What do you guys do to stay healthy?

[dojetdriver]

I think it all boils down to two things, stay active and eat as healty as possible. Albeit, with this job it can be a total beyotch. In the airport if you go to McDonalds's, Wendy's, Burger King, whatever, get the grilled chicken sandwhiches, not the alleged beef.

Try to at least walk some on the overnights, if you have the time. On your days off try to excercise as well. It can be a total pain, but do it.

 

[HMR]

What do you guys do to stay healthy/keep your medical? Any of you take supplements or anything? I assume exercise. How do you eat somewhat healthy on the road?

Good question. Even when I flew charter 25+ days/month I managed to stay in good shape. My schedule's much easier now. I do a hard cardio/conditioning workout 2hrs/day, 5days/wk. I train in wrestling/martial arts. Up until 3 years ago I competed regularly (being knocked out every now and then was bad for the medical cert.).

On the road I always bring my running shoes and surftrunks. If the hotel has a nice lap pool (The Hilton in downtown SLC, for example) I'll swim laps. No pool, I'll run. If the weather's bad I'll do my indoor workout. Even if you're trapped in your hotel room you can make a great "gym" using just the chair and bed (squats, dips, elevated push-ups, sit-ups, reverse sit-ups...). You can blast your arms, legs and abs in 20 minutes. Each day has 72, twenty-minute intervals. You need to set aside at least one for exercise. Even charter/Frac guys can do that! For some innovative workout ideas click here .

For diet: Start looking at food as fuel and not a source of "comfort". Go to the grocery store and fill up a paper bag with fruits, veggies and a bottle of water. During the flight, set it between the seats and grab a snack whenever you feel like it. I'm munching on a bowl of raw baby spinach right now. Once you get out of the chips and candy mindset, the hippy food actually tastes pretty good. I have a PT135 buddy who's a vegetarian. He travels with a blender and a bunch of healthy supplements in his backpack. I'll tell you what: after a 14hr duty day he's much more pleasant (and better smelling) than a guy who's been chugging coffee and Snickers bars all day.

I always carry a few protein/meal replacement drinks (available at GNC) in my bag along with some quality multi-vitamins&minerals. I also drink lots of water, no coffee and haven't had a soft drink for a month.

 

[steveg]

Sex and Gin.

 

[snowman]

OH, I run.... I run to the fridge for beer. I run to chipotle for a burrito, I run to check the weather, I run to the store for more tortilla chips... Yeah, I run like hell....

 

[aeronautic1]

Yup

Dollar menu at Mickey D's

 

[secks]

I read flightinfo.com, benchpress cars, eat babies, and wrestle grizzly bears.

 

[B-J-J Fighter]

I worked a 50 hour plus per week job until I got in flying full time about a month ago. I was lucky to get 2 workouts a week with my old job. I tried to workout more but it just wasn't possible. I gained 15 or 20 pounds in a little more than a yr that I worked at that job. I always use to keep myself in great shape until I worked a desk job. Now I'm flying again and have much more time to workoout, wrestle and do BJJ hence the name. I hate running/cardio so I use wrestling and Bjj for my cardio. I try to hit every body part at least once a week again. As for diet I like doing low carb but not Atkins. I bring my own food with me in my book bag. I just turned 29 and I hope to get back into the same shape I was at 22 when I wrestled in college. I'm not sure if I have the time or motivation to do it now because wrestling in college is more of a way of life. We worked out twice a day, 2 hours each time when we didn't have a match. I hate not being in shape.

 

[HMR]

B-J-J, I had to take almost 4 years off from training BJJ. It was really hard getting started again. There are a lot of muscles I forgot about. After 2 months of training 4-5X week I was able to get through warm up and spar a little. Now I'm feeling strong again. I don't know if I'll ever get back to where I was but I sure feel good. Glad to hear you're back at it. Congrats on the job!

 

[B-J-J Fighter]

HMR, where or who do you train with? You are correct there are a lot of muscles you use for BJJ-wrestling that you forget about and just don't hit at the gym. Neck mucles, obligues, etc.

 

[secks]

BJJ is basically martial arts wrestling, correct? Also, you worked out 2 hours twice a day? When I powerlifted in college, I never trained for more than 2 hours in a single day for fear of overtraining. Did you find that overtraining wasn't an issue in wrestling?