A Flight Attendant’s Five-Step Guide To Staying Fit While Constantly Travelling

Instagram: @theflyingfitfoodie

Keeping up a fitness routine and eating well can be hard at the best of times, but if you're constantly travelling, it can feel impossible.

Lack of suitcase space, frequent in-flight meals, and all of the sugary, fizzy and alcoholic treats in Duty Free are more than enough reason to throw diet and exercise out the window.

However, Sophie Jones, a flight attendant for a big international airline, might just have the answer for staying fit while travelling.

??Good morning from Chicago! It was such a beautiful day here today so took my training outside, taking the scenic route alongside Lake Michigan. I'm not really a runner so I broke my run up to mix things up and to incorporate some HIIT too ✅ ?I split my run into two parts. My first half was a warm up for 2km, just running at my own comfortable pace. The second half I mixed things up with some intervals. ?First was 8 x 30 seconds running with 30 seconds jogging ?Next was 8 x 30 seconds of sprints with 30 seconds walking ?‍♀️I find this helps me cover more distance as I tend to get bored running! It also increases my heart rate, and turns running into more of a challenging fat burning exercise! It was also made much harder by having a crazy strong head wind! ??? #thewindycity #chicago #lakemichigan #runchicago #hiit #chicagofitness #intervaltraining #fitcabincrew #fitflightattendant

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Last January, the 26-year-old launched her Instagram account @theflyingfitfoodie as a way of documenting her travels as a long-haul flight attendant, jetting between the likes of the US and South Africa each week, and keeping her friends and family up-to-date with her favourite restaurants, cafes, and workout destinations around the world.

"I started the account as a way of keeping myself motivated to workout and eat well while travelling. I never expected it to be popular," Jones says, having since amassed over 10,000 followers.

Having completed a year of shorter-haul trips and with a career of long-haul looming, Jones soon realised that maintaining a healthy fitness regime across so many different time zones was going to be a complicated affair.

"When you start flying, it's quite common to gain weight due to sheer exhaustion. A lot of cabin crew go out drinking, eat plane food, order room service and stay in their rooms watching Netflix because the easy options are so tempting when you're tired and can't be bothered researching new restaurants when you land.

"Quite early on in my job, I got the idea in my head that I didn't want it having a negative impact on my life and health,' she admits.

As a result, Sophie fits in between four to five workouts a week, with a range of HIIT training, weights and yoga, into her busy schedule to maintain her fitness.

Here, we find out Sophie's top tips to staying fit and healthy while travelling:

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3. Research classes in different cities

“I always try to see if there’s a yoga or HIIT class in the city I’m landing in, as a way of winding down after a flight.

I recently went to a class called Sweat 1000 in Cape Town, South Africa, which is a 60-minute class cardio and strength training. You have to be pretty fit to do the class but I’ve found by trying different workouts across the world, I’ve been able to pick up certain tips, exercises and techniques, and incorporate them into my own workouts.

As I don’t have a permanent gym membership or workout space, I create my own workouts that can be done anywhere and at anytime, but I’ve found some incredible places around the world to try out new classes.

?? “Every day is a challenge” I felt exactly like this for the last few days, with very little sleep I have been feeling pretty drained. Flying can really take it out of you, yesterday before my flight here to Austin I felt so fatigued that I basically cried because the person in front of me took my coffee. At this point I realised I needed to take some time for myself on this trip; I hadn’t been able to get to the gym or do any exercise for nearly a week. So I kicked off today with an early morning workout, making the most of of my let lag and a 24 hour gym. Today was legs and Tabata. Starting off with a 5 minute warm up followed by: X10 plank leg raises using a Swiss Ball – I use these to help activate the glutes ? X16 Walking lunges X12 Goblet Squats X20 Curtsy Lunges X4 rounds and a minute rest between each round. * I finished off with 20 mins of Tabata (20secs of high intensity followed by 10 secs rest) X4 exercises repeated twice in one round. With 1 minute rest between rounds. #tabata #legday #hiit #austin #texas

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I’d recommend anyone visiting Cape Town to do a hike up Lion’s Head Mountain. The top bit is a bit of a climb so whether you want to run or walk to the top is up to you, but it’s worth the view and won’t cost you a penny.

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Elsewhere, in Bali there’s a yoga site in Canggu called The Practice, where the walls of the studio are completely open. The classes are held in huge straw roof huts and you can be practicing while the rain crashes down outside right in front of you. I’ve done a sunrise class which starts in the dark and ends in the light and it’s truly amazing.

Whether it’s a short break or a holiday, use travelling as an opportunity to find some of the world’s most challenging, new and exciting workouts.”

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