, I really didn’t think I’d write this much on KETO. One of the benefits we experienced with it is the mental clarity. We had more energy and mental focus than ever before. A little bit of fat went a long way and we were rarely hungry. In fact, we had to remember to eat at 11:30 and around 7 pm or we might forget. Perhaps that’s why I thought this diet works so well for traveling. Because our schedules are so crazy with work, travel, kids and videos, it’s nice to not be thinking about food all the time or stop working just to eat.

You’re still reading?

We wanted to have a fitness blog with the video so we can make updates as try new programs and hear from you. What do you do to stay fit, on the road or otherwise? Add your comments and below (but due to spam, we have to approve the comment, which is why it takes some time to show up).

We mentioned our favorite health-related quote in the video: “People will their health have a thousand goals and those who don’t have only one”. Focusing on health, fitness and nutrition is difficult, but a key part of making our dreams happen. No matter what plan you choose, have a plan or you’ll fall into someone else’s.