The hotel-room workout you never thought of doing

Got a chair? Then you’ve got a squat… Here’s how to use your furniture to work up a sweat

A late night client dinner followed by an early morning meeting doesn’t leave much time to hit the gym. Travelling, for work or leisure, can put a spanner in the works when it comes to your workout routine, making it easy for exercise to fall by the wayside.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could get in a sweat session without actually leaving your room? Well, you can. We spoke to leading personal trainer Kristy Curtis to get the low down on how to utilise your hotel room for more than just a good night’s sleep and the mini bar.

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All you’ll need is a chair (or sofa), a bed and a wall, and if you want to make it harder, pack a resistance band in your luggage to up the ante. As always, be careful, especially when using furniture not designed for exercise.

Let’s get started
1. Chair squats - Take your feet hip-width apart and your toes slightly turned outwards. Keep your chest lifted as you squat backwards until your bottom lightly touches the seat of the chair, driving through your heels as you come up. Reps: 15

2. Bulgarian split squats - Stand facing away from a chair, bending one leg to take it behind you - balancing the tips of your toes on the chair. Take the other leg on the floor in front of you and ensure you are standing a good distance away from the sofa. Squat down and drive through your front heel for balance. Try to get as low as possible before making your way back up and repeat. Reps: 15 on each leg

3. Single leg glute bridges - Lying on your back with a chair at your feet, take one leg and place your foot on the chair while your other leg remains on the ground (knee bent, foot flat on the floor). Lift your hips up into the air squeezing through your glutes and hamstrings at the same time. Lower back to start position and repeat. Reps: 15 on each leg

4. Step ups - Ensuring the height of the chair is not too high, take one foot onto the chair and step up, before carefully stepping down again and repeat. Reps: 15 on each leg

5. Incline push-ups – Facing the bed, keep your feet on the floor and take both hands outside of your shoulders on the edge of the mattress. Lower yourself down until your chest is in line with your elbows. Push back up to start position. Reps: 15

6. Wall sit - Choose a wall that will hold your weight, then lean against it and walk your feet outwards, lowering down until your knees are bent at 90 degrees and your bottom is in line with your knees (like you’re sitting in a chair, with your back against the wall). Keep both shoulders against the wall and look straight ahead. Hold for one minute.

7. One arm luggage rows - If you have a small suitcase available, try standing with your feet hip-width apart and bending forward from the hips, ‘rowing’ the suitcase up and down with one arm by pulling your elbow behind you. Reps: 15 on each arm

There you go, an effective workout for when you don’t have time to leave your room. If you do fancy getting down to the gym, Crown Hotels have premier gym facilities in both Melbourne and Perth, with personal training services to really get the most out of your workout.

To book a session, contact the team in Melbourne on 03 9292 6182 and the team in Perth on 08 9362 8533.