Spring break, Memorial Day weekend and summer vacation season are all fast approaching. Whether you're traveling for business or pleasure, it's important to keep active when you're on the road.

Staying active while traveling not only wards off unwanted road-warrior weight gain, it can help manage the stress you might feel from the change in your routine, it will keep you energized so you can see all the sights (or attend all the business meetings ... blech), it will help you get a good night's sleep and it may even help keep your digestive tract regular while it's managing all those away-from-home meals.

Luckily, staying fit while on the go isn't as difficult as it might seem. Some tips:

• Choose your hotel wisely. Call around and pick a hotel that has adequate fitness facilities. A pool and a well-equipped fitness room will make your workouts convenient and easy.
• Walk it out. Pack some comfortable clothes and a pair of walking shoes. If the area outside the door of your hotel isn't ideal for walking, just ask the front desk staff for suggestions. They may have great ideas for interesting neighborhoods, parks or rail trails just waiting for you to explore. You can also use "Prevention's" walking tools to map out a route ahead of time.
• Pack some portable fitness. There are lots of fitness tools you can pack that don't take up too much room in your suitcase. Try a jump rope, resistance bands, yoga pose flash cards, AquaBells® or sliding discs.
• Be a day tripper. If your hotel doesn't have a fitness center, call around to area gyms and see if they have a day pass. And many national chain gyms (such as Gold's Gym and Bally's) let members work out at any of their fitness facilities.
• Choose active outings. Look for active attractions while you're on the road. Fitz has some great ideas for fit vacations.

What are your tips for staying fit while traveling?

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I used to travel for work; often for three weeks out of the month if not more. I've stayed in my fair share of dives (in fact, there was one place in Texas where you had to request the "big room" otherwise you couldn't open the bathroom door without standing on the bed and jumping in). But even in the nicer hotels, fitness wasn't usually high on their list of comforts.

But my traveling days were several years ago; today, hotels are putting more emphasis on fitness equipment and making work outs easier for their guests. Some hotels are even adding to the standard weight machines and having Pilates and other classes conducted on site. The Kimpton hotel chain supplies guests with yoga mats and equipment; a channel on their in-room TV allows them to follow a yoga routine.

If you're traveling this summer and aren't sure your hotel room will be quite so well-equipped, consider throwing a jump rope in your suitcase. It hardly takes up any room at all and provides an excellent aerobic workout.

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A few months back I went to a place I like to call "Man Heaven" and wrote a few articles about it. Man Heaven is also known as ESPN: The Weekend at the Disney Hollywood Studios in Florida. The event was jam packed with dozens and dozens of your sports lovers' heroes from today and yesteryear. Football, basketball, baseball, tennis, hockey and golf stars flooded the theme park with ample opportunity for each Disney guest to get up close and personal with the athletic love of their life.

Of course, there were also a ton of female fans decked out in their team jerseys, but truly....this event was for boys. Young boys, elderly boys, and every boy in between. I saw big groups of men in coordinating jerseys riding the tram to the park, and then I saw tons of father/son duos shooting baskets with their favorite hoops star.

The event isn't until early next March, so you'll have plenty of time to book your air, hotel, and ticket reservations. He'll have lots of time to squirm with anticipation for the big event. Trust me.....if your guy loves sports, he will love ESPN: The Weekend and love you even more for sending him to it.

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Do you have any great vacations planned for this summer? Along with a friend's family, my son and I are renting a cabin in what I deem as the prettiest part of our state. Also, if I can scrape together the funds, I might be bringing my son (who I adopted a year ago) back to his home state to visit his foster family. Whatever your summer plans are, don't let good nutrition go on "vacation" too. Some tips:

• When eating at a restaurant, don't order an appetizer and skip the bread basket.
  
• Select healthier fare from the menu -- for example, baked, broiled, or grilled foods are a better choice than deep-fried.
• Visit the local grocery store -- if you have a fridge in your hotel room your options are greater, but even if you don't you can still stock up on some foods that you can eat "in." Fresh fruits and veggies, sugar-free instant oatmeal (use the coffee pot to heat water). You can also use your hotel room's ice bucket to keep some foods chilled.
• Go on a picnic. Pack healthy foods and visit a park, beach, or nature reserve at your vacation destination. After lunch, go for a hike!
• Avoid the pastries and other high-carb options at the continental breakfast.
  

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There are hundreds of fitness gizmos being sold these days, but few ever live up to the claims made in their respective advertisements and/or infomercials. It's a shame, really, since all people who buy these products want to do is get themselves into better shape. Instead, the only place they become lighter is in the wallet.

Fortunately, there are some products that are worthwhile. In most cases, they're not so much mini-machines that do exercises with you (such as the Ab Rocker or that crazy bull riding-looking thing) as they are simple devices to help you work yourself out. Of the far fewer of these particular devices available, I think the TRX Suspension Training System is one that at the very least does what it's supposed to.

How do you do elevated push-ups when you're in a hotel room? How can you do split squats if you don't have a bench on which to place your back foot? And how can you perform standing rows if you don't have a long cable or rope to wrap around a sturdy object (that you also may not have)? The TRX is the answer to these questions. Designed by a Navy SEAL, these nylon straps with handles can be used to perform almost every body weight exercise you can think of.

Find out more info. on the TRX Suspension Training System by visiting the FitnessAnywhere.com website.

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I'm good when it comes to exercising on my own turf. I have a treadmill at home, a bunch of steep hills in my neighborhood, a good outdoor running course, a bike, a garage full of fitness gadgets, and a gym nearby. Give me these luxuries and my workout routines rarely fall short of my expectations. But put me in a hotel or in someone else's house and I get a little anxious about fulfilling my personal fitness goals. Now that I've located this gem of a video, though, I think I'll be OK next time I'm swept out of my comfort zone.

Just click on the top right thumbnail when you arrive at this Austin Fit Magazine website and you'll come face-to-face with fitness expert Sara Stewart who demonstrates five different exercises for use on the fly. Do them at home, in a park, in a hotel -- Sara does them at the Hilton in this video -- and plan to give just 10 to 20 minutes to this total workout. You'll need a JC travel band -- it fits in closets or entry doors -- and of course, you'll need this lesson on how to properly execute the Squat to Pull, the Back Lunge to High Pull, the Push-Up to Arm Raise, the Kneeling High to Low Pull, and the Core Rotation.

Ready to get started? Click here.

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For those of you out there who travel a lot, this may pique your interest. A team of investigators went undercover to try and find out hotel protocol concerning those iconic drinking glasses you see everywhere. What they discovered might not surprise some people: those glasses have never seen the inside of a dish washer.

Okay, so that's a bit harsh. Not every hotel operates in the same way, but the ones they caught on video certainly don't exercise the strictest cleaning practices. And we're not talking about cheap establishments here! Embassy Suites, for example, wouldn't be classified as a sub-par accommodation.

Watch the video and see for yourself. Make no mistake about it, this is a controversial issue. Many hotels have moved to plastic, single-use disposable cups to prove they're sanitized. I would take that any day over glass cups that could have been washed with my own dirty bathroom cloth, in my own dirty sink, by hands that had previously cleaned a toilet. That scenario is from the video. You don't have to be a germaphobe to appreciate solid cleaning practices on things you'd expect to be cleaned properly.

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Travel much for work? Many people do, especially in today's world where you can get across the country in a matter of hours and even across the world in a day. But even if you just travel every once in awhile, having a fitness plan, complete with equipment in place and ready to go with you, can make a huge difference in how likely you are to exercise while you're away. Sure, there's always the hotel gym, but aside from planning to run on the treadmill you can't really plan ahead because all gyms are different and have different equipment.

So your best bet is to make use of both worlds -- the hotel's equipment (i.e. gym and pool) and your own equipment you bring with you. Here are some ideas of the best on-the-go gym equipment, courtesy of Forbes:

• AquaVee Portable Swim System Kit This is a handy system that sets up quickly and will allow you to use the hotel pool to its most advantageous. It has a line that stretches across the pool to provide support while you do Pilates moves and other exercises in the cool and naturally resistant environment of the water. $119.90
  
• TRX Professional Model The name doesn't tell you much, but this is an exercise kit that provides total-body resistance training with straps that use the body's own weight against it. Small and light (less than 2 lbs) it can be attached to a tree for an outdoor workout or to a door if you'd prefer the privacy of your hotel room. $149.95

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As a rule, hotel fitness centers stink, and I don't mean that they smell bad (even thought they do.) Just go inside most hotel 'gyms' and you'll find only a few pieces of equipment and a dumbbell or two ... usually crammed into an airless storage closet. Not to mention, if you attempt to get on one of the cardio machine, you'll be lucky if your head doesn't touch the ceiling.

Fortunately, some larger hotel chains are bulking up their 'so-called' facilities to attract loyal, health conscious travelers--and some are testing travelers to see if they enjoy having treadmills and other fitness equipment in their very own room.

To give us the heads up on who's doing what, 'Women's Health' magazine has rated a few of the better hotels giving each a dumbbell from 1 to 5. So before you head out on vacation check out their ratings before you check in. 5 Dumbbells = Fitness bliss.

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As the world moves toward becoming a healthier, more fitness-friendly place, Fairmont is hopping on board by offering gently-used Adidas fitness wear to guests who want to use the gym but forgot their gym shoes back at home. Mens and womens running shoes are available, as well as loose-fitting t-shirts and shorts. The catch? you need to be a member of the Fairmont President's Club. Sounds prestigious, huh? But don't worry -- membership is free. Fitness wear can be used in-room, in the gym, or even outside. I think it's a great idea ... what about you?

To sign up for a President's Club Membership, visit fairmont.com

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The holidays usually mean some kind of travel for most people, and long road-trips with unpredictable daily schedules can easily wreak havoc on even the most perfectly oiled workout routines. Most treadmills or elliptical trainers won't fit in the car (ha) and even small free-weights don't make sense to throw in an already too-heavy suitcase. But thankfully, you don't have to have these things to get in a good cardio or strength-training workout!

Your body can provide all the resistance needed for building muscle and burning calories -- push-ups, lunges, and leg raises are all great examples. And to switch things up you can easily add some lightweight, inexpensive, and most importantly easy to pack supplemental equipment -- like resistance bands -- to help you avoid boredom while away from your usual workout.

Check out this article for ideas and an adjustable routine to fit your personal needs and fitness level.

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