Workout on Plane: 101 Ways to Move your Muscles during In-flight

Workout on the plane, especially during the long hours of travel, is highly advisable to consider for every traveler. Why? Because it can prevent the body of the traveler from having a deep vein thrombosis – a condition in which blood clot develops in a deep vein.

Workout on the plane consists of various movements to exercise the muscles in your thighs and legs. By doing most of the actions it enables the blood flow in the body while on travel.

But how do we know if we need exercise during travel? Workout on the plane should be a choice if you are going to travel more than four hours of sitting. Well, this is not only on a flight, but you will need to move your body in any given situation of sitting for more than four hours.

According to the study, some individuals experience deep vein thrombosis after several travels of more than four hours without making some movement or exercise. Therefore, medical expert advice that workout during a trip is essential to keep the blood flowing regularly.

Yes, there are several sets of exercises that you can do when you are on travel. What we have here are workouts for long-haul flights to keep your muscles moving. These workouts are simple and easy to perform while on board. Just make sure that you will do this when the seatbelt sign is off. It is essential and should not take it lightly. However, you can still do a workout if you are sitting.

If you are uncomfortable during long hours of flights sitting and doing nothing, well, you can do sets of workout on a plane to move your muscles. When we say exercise, running and walking are not only our options. Exercise on aircraft can also be performed while sitting, and you will not regret this.

Go for the stretch!

While sitting, the muscles that need to give workout are neck, shoulders and back. But how? Don’t be sketchy. Exercise on a plane for your neck, shoulders and back is stretching, and there is no excellent workout but this. By following the easy step on how to extend these parts of your body should make your travel more productive and enjoyable.

How to stretch neck:

1. Tilt your head forward and backward as long as it never hurts your neck. Do this slowly.
2. Then, put your hand on your forehead while tilting your neck backwards.
3. Press it gently and firmly, then move your head forward. Make sure there is resistance between your hand and head to put some pressure on your neck.
4. Afterwards, you can tilt your head right to left and vice versa.
5. You can add some resistance and pressure to your neck by placing your hand against your face and opposite sider you are leaning into.

How to stretch shoulders:

1. Move your shoulders upwards and downwards.
2. Then roll backward and forward to relax.
3. After that, move your shoulders in a circular motion.

It will release the tension build up in your shoulder muscles.

How to stretch your back

1. Bend your body to the point that your chest can touch the top of your thighs.
2. Hold this position for a few seconds.
3. Then you can return to your sitting position.

Power movements

It doesn’t mean that when you are sitting, you don’t need your strength. Workout on a plane needs to have strength while on board. Movements on how to maintain the power of our muscles while sitting are essential, especially when you are on long hours of travel. So we gather some easy exercises for your chest, bicep, thighs and glute. Just take note of the difference before and after you perform the workout on a plane.

How to strengthen your chest:

1. Make your body sitting up straight position.
2. Then hold something on top of your head.
3. Pull the object down towards your knees. Make sure you create tension with your chest muscles. It will also exercise the flexibility of your chest muscles.

How to strengthen your biceps:

1. You don’t have dumbbells to create resistance. So we suggest you need to make a fist. But if you have a water bottle, you may hold it and pretend it a dumbbell.
2. Then make sure your elbows are at your waist.
3. After that, begin to bring your hand up toward your shoulder.
4. Create some resistance to yourself to put pressure on your biceps.

How to strengthen your thighs and glutes:

1. The secret to strengthening your thighs and glutes as your workout on a plane is squeezing.
2. Make the right squeeze by placing your fist in between your knees.
3. Then squeeze the thighs together for five seconds.
4. After that, you can release it. But make sure you engage the inner thigh muscles.
5. For glutes, while placing a fist to your knees, tighten your rear muscles.

It will also make your sitting position more comfortable throughout the flight.

When the seatbelt sign is off…

So when the seatbelt sign is off, this is the most awaited time of passengers. At this point, you can walk at the aisle of the plane and do some break from sitting. Also, this is the free time that you can stand and perform some workout on a flight.

When you are in the lavatory, you can make some lunges. Frontward and backward moving, lunges can make your blood flowing.

Then you can do squats. Workout on a plane with squats will need some room to perform. So we suggest that wait for the perfect timing like if the person sitting beside you is gone for a washroom, you can do this. Or while you are waiting for the lavatory, you can do this as well.

Our Insights

Performing workout on a plane during long hauls of travels is undoubtedly enjoyable and makes your flight more productive. But before doing these exercises, make sure you will not disturb the person beside you or the individuals to your row.

Workout on a plane is an achievement because you will prevent your body from gaining deep vein thrombosis. It is one of the health benefits of doing a workout on a plane.