Habits and Hustle
Episode 422: Liron Kayvan: Healthy Travel Hacks + How to Stay Fit on the Go
Fri, 07 Feb 2025
Traveling for work or pleasure can make it challenging to maintain your health and fitness routine. That’s why in this Fitness Friday episode of the Habits and Hustle podcast, I talk with my friend Liron to give all of you the tips you need to stay fit while traveling. We discuss the importance of planning ahead, packing your own healthy snacks, and making a commitment to stick to your fitness goals no matter where your travels take you. We share practical strategies to help you prioritize your well-being on the go. Liron Kayvan founded BFLA in 2019. He’s a NASM Certified Group Fitness Instructor, Personal Trainer, and Transformative Life Coach. Liron has competed in Amateur MMA, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and Rugby and has been a Fitness Coach for over 10 years. What we discuss: Bring your own healthy snacks and meals in your carry-on instead of relying on airline offerings Stay hydrated by drinking only water during the flight Get up and walk the aisles every hour to avoid being sedentary on long flights Maintain your normal fitness routine as much as possible while traveling Take advantage of hotel gyms to fit in workouts Working out while traveling can actually boost mental performance and productivity Visit grocery stores to stock up on healthy foods vs. always eating at restaurants Track food intake if you have specific weight loss or body composition goals Walk everywhere possible while traveling - to meetings, sightseeing, etc. Make your non-negotiables for diet and exercise while traveling and commit to them Thank you to our sponsor: AquaTru: Get 20% off any purifier at aquatru.com with code HUSTLE Therasage: Head over to therasage.com and use code Be Bold for 15% off TruNiagen: Head over to truniagen.com and use code HUSTLE20 to get $20 off any purchase over $100. Magic Mind: Head over to www.magicmind.com/jen and use code Jen at checkout. BiOptimizers: Want to try Magnesium Breakthrough? Go to https://bioptimizers.com/jennifercohen and use promo code JC10 at checkout to save 10% off your purchase. Timeline Nutrition: Get 10% off your first order at timeline.com/cohen Air Doctor: Go to airdoctorpro.com and use promo code HUSTLE for up to $300 off and a 3-year warranty on air purifiers. To learn more about Liron Kayvan: Website: https://www.beyondfitnessla.com/ Instagram: @beyondfitnessla Find more from Jen: Website: https://www.jennifercohen.com/ Instagram: @therealjencohen Books: https://www.jennifercohen.com/books Speaking: https://www.jennifercohen.com/speaking-engagements
Chapter 1: Why is maintaining fitness during travel important?
All right, guys, welcome back to Fitness Friday with my friend, Leron. Hello, Leron.
Hello, Jen.
Thank you for coming.
Thank you for having me.
I have a topic that I want to talk about that I think is really, really important. And we don't only hear it as often as I thought we could, not could, but we should, is this is going to be an episode about fitness and travel and how to stay on point with your health and fitness goals while traveling. Because the truth is so many people who listen to this podcast travel a lot.
They're entrepreneurs. They're people who just are on the go a lot. And it's really hard to stick to a program when you're constantly flying. And what really kind of gave me this idea was in the last few months, I've been traveling way more than I have in the past. in the last six months, I should say.
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Chapter 2: What are the best snacks to bring on a plane?
And no matter how much I worked out or ate okay while I wasn't traveling, the travel killed me, right? Like I just gained weight or I couldn't, it was really, really hard for me. And what I noticed that really worked for me, the first thing that really I noticed is staying away from the food on the airplane.
Like that to me is the biggest, biggest issue with staying on track with your fitness is when you eat the food on the airplane. It is It's packed with preservatives, sodium, the highest sodium. Like the second I take a bite of that food, I have to open the button on my pants, right? Like it's so bad for you.
Yeah. Yeah. Airplane food is like kind of the exact opposite of my philosophy on nutrition, which is you want to eat as naturally as possible.
Oh yeah.
You want to eat as if you are in the jungle and, or the rainforest or the forest or whatever. But airplane food is literally to a T, like packaged, you know, scientifically like made in a lab, you know, that's what they- But why is that?
Like they say to you- Because it has to last forever.
It's a business. The airplanes are businesses and they need to make things as cheaply as possible that last as long as possible.
But the funny thing is like even in 2025, right? And they are giving you healthier options on the plane. They're still not healthy options. They're still not healthy options. And you can get your little snack packs, which is like the nuts and the crackers and this and that. But- To me, the best strategy is don't even think or look at the cart going by. Let it keep on going.
Don't eat any snacks on that plane. People laugh at me because when I go on a plane, there's more food. I bring more food with me than I do clothing or anything else.
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Chapter 3: How can walking on a plane benefit your health?
It's deep in your genes.
Maybe it is, but I will say like, this is strategy and tip number one when you are traveling is never touch the airplane food. Never, ever, ever pack everything in your carry-on. And that's what I do. I pack five. fruits and vegetables and snacks. And I bring everything from home. And like I said, like most of my, most of my, my luggage or my bags are filled with food versus clothing.
Like I'll be, I'm much happier wearing the same pair of pants every single day and the same.
To have fresh food.
Yeah. I'd rather have fresh food or quality food. And because the trouble I have is also that like, I don't know what happens on a plane, but the second I get on a plane, I'm starving. Yeah. Is that what happens with you too? Yeah. Yeah.
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Chapter 4: Why should you use hotel gyms while traveling?
I know what you mean.
I don't know what, and the second, and then I feel like I'm like stuck on this.
You're also a bit bored on a plane.
And that's, I was going to say, because it's like a boredom factor, even though you can watch a show or whatever else, like you have this like knowledge that, okay, I'm going to be on this flight for five hours or four hours and I can't go anywhere. Yeah. What is there to eat? Like you want to like pass the time.
So like ways to like eliminate that honestly is like, you know, like you kind of like have like this, this thing in your, you reframe it where it's like, I'm not, I'm not touching anything that comes on that cart. I have all my snacks. So there's no excuse for me not to eat that food.
I know what you mean. Actually, I don't ever really crave beer and potato chips. It's not a craving of mine, really. Beer once in a while. But whenever I get on a plane and I see someone order beer and potato chips, I'm like, I really want that. And it's something about being on the plane and the boredom factor. Or I'm like, I need something, you know. Yeah. I get that. I get what you're saying.
And, like, you're also, like, constrained to your seat. Yeah. And it's like, to me, like, another great strategy is, like, don't drink anything besides water or, like, that's what I do. Yeah. I only have water. Yeah. Because right away, like, I guess the air pressure can make you much more, it changes your body. Yeah.
It definitely slows down your digestive system too. Like your gut tends to freeze up. I think also traveling at an unnatural speed across, you know, you're changing time zones. Like that is gonna, and it's not just on the plane, but like the actual flight is going to mess up your circadian rhythm for at least a day, depending on how far you go. Like when I go to London, Like three days after.
My body, I'm waking up at the wrong time. My digestive system is off. My energy levels are off because of that jet lag too. So it's like the sitting down in a plane, eating crap, and then also having jet lag is a big kind of perfect storm to derail your fitness.
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Chapter 5: How does nutrition impact travel fitness goals?
to do these things and know that like, okay, I'm traveling. These are my hard no's. These are like things that are non-negotiable. I'm not allowed to eat the food on the plane. I have to walk up and down the aisles every hour on the hour and I'm only allowed to drink water.
That will help you 50%, literally 50% with keeping your goals for your health and your fitness by just doing those three things. The other thing is staying on that routine as much as you can. Whenever I get off of a plane, if I'm going somewhere far, I make myself like move my body for 30 minutes afterwards. I have to like walk around the hotel, go on a treadmill in the gym.
Every hotel now or wherever you're going has a gym. take advantage of it, like, first thing, I think.
Yeah, actually, I love working out on vacation. I absolutely love it. Like, it's got harder since I had the second kid because it's hard to leave two kids with my wife and then go work out. But I used to, like, up until this summer, we went to Italy. It was the first time I didn't work out for two weeks. I think...
since i started working out i all whenever we go on vacation even long like two week trips i'll always like sneak off to a hotel or find a new gym in town actually i love it because i'll go to a new part of town it'll be very very different i get a lot of inspiration different machines different gym culture different like you know you can people i i love working out on vacation but to me that's not even an option like it's not even an option to me like i said
No matter where I am around the world, I try to stay on my routine as best as I can. And I work out every day, no matter what, no matter what the jet lag, no matter what the time difference is. I'm talking also about like business people traveling, like when they don't have, they're not with their family, right?
It's just, it's really hard to like stay on point if you're somebody who's like a consultant and you're always on a plane.
Are you talking about like work trips?
Yeah. I'm talking about like work travel. I'm not even talking about family. I'm talking about it, by the way, all travel, but a big part of that is like work travel. Like I'm traveling a lot for work. I'm going to different places for consulting gigs or speaking gigs. And like, if you're always on a plane, that's part of your, as an entrepreneur, that's part of your life.
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Chapter 6: What is the 80-20 rule for travel nutrition?
You have to see, does my hotel have a gym? If not... Can I schedule a couple of hours to go and find a gym somewhere and make it stay on, you know, stay on my routine? The other factor is when you, especially with regard to work, if you know you're going to function better, like your brain and body is going to function better when you're working out, then it's a performance booster.
And so therefore it's actually part of your work.
A hundred percent. I also think just because there is such a thing, and I think this is a big one, it's the 80-20 rule, right? Like 80% of what you do is your nutrition and 20% is your fitness stuff, right? So you really have to watch what you eat when you're traveling. If you are, if you really want to, you know, maintain or achieve your goals, it's
A lot of it is about what you put in your mouth, not what you're doing in the gym. So making better choices. Now the issue is portions. Again, it's always, a lot of it comes down to portions. For whatever reason, psychologically, it's been shown that when we are traveling, we tend to eat way more than we do when we're back in our own regimen at home, right?
So if you're conscious of that and conscientious of that, make sure that when you are traveling and That your portions are not crazy, like half the portion at the restaurant you're going to. Or what I do a lot is I go to a grocery store and I buy a bunch of food and I bring it back to my hotel. And so I'm not relying on like restaurant food that also when you...
The more you eat at restaurants, the amount of calories that are added just by the sheer cooking, the way they're cooking the food. The oils. The oils and all the added stuff. It adds up so fast. I go to the grocery store and I buy sliced turkey. I buy myself my fruits and my vegetables and things that I know what is in it.
That's a big thing you just mentioned. And I think in general, whether you're on a work trip or a pleasure trip or whatever it is, whenever you're traveling, seeing fitness as part of the travel, as part of the trip, like not that divorcing psychologically your health and fitness from the trip, but making it part of it. Meaning, so like to be specific, when I went to Italy, right?
Everyone says with Italy, oh, you have to have pizza, you have to have pasta, you have to have gelato. And it's fantastic. The pizza, pasta, and gelato are fantastic. But I don't want to live off that for two weeks. I'm not going to enjoy it. So I go to the grocery store every day in Italy. And that was a really cool experience.
First of all, you're getting to know the country better and the people better because you're living like a normal person. That's how normal people eat. Italians don't eat at a restaurant three times a day. They don't. They're just like everyone else. They go to a grocery store. But their grocery stores are a million times better than American ones. Same thing with London.
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