Airplane Workout - Tone & Relax While Traveling

You've drunk your glass of Emergen-C, have plenty of water to fend off dehydration, and doused your hands with sanitizer at every opportunity; so far, you're feeling pretty good about your immunity levels while traveling on the airplane. But now that you've eaten you're feeling bloated, you're tired but can't sleep, "twitchy leg syndrome" has kicked in and every time there's turbulence your stress level skyrockets. And to make matters worse, you have three more hours to go.

Fortunately, celebrity fitness trainer Mike Donavanik has formulated a workout that can be done while on the plane. These three moves help minimize discomfort, will get you to relax (which may help you get some sleep) and can definitely keep you loose, limber and healthy during the trip.

Neck Stretch
Stretching may seem simple, but it's a great way to keep yourself limber and relaxed while traveling. Here are Donavanik's tips:

•Bring your right hand to your left ear. As you exhale, slowly pull your head to your right shoulder while reaching your left arm to the floor.

•Hold for 30-60 seconds, then switch sides; repeat 2-3 times each side.

Abdominal Breathing
Laying in the aisle for ab crunches is both creepy and unsanitary. While you won't get a six pack from the following instructions, conscious breathing will work on toning your core and help you chill out. Donavanik suggests:

•Sitting down comfortably with a straight spine, slowly take a deep inhale through your nose; as you inhale, have your stomach expand. Slowly exhale through your mouth and have your stomach collapse while tightening your tummy to push out the air.

•Consciously breathe this way for 5-10 minutes; repeat as necessary.

•This type of breathing will allow you to breathe deeper, which gets more oxygen in with each breath. This type of breathing will also produce a calming effect and help reduce anxiety.

Squat to Reach
It's important to keep the blood flowing through your leg muscles, especially on long flights. This can help stop that twitchy feeling in your legs, while giving you a nice workout. You don't even need weights like the guy in this picture. Donavanik offers the following:

•Head to the back of the plane where you have more space. Stand with feet shoulder width apart, hands at chest level, and descend into a deep squat. As you ascend from the squat, stand all the way up onto your toes and reach your hands up towards the sky. Slowly lower your heels to the ground, bring your hands back down to chest level, and repeat.

•Perform 15-20 reps; repeat 2-3 sets.

•This will allow you to get blood moving throughout your entire body.

Mike Donavanik is the creator of Extreme Burn: Total Body Interval Training DVD. It's a six-week full body program, consisting for three workouts designed to dramatically drop pounds and enhance muscular performance. Each routine is jam-packed with dynamic compound strength moves and intense bursts of cardio that will fire up the metabolism, quickly shed unwanted fat, and build lean muscle to deliver maximum results. It's available for $19.95 on mikedfitness.com. Check out the trailer below.