As a pilot and professional traveler, maintaining fitness while traveling comes with a host of challenges. When I leave the comforts of home my eating habits get disrupted, schedules skewed, and sleeping on a new bed each night can impact my sleep quality big time. I treat my body like a car and although sometimes I feel like a Volvo, keeping regular maintenance upkeep on myself has some huge benefits. Garbage in is garbage out. It’s the old saying “you are what you eat,” which has so much truth to it despite the cliche tone. In this article I’ll hit on my big 3 that help me stay healthy while having a vigorous travel schedule. 

The “Vref” Health Concept 

I developed a health concept years ago that has served me well called Vref in my pursuit of health and fitness. Vref is the nomenclature in aviation to describe the reference landing speed of an aircraft used to maintain its final approach speed. It’s the speed all pilots target and focus on when arriving to an airport. When weather is bad with rain, winds, and turbulent conditions, we still have to maintain that Vref speed to a safe landing. It’s the same for me in life. To maintain that speed which keeps me healthy and maximize my life I use Vref except I have created into an acronym:

Vref = R – Rest | E – Exercise | F – Food

Rest

Traveling between different time zones can be brutal on the body. It’s imperative for the body to heal and recoup from the previous day to rest and sleep somewhere between 7 and 8 hours a night. Doing so can be difficult when jet lagged. Try using a sound machine on your phone to create white noise to drown out hotel noises. Keep the room dark. Use the clip hanger from the closet, usually used to clip your pants, to clip the curtains to keep them closed. Take melatonin which is a hormone in your body that helps you sleep. When you wake up, open those curtains in your room to let natural sunlight in as natural light will help with resetting your circadian rhythm.

Exercise

Going to the gym may not be accessible to you while you’re traveling. Utilize the hotel gym and create basic dumbbell exercise routines for your traveling as almost all hotels will have a set of dumbbells. Avoid scheduling workout days on specific days of the week. Instead, use a floating scheduling that targets the number of days in a week instead. For example, instead of lifting on Mondays and Wednesdays, create a workout journal to mark lifting two days a week. This way it can be on any of the seven days of the week in case you are busy traveling on that Monday you are supposed to be lifting. Cardio may be difficult to do if the hotel does not have great equipment. At the least, force yourself to go on a walk after breakfast and dinner each day you are in the hotel.

Food

• Going from home cooked meals to having to eat out three to four times a day can have a negative impact on the body. Don’t fall into the trap of “convenience food”. Stay away from highly processed foods while you are traveling. My rule is that the closer to the factory my food is, the harder my body has to work to break down that food. The closer to sun, the easier my body processes and uses that food like a battery. For example, instead of protein bars and chips, I will eat an apple or banana and maybe some mixed nuts. Often times when I get to the hotel I immediately visit a grocery store and stock up on a few staple snack food items so that I avoid buying candy bars, protein bars, and chips to conveniently satiate my hunger cravings.

Conclusion

Vref is the landing speed for jets to maintain a safe margin to land. Vref can also be your target speed for life by making sure you get adequate rest, don’t neglect your exercise, and stay intensional about eating healthy and avoiding those foods that simply check a box to make you not feel hungry anymore. Stay healthy, maximize life, and enjoy the journey my friends.

Safe travels from the Nomad Pilot