Top 5 ways to stay fit on the road

By Samantha Chapnick

Exercise equipment at the Hotel Palomar.

When your Wii Fit accuses you of borderline obesity it’s time to revisit your fitness routine. These are my top five ways to stay fit while I travel (or, according to my WiiFit, need to get back into shape).

1. Stay at a no-excuses hotel. It’s oh-so-easy to create reasons not to work out, the first step is choosing a hotel that makes it easier, NOT harder, to work out. Here are some examples:

Fairmont Hotels allow guests to order complimentary Adidas workout wear to use during their stay. The Affinia in New York has a Sneaker Valet who will wash and store your workout clothes for free. EXCUSE ELIMINATED: I don’t have anything to work out in.

Check that the hotel gym is easily accessible, not under construction, and free. EXCUSE ELIMINATED: I couldn’t access the gym.

Stay at a hotel that will put exercise equipment in yourroom. EXCUSE ELIMINATED: Gym was too far, too public, too whatever. The Affinia in New York has a 675-sq-foot Fitness Suite equipped with cardio equipment, free weights and private sauna; The Hotel Palomar in Washington, D.C. has a similar set up (no sauna). The Times Square Westin has set aside rooms with treadmills or cycles and exercise balls, hand weights, and workout DVDs. Interesting side note: The hotel will give guests, upon request, a pedometer and pocket-sized maps of three- and five-mile loops from the hotel. Those showing over 10,000 steps receive a complimentary upgrade to a WestinWORKOUT room for a subsequent stay.

Hotel Monaco Seattle

2. Get a great jogging buddy.

City Running Tours takes clients on pre-set running trails or will custom design one around the client’s sightseeing interests. The guide brings a bottle of water and a camera to take photos upon request (images sent immediately upon completion of run). On occasion, they will even conduct free tours like the recent one through Harlem.

Guests of the Hotel Monaco Seattle get a free jogging tour from the assistant general manager herself. Twice a week, guests join her for a 4-mile run along the Seattle waterfront and through the Olympic Sculpture Park-and a stop at the original Starbucks. (The hotel buys your coffee.)

3. Take your trainer with you. It’s like guilt to go.

Savvy personal trainers are providing clients who travel with videos of routines and exercises to load on iPhones or iPods. For example, Pete Kupprion of JF Gymnastique creates “Workout onthe Go” packages for any clients.

Make it Fit provides streaming videos and downloadable podcasts. The emphasis is on working out in small spaces with little or no equipment.

4. Borrow a bike. Many municipalities and hotels are offering free bike rentals. They’re easy, fast and offer a great way to see a city.

The Park Hyatt Chicago offers guests complimentary bicycles, biking map and water.

5. Play the Wii. Most major hotels are adding the Wii to their amenity list. Westin, Marriott and Doubletree are slowly but surely rolling them out in their biggest-revenue hotels. Other smaller hotels are getting in on the game in creative ways. Le Parker Meridien in NYC has a novel way to use the Wii: it’s projected on a 20-foot wall with surround sound, or you can have a one-on-one personal training session using the Wii.