189: How I Eat and Train While Traveling

In this episode, I break down the planning system I use before every trip and the practical decisions that help me stay consistent on the road. I cover how I scout restaurants, grocery stores, gyms, and running routes; what food, supplements, and hydration I pack; how I prioritize protein; and how I rearrange strength sessions, use vacations as deload weeks, and lean on running when time is limited. You do not need a perfect plan or a rigid schedule to keep making progress. Build enough structure to support your goals, stay flexible when the trip demands it, and make the time for your health without taking time away from the responsibilities that matter most. CHAPTERS: 00:00 Intro 01:22 Why Fitness Matters 02:18 Expectations and Flexibility 04:09 Routines Versus Responsibilities 10:35 Airport Food Reality Check 15:10 Mission Plan for Travel 18:04 Eating Plan and Recon 23:45 Packing Supplements and Meals 26:23 Day Of Travel Food Strategy 33:41 Staying Hydrated on Flights 35:00 Eating at Destination 41:13 Protein First Principles 45:46 Smart Restaurant Choices 49:58 Training While Traveling 52:32 Deloads and Run First 59:09 Wrap Up and Key Takeaways JOIN THE APP AND GET READY FOR UPDATES https://www.nickbarefitness.app/ ORDER MY BOOK HERE: ⁠https://www.amazon.com/Go-One-More-Intentional-Life-Changing/dp/1637746210 FOLLOW: Become a BPN member FOR FREE - Unlock 25% off FOR LIFE ⁠ https://www.bareperformancenutrition.com/collections/performance-nutrition IG: ⁠instagram.com/nickbarefitness/⁠ instagram.com/nickbarefitness/ YT: ⁠youtube.com/@nickbarefitness This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered legal [health or profession] advice. Bare Performance Nutrition (BPN) is not responsible for any losses, damages, or liabilities that may arise from the use of this podcast. This podcast is not intended to replace professional medical advice. This podcast may not be republished without the written consent of Bare Performance Nutrition (BPN) MB01YBJI8SW8R2S

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:06Nick Bare?

  Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of the podcast. Today's episode is titled, "How I Train and Eat While Traveling." Now, this past month for me has been a marathon of travel, to say the least. And yesterday, me and the family just got back from completing the marathon. Some of this travel was family vacation in Florida. I had some travel that I needed to do for work. Earlier last week, I was in Fargo, North Dakota with a BPN team,

• 0:48Nick Bare?

  visiting one of our retail partners, who is Shields. And then I got back from that Shields trip, had a day in between. And then me and the family went back to the airport. We flew to Michigan. We spent a few days in Michigan with Steph's family, because that is where Steph is from, and her parents still live in Michigan. And we got back last night, like I said, August 2026. It was, it was full of travel. But I stayed on top of my nutrition. I stayed on top of my diet. I stayed on top of my training and my workouts.

• 1:30Nick Bare?

  And I just want to share with you guys how and why. I mean, why? Because it matters to me. My health, my fitness, my performance, it matters to me. Staying in shape, hitting my workouts, fueling my body. I show up better, stronger, more energy. And I believe I'm a better leader, I'm a better father, I'm a better husband. I'm a better contributing member of, to society when I am training, when I am pushing my body, when I am eating healthy foods. That's the why.

• 2:13Nick Bare?

  Now, the how, how do I train and eat while traveling? And before I get into some of the tactics, there's a few things I want to say. First off, we have to, I have to, set realistic expectations while traveling. And I should also say that what I'm sharing, this is how I eat and train when I travel. I'm not saying you have to do this. You know, I want to share what I do. And hopefully, it helps some of you guys out.

• 2:56Nick Bare?

  But if you don't agree, and you don't want to do any of this stuff, you don't have to. This is all personal preference. So when it comes to travel, I set realistic expectations. And I look at travel very differently. I ask myself, what is this travel for? Is it for business? Is it for a normal course of life event? Or is it for vacation, leisure, pleasure? The way that I approach a vacation with my family

• 3:37Nick Bare?

  in terms of training and dieting and nutrition is very different from the way that I may approach a work trip, where I fly in, I'm there for a few days, and I fly out. Or if we travel somewhere for a wedding, or a birthday, or anything like that, I will approach that travel, those events differently. So I approach and plan accordingly. Because one of the things that I've been beating a drum on for quite some time

• 4:14Nick Bare?

  is that responsibilities should always outweigh routines. The main problem with being unable to break your routine is that the rigidity can cause high anxiety, stress, decision fatigue, and an inability to adapt when life changes unexpectedly. When I go on family vacation, for example, my family, my kids, my relationships, my wife, my partner,

• 4:52Nick Bare?

  that is my responsibility, being present, being there, making memories. My routines become flexible, and they have to adapt. But I'm not going to prioritize my routine over my responsibilities. At least not anymore. I've done this at one point in my life, and I can tell you, it didn't provide the joy and satisfaction and enjoyment that I thought it would. It made things worse. It came with, as I mentioned, high levels of anxiety and stress and decision fatigue,

• 5:29Nick Bare?

  and an inability to adapt to life changes, routine changes. When we prioritize responsibilities over routines, we build structure and not cages. There's a looser framework that allows us to keep making progress and to succeed. I shared this quote in a podcast months back, and I'll come back to it, because I think it's really good. "The mind makes a great servant, but a terrible master."

• 6:10Nick Bare?

  A servant is problem solving. It sets and maps goals. It focuses energy. That's what a servant does. The mind makes a great servant. But when it becomes a master, the reason it's terrible is because when the mind is a master, it replays the same routine, even when that routine stops serving you. It steals your peace, your rest, your joy, and enjoying the present. So the key takeaway that I want to share with all of this in setting realistic expectations is know when to be strict and rigid with your routine,

• 6:54Nick Bare?

  and when to allow for flexibility and to adapt based off of the type of travel that it is. Again, I've shared this story before, but I've allowed routines in my life. And I still do occasionally. I'm not free of those chains sometimes. But I remember when Steph and I just got married, and we were on our honeymoon in Cabo. And I just entered an Ironman prep. And in the morning, when Steph was waking up slow

• 7:38Nick Bare?

  and going to get breakfast, and then heading to the pool to relax, I was on the treadmill, logging 14 to 20 miles in the resort gym. And I look back thinking, stupid, stupid, stupid. You prioritize your routine over your responsibility, your responsibility to your new, loving, beautiful, caring wife. Some of my best vacations, best travel, is when I just loosened the grip a little bit. I was flexible, I was adaptable.

• 8:21Nick Bare?

  So I share that again. I reiterate, I share that because what I'm about to talk about is not to make you feel guilty for going on a family vacation and enjoying some food, and taking time away from the gym, or you're running, you're training. There is a time and place for that. I encourage that. Peace, rest, joy, satisfaction. But just because you travel, and here's where I'm going to hammer it home, just because you travel does not mean your systems,

• 9:02Nick Bare?

  your habits, and your routines have to go out the window. Just because I was traveling to Fargo, North Dakota, early last week, doesn't mean that my habits, my systems, routines, they get put on pause, and then I resume when I get back to Texas. There are seven days in a week. Not just five. If you're traveling on a weekend, or you're treating your weekends like a vacation, you will never make consistent progress. You will limit yourself.

• 9:47Nick Bare?

  There are seven days in a week, not five. Saturdays and Sundays, they still count, and they always will. The way that we succeed, achieve, win, progress, is learning how to become resilient and adaptable. It is the most adaptable to change.

• 10:15Nick Bare?

  The one that is most adaptable to change. It always blows my mind when I'm traveling and I'm in the airport. I'm not judging by any means, but I'm observing people's behaviors. If you want to experience some of the world's most selfish encounters and behaviors, you just gotta spend not even a few hours, but a few minutes in an airport.

• 10:53Nick Bare?

  Everyone is concerned with themselves, getting to where they need to be, running other people over. It is a pretty magnificent experience to witness. There are a lot of zombies who are just walking, like staring at their phones, two inches from their face. But I'm always intrigued by watching people's nutrition and food choices while in an airport. Again, no judgment, because the reality is that for many people, they just don't know any better. They're not educated on what they should eat, how they should eat, when they should eat.

• 11:35Nick Bare?

  Now, sitting next to this kid, he's probably 16 years old, a few months ago, when I was coming back from the Pittsburgh Marathon. And his head was down, his shoulders were sunk in, he was overweight. He looked insecure. Maybe not, maybe so, but from my observation, he looked insecure. And he was drinking a massive, full-sugar Mountain Dew.

• 12:16Nick Bare?

  He had two bags of like the dessert checks mix. Between the soda and those two bags, it was probably 1,200 calories. And I think he just didn't know better. And I thought to myself, as I was watching him, this was one of those moments in life where I'll remember it forever. Because I was watching this kid eat these foods, drink that soda, shoulders slouched, head looking down on his phone, and I just wanted to help him.

• 12:57Nick Bare?

  I just wanted to like take him under my wing and be like, dude, let me, let me speak some life into you. Let me introduce you to the gym and working out and eating healthy and building your confidence back up. Where when you sit in that chair, your shoulders are back, your chest is up, you're proud of the choices you're making on a daily basis, you're pushing yourself forward. I'll always remember that moment in that airport with that kid. And that's normal, unfortunately. Those are the decisions that people make on a regular basis.

• 13:41Nick Bare?

  This past week, as I was traveling, it's 7:00 AM and people are drinking a beer. It's 9:00 AM and people are eating ice cream cones. Like, what in the world is going on? I could imagine, but again, they may not know better. Ignorance. So how do we get this information out there? That's my goal with the podcast and YouTube videos.

• 14:20Nick Bare?

  Man, I've had this conviction on my heart recently for a long time, but it's been really strong recently. This is why I've created content for years and years and years. But these last couple of months, it's like, it's pulling at me, it's pulling at me, it's pulling at me. There are so many people who just, they want help, but they don't know where to get started. And I want to help those people. Maybe you're some of those people, but maybe you're not, maybe you know a lot of this. Well, in that case, maybe you can be the brother or sister that pulls a peer out

• 15:05Nick Bare?

  from the darkness of what they're struggling with and helps them improve. I treat travel like a military mission or operational plan. And I never have really thought of it that way, but as I was preparing this episode, just thinking about the way that I approach travel, no matter where we're going. Vacation, wedding, business trip to Fargo, North Dakota, Pittsburgh Marathon weekend earlier this year.

• 15:48Nick Bare?

  The way that I approach my travel is based off of the principles and strategies and tactics that I learned while I was in the military. Mission and operational planning. First, we plan the travel. Then I recon the travel. I see what's available in that area, what gyms, what run routes, what grocery stores, what restaurants. I recon the travel, then I make the plan.

• 16:29Nick Bare?

  Or in the military terminology, make the order. And then I execute and then evaluate and assess. So after I go through my travel, I sit back, I think, you know, what worked, what didn't. I then refine for the next time I travel. I learn, you know, every time I go out and I travel and what worked and what didn't work. And a lot of these systems and habits that I'm sharing are what I've learned through the plan, the recon, the order, the execution, and then the evaluation and assessment.

• 17:12Nick Bare?

  Treat your travel like a military operation, and I can guarantee it will be successful. You will increase your chances and likelihood of success in sticking to your plan if you treat it this way. Plan the travel, recon the travel, make the plan, execute, and then evaluate and assess. So I'm going to break this up into two sections, how I eat and then how I train. So let's talk about eating first.

• 17:52Nick Bare?

  I'm sure this quote is no stranger to you. If you fail to plan, you should plan to fail. And I think the rebuttal to that might be, yeah, but we're supposed to be flexible and adaptable. Being able to be adaptable and flexible does not mean that it doesn't require a plan. If we take it back to military planning, operational planning, mission planning, there is always a plan, there's always a backup plan, always.

• 18:36Nick Bare?

  And in the event that Plan A doesn't work and Plan B doesn't work, then you become adaptable and you pivot and you're flexible. You lean on your systems that you know do work. So I like having a plan. Sometimes that plan gets thrown out the window. In most cases, it does, but I have systems and habits that are foundational that allow me to be adaptable and pivot and be flexible. So this is all about planning, preparing, and setting yourself up for success.

• 19:17Nick Bare?

  This might seem like a lot, and in some cases it is. It's like, dude, I just wanna wake up, pack my bag, hop on a plane, get to where I wanna be, and then figure it all out. And if that's your approach and your agenda, and it works for you, go for it. I got nothing against it. But I like to prep. I like to plan. I like to prepare. It brings me joy and happiness and fulfillment. So it's just, it's what I do.

• 19:53Nick Bare?

  So, eating prior to travel.

• 19:59Nick Bare?

  Some of the things that I'll do. As I talked about, the recon. If I know where we are going, I will look at what restaurants are around where I'm staying,

• 20:15Nick Bare?

  grocery stores,

• 20:18Nick Bare?

  readily accessible food options.

• 20:23Nick Bare?

  Eating healthy while traveling is relatively simple. Is it easy? Depends on the person.

• 20:32Nick Bare?

  But it's simple.

• 20:34Nick Bare?

  I mean, nowadays you have Chipotles in every city. You got Kavas all over the place. You got Starbucks. You got Chick-fil-A. You got In-N-Out. You have fast food, bull spots, grocery stores. There's no excuse, literally zero excuse, not to be able to eat healthy and stick to your diet and your routine while traveling. Like, some of the things that I'll do or look for, if there's a Chipotle close to where I'm staying, that's easy. Beef and rice, chicken and rice.

• 21:18Nick Bare?

  If there's a bull spot, like when we were in Fargo last week, there was a bull spot that we stopped at, you know, one of those spots where you walk in and you can make your own bowl or salad, where I added rice and greens and chicken. Now, I had to get a triple serving of chicken because their single serving of chicken was like two ounces. You end up paying for it. You know, but you gotta get the protein in. And then I added veggies, so it was olives, tomatoes, cucumbers, purple cabbage, pickled onions.

• 21:58Nick Bare?

  You can add pumpkin seeds and, you know, really beef these bowls up that are packed and dense in protein, carbs, healthy fats. You had avocado on top, and then micronutrients, fibers. These, they're all over the world, and especially all over the United States. I will look for these spots prior to my travel. And it doesn't take that much effort. You know, on Google Maps, I'll pull up the Airbnb or the hotel that I'm staying at. And then you can see restaurants around where you're staying.

• 22:41Nick Bare?

  And I'll just make notes, mental notes. Okay, I know there's a Chipotle here. I know there's a Starbucks here. Starbucks for me is a great place to go grab breakfast. I always carry protein powder with me. So I'll wake up, I'll have a protein shake, I'll go to Starbucks, I'll get some fruit, maybe a fruit cup or a banana, and then their oatmeal. Their oatmeal's really good. It's quick, it's cheap, it's convenient. I don't add any of the extra toppings to it. I can go to Chick-fil-A and get a bunch of the grilled chicken nuggets. The options are endless at this point.

• 23:21Nick Bare?

  So I will do my recon prior to travel, just to see what's in the local area of where I'm gonna be staying.

• 23:29Nick Bare?

  And then I will look at my travel times for the day of travel itself.

• 23:38Nick Bare?

  And I'll identify where I need to pack or prepare.

• 23:42Nick Bare?

  The night before travel, I will sort out and pack all my supplements in Ziploc bags. Now, for example,

• 23:53Nick Bare?

  if it's a quick trip, like the Fargo trip last week, it was In-N-Out. I was in Fargo for two full days. I will pack a few Ziploc bags, and each Ziploc bag has two scoops of whey protein in it.

• 24:10Nick Bare?

  In my Ziploc bags, I'll have my vitamins and minerals for the day. I'm packing my BPN Strong Multivitamin, BPN Strong Joints, BPN Strong Omega, BPN Endurance Essentials, my creatine. I'll put everything in Ziploc bags. And then in these small Ziploc bags, I'll throw all of those in a big Ziploc bag. But I'm doing this the night before travel. Like, Steph can always find me the night before travel. I'm in the pantry, and I'm packing up my supplements and my powders.

• 24:50Nick Bare?

  That way, I don't have to travel with the full serving size containers.

• 24:56Nick Bare?

  Now, if we're going on a longer vacation, like when Steph and I go to Florida with the family every year, and we're checking bags, yeah, we'll take full-size containers of whey protein and reds and greens and creatine, and even G and M Sport or Pre and Pump, because we have the room and we need, you know, menning serving sizes. When Steph and I go on vacation for a week, between the both of us, we'll go through a whole two-pound container of whey protein, because we both prioritize our protein intake. So prior to travel, it is planning, it is recon, it is preparation.

• 25:41Nick Bare?

  It's identifying where we're staying, what's in the area, having options available, just mental notes. Not planning every meal by meal, but just mental notes. I know there's a Chipotle here. I know there's a Starbucks here. I know there's a Whole Foods here. There's a grocery store here. I know generally where I'll be able to source some of my food and nutrition from. And like I said, the night before, we will pack and prepare. Supplements, powders, anything else we may need.

• 26:16Nick Bare?

  Now, the day of travel, this is where it gets fun.

• 26:22Nick Bare?

  We just filmed a YouTube video, and I shared this. And it always blows people's mind. You know, my lunch every day

• 26:33Nick Bare?

  is 300 grams jasmine rice, eight ounces of ground beef, some Primal Kitchen's buffalo sauce, and pickles topped with some ketchup. I love it. I just had that meal before recording this podcast, and it never gets old.

• 26:55Nick Bare?

  I like sticking to consistent

• 26:59Nick Bare?

  eating patterns as much as possible.

• 27:03Nick Bare?

  So what I do when we travel the day of is the night before, I'll prepare my lunch. I have my 300 grams jasmine rice, eight ounces of ground beef, Primal Kitchen's buffalo sauce, pickles, ketchup. But instead of putting it in the Tupperware that I always use, in the meal prep containers that I use, I get this question all the time, they're from Caraway Home, they're the medium storage containers. They're expensive. It is an investment, but they have been the best that I have found. And that's not a paid endorsement by any means. We buy our own Caraway Home food storage containers, been buying them for the last couple of years, and I love them.

• 27:47Nick Bare?

  But when I travel, I add that meal to a Ziploc bag, a gallon Ziploc bag. And I close all the air out of it, zip it, put it in another gallon Ziploc bag, pull all the air out of it, close it, because I don't want any leakage.

• 28:06Nick Bare?

  And then I have this little cooler, like handheld cooler, that is super low profile. It's easy to carry on travel. I can fit it in my backpack.

• 28:20Nick Bare?

  I will, the day of travel, throw that bag of beef and rice in that cooler, add a cooler pack with a spoon, and take it on my travels. Now, sometimes, depending on the day, the time of travel, how long that meal is gonna be in my backpack until I eat it. Sometimes I don't need the cooler, and I'll just throw, you know, the meal in my backpack. And once I get into security, I'll eat it. Once I get on the plane, I'll eat it. The smell isn't the most pleasant on the plane, so I prefer, if possible, to eat it in the airport before getting on the plane.

• 29:01Nick Bare?

  Sometimes it happens. Sometimes it doesn't. But you can travel with food. So I will always travel with a meal. I'll always travel with a bag of beef and rice. Steph can attest to this. You know, we were traveling back from Michigan yesterday, and the way that our seats were set up on the plane is, you know, there's there's six seats in an entire row, but it's split up by the aisle, so it's three on one side, three on the other. And we booked these flights a little bit later, so we couldn't get the whole family in the same row. So Nico and I were next to each other,

• 29:44Nick Bare?

  and then Steph and Charlie were next to each other, but in a row before us, in front of us. So I would eat my bag of beef and rice because it was a longer flight, mid-flight, next to this stranger. And I just kept getting these looks, you know, here's this guy with his two-year-old son pulling out a Ziploc bag of beef, rice, pickles, and ketchup, eating it with a spoon like an animal, like a caveman. But there's no shame. I like sticking to the plan. I like staying on top of my nutrition.

• 30:26Nick Bare?

  But you can travel with food. You can travel with food. This surprises a lot of people, but you can't. I always travel with a meal. And I'll always pack food. It doesn't have to be kept cold. So in my backpack while I'm traveling, you can always find protein powder in Ziploc bags, bars, protein bars, go bars, dried fruit. I'll travel with dried mango, which is some of my favorite, dried figs. As you guys may know, my favorite, I love dried figs, great source of fiber. I will travel with slices of sourdough, in

• 31:08Nick Bare?

  some cases, a whole loaf of sourdough. There was this flight, a few months back, we were traveling back from Nashville, and we stopped at this bakery before leaving Nashville to head back to Austin in Franklin, Tennessee, called Perrin. And I picked up a freshly baked loaf of sourdough bread. I had them slice it there. And I threw my backpack. And while we were on the flight back from Nashville, I pulled this bag of sourdough out. And I'm just eating a loaf of freshly baked sourdough. And it was delicious. But I was getting all

• 31:45Nick Bare?

  these looks on the plane. I'll travel with nuts and seeds, beef jerky. Like, my backpack always has food in it. And this may not be your thing. You know, the other option is, before travel, I know a lot of people do this, they'll have a huge meal, they'll fast while traveling, and then when they get to location, they will resume eating. And that's perfectly fine. That works, too. But as I mentioned, I like having these consistent

• 32:27Nick Bare?

  eating patterns. It provides me a steady source of energy. I don't like getting hungry, because when I get hungry, I end up becoming hangry, and it's the last thing I want while traveling. And I like sticking to these consistent eating rhythms and behaviors and patterns. And that is these, you know, moderately sized meals, spread out throughout the day. My stomach feels good. Digestion is good. Bowel movements are good. I've had it around my training schedule and routine, but if you want to have a big meal before traveling,

• 33:09Nick Bare?

  maybe just a protein shake while traveling, and then another large meal when you get to location, that's perfectly fine, too. But this is the way that I approach the day of travel. It's just my preference. And I'm always staying on top of hydration. I always have a water source with me. And, you know, I'm consuming electrolytes every single day, at least one serving of our electrolyte a day, which is 500 milligrams of sodium. On big training days, or days where I'm sweating a lot, between training and sauna

• 33:48Nick Bare?

  usage, I'm consuming multiple servings of electrolytes. But while traveling, I prioritize water intake consumption, electrolytes added to my water source. Yeah, it's not the most convenient to be having to go to the bathroom and get up on a flight. And I wanted to say, use the latrine. That's some, you know, military lingo. I'd be inspired by the operational mission planning segment, but go use the latrine while you're on the flight. But I

• 34:27Nick Bare?

  make sure I stay hydrated while traveling. This is something really easy to fall behind in. You know, it's, it's just something you intentionally have to do.

• 34:43Nick Bare?

  Now, during my stay, when we finally get to the location of travel,

• 34:55Nick Bare?

  something I've been thinking about a lot recently, that, you know, as I think about how to help people be more consistent, and make better choices when it comes to dieting, food, and nutrition, and training, the way that I approach my daily diet is like, when I wake up, I don't necessarily always have a plan for the day of what I'm gonna eat. You know, I know what I'm gonna have for breakfast. I know what I'm gonna have for lunch or my second meal, because I meal prep. But dinner is, it's flexible, and there's

• 35:37Nick Bare?

  a lot of variation. And my last meal of the night, which is about an hour before I go to bed, changes from day to day. I always have a loose plan for the day. But I have a tighter plan for the next meal. This is how I approach my day, whether I'm at home in Texas or traveling. When I'm traveling, there's always a loose plan for the day.

• 36:10Nick Bare?

  But I have a tighter plan for the next meal. I almost always know exactly what I'm gonna eat for the next meal. And I think if you apply that logic and that strategy to whether you're home or traveling, it can be extremely effective and lead you to success.

• 36:38Nick Bare?

  We always try to book a place to stay that has a kitchen. When we traveled to Florida, we rent a home that has a full kitchen. When I was traveling in Fargo earlier this week, I was in a hotel. Luckily, that hotel had a mini fridge and a microwave, which was super helpful and useful. When we traveled to Michigan and just got back last night, you know, we were staying at Steph's parents' cottage in northern Michigan, and there's a full kitchen. And what's amazing about Steph's mom, many things, but Steph's mom

• 37:19Nick Bare?

  watches all of my content. She knows the lifestyle that I live. And whenever we travel to Michigan, she will make sure that she has all the foods, all the ingredients, all the items that I'm eating at that moment in time. So, you know, we flew in, we had to fly into Traverse City, Michigan, and we drove to their cottage, got to the cottage, got there late, had dinner, and woke up the next morning, and all of my foods that I eat were there. Oats, bananas, fruit, ground beef, 93.7 ground beef, grass-fed ground beef,

• 38:03Nick Bare?

  rice, Primal Kitchen's buffalo sauce, pickles, organic ketchup, sourdough bread, freshly-made sourdough bread, Kerrygold butter, like, steaks, chicken, potatoes, cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, all the things that I regularly eat on a daily basis, she had stocked in the cottage, which is so thoughtful. It means a lot to me, that she puts that effort into

• 38:42Nick Bare?

  just help me be more consistent while I'm traveling and sticking to my diet. And I know that's a pretty rare trait and characteristic to find in a mother-in-law. So I recognize that. I'm extremely grateful. But my plan will change based off where we're staying and what I'm or we are staying in. Do we have full access to a kitchen? Or is it a little kitchenette? Or is it nothing? As soon as we land, or as soon as I land while traveling, we'll typically go to the grocery store. Like, when we're in Florida for a

• 39:22Nick Bare?

  week-long vacation, we will either land and go straight to the grocery store and stock up on all of our stuff, or we actually found this really cool company. You know, we go to the 30A Seaside, Florida area for vacation. And Steph found this company called 30A Arrange, where before you get to the house that you're staying at, you can send them your grocery list. They'll go do all the grocery shopping, and they'll stock your pantry and your fridge with all of your food prior to you arriving, which has been so helpful. Because, you know,

• 40:07Nick Bare?

  you have a long day of travel with the kids. You finally get to your spot. The last thing you want to do is run to the grocery store, do a whole grocery haul, which we've done and still do. But to arrive in all of your groceries, everything you need is organized in the pantry, it's organized in the fridge. That's a game changer. If we go somewhere that doesn't have that service or amenity, yeah, we'll land, we'll go right to the grocery store, and we'll stock our pantry and our refrigerator with everything we eat on a regular basis and that we need for that week.

• 40:47Nick Bare?

  Some of my foundational principles of how I approach nutrition while traveling, I always prioritize protein. Always. Protein is satiating. It's gonna keep you fuller for longer.

• 41:10Nick Bare?

  It's going to help you maintain a positive muscle protein synthesis.

• 41:17Nick Bare?

  You know, our muscles are constantly being turned over. They're breaking down and then being rebuilt. And the way that we stay in a positive muscle protein synthesis as opposed to muscle protein breakdown is by weight training and/or a net positive of protein, amino acids. So while traveling, I always prioritize protein. I try to front load protein as much as possible earlier in the day.

• 41:54Nick Bare?

  Because when we're traveling, whether this is for work or for vacation, I typically try to eat out. We try to eat out only one time per day, and it's normally dinner. And sometimes the protein option or portion is just a little bit smaller than you may maybe used to at home. So I try to prioritize protein and front load it earlier in the day. I like to reserve fats for later in the day because if we're going for dinner, out to eat, I can expect that that meal is going to be higher in fats.

• 42:35Nick Bare?

  Because I'm either ordering a steak or the food items are cooked in creams, sauces, oils, butters.

• 42:45Nick Bare?

  You know, the reason even broccoli tastes so good at a restaurant is because 95% of the time it's cooked in butter and/or oil and covered in salt. And it's like, oh my gosh, this broccoli is so good. What did they do? Well, I can tell you one thing, they didn't just steam it. They steamed it in a pound of butter. That's why it tastes so good.

• 43:12Nick Bare?

  One thing I'll do is I'll prep my go-to foods in bulk. Beef, chicken, rice, potatoes.

• 43:22Nick Bare?

  Once we hunker down into our location, I then go out to where I need to go, get all our foods, so we have availability.

• 43:33Nick Bare?

  You know, setting ourselves up for success.

• 43:38Nick Bare?

  When we're in Florida for family vacation every year, Steph and I approach dieting and food and nutrition the same way. We keep our breakfast the same. It's the same as if we were at home in Texas, eating breakfast. Lunch, generally the same. Beef and rice, chicken and rice.

• 44:00Nick Bare?

  And then dinner is where we'll have some variation.

• 44:04Nick Bare?

  You know, we'll go out to dinner or we'll go get food and bring it back to the house.

• 44:10Nick Bare?

  We love going out to dinner and trying new foods and what's local and seasonal in that environment.

• 44:20Nick Bare?

  With two young kids now, going out to eat doesn't happen as much as it used to, mainly because of Nico, my two-year-old son, is just wild. Like Charlie will sit down in a restaurant and chill and eat our food and engage in conversation. Nico will find a steak knife. He will run across the restaurant and attempt to throw it everywhere and anywhere. He's a danger. We can't go to dinner with Nico anymore. Steph and I made a pact. It's like, it's a liability. He's dangerous. So this last trip to Florida, I would go order the food, bring it back to where you're staying. We would eat there.

• 45:04Nick Bare?

  But we typically, while traveling or out on vacation, that is the one meal that we go out and enjoy.

• 45:15Nick Bare?

  And I think sometimes people treat travel and vacation as, I mentioned earlier, where all your systems, all your routines, all your habits just get thrown out the window. And it doesn't have to be that way.

• 45:34Nick Bare?

  Yeah, I'll give some examples of foods that I've eaten recently while traveling.

• 45:42Nick Bare?

  Last week in Fargo, we went to Chili's.

• 45:47Nick Bare?

  It was my first time eating Chili's in probably 15 years. I ordered a 10-ounce sirloin steak. I wanted to bake potato. They were out of baked potatoes. I wanted a sweet potato. They were out of sweet potatoes. So I got a side of rice and steamed broccoli. Was it the best meal of my life? I'm sorry to break it to you, but no, it wasn't. But it got the job done. I got proteins, I had carbs, got some veggies with some fiber.

• 46:19Nick Bare?

  Is it a memorable meal?

• 46:26Nick Bare?

  You know, I could probably argue that in one way or another. But it did its job. It fueled me.

• 46:35Nick Bare?

  When we were in Florida, you know, yes, I could have ordered cheeseburgers and pizza and this crazy stuff every night, treated myself. But for me, that's not treating myself.

• 46:53Nick Bare?

  Treating myself in this case was going to a restaurant and ordering a whole fish. It's one of my things, my favorite things to order. If I go to a restaurant that has a whole or half chicken on the menu, I'm ordering that. If there's a whole fish on the menu, you know, they just cook it in some olive oil and they might finish it with some fresh greens on top and lemon slices. I will crush that, the entire fish. There's a spot in Florida we go to called Shrimp Shack where I'll go and get a whole pound of peel and eat shrimp. Delicious, fresh, right off the ocean, full of protein, low fat.

• 47:38Nick Bare?

  So I will make intentional food choices and decisions where I can enjoy the local cuisine in foods. But just by being on vacation or traveling doesn't mean it's a free pass to just throw your systems and habits and routines out the window.

• 48:03Nick Bare?

  The concepts are few.

• 48:07Nick Bare?

  The methods are many.

• 48:11Nick Bare?

  I would encourage you, if you're traveling, whether for vacation or business or just normal course of life, make intentional, smart food decisions and choices. Allow yourself the flexibility, truly. I encourage it, I invite it.

• 48:37Nick Bare?

  Yeah, I'm not a big sweets person or ice cream person. I really never eat ice cream. I eat ice cream once a year when we go to Florida. My favorite ice cream spot is Blue Mountain Creamery, and my favorite flavor is oatmeal cookie.

• 48:56Nick Bare?

  And we go there while we're on vacation. And I know when I'm on vacation, I'm getting my favorite ice cream at my favorite ice cream shop. I'm not getting ice cream every night. I'm not getting dessert every night, but I treat myself, and you should too.

• 49:12Nick Bare?

  But it doesn't mean you have to throw all of your progress, all of your plans, all of your routine, all of your systems, all of your discipline out the window just because you're in a different environment, different state physically, different state of mind. Be disciplined, be committed, but allow for flexibility, allow for the joy, allow for the satisfaction. Now, when it comes to training, this is a little simpler and easier than diet and nutrition is, in my opinion.

• 49:57Nick Bare?

  Now, this is the way that I approach it.

• 50:02Nick Bare?

  I again will treat it like an operational mission. There's the plan, there's the recon, there's the execution, then there's the evaluation and assessment.

• 50:18Nick Bare?

  So I will always recon before we get to location.

• 50:24Nick Bare?

  What is accessible?

• 50:27Nick Bare?

  Is there a gym? Is there a gym at the hotel that I'm staying at? Are there photos that I can view that shows what's in that gym? Are there gyms in the local area? Now, is there a gym a mile from me? Or is there a gym that isn't, you know, less than 20 miles from me? When is this gym open? What are the hours?

• 50:55Nick Bare?

  If it's a 24/7 access gym, okay, how do I get access to that 24/7 full access gym? I start asking these questions. I'll go on the website. I'll map out distances. I'll call to ask questions.

• 51:13Nick Bare?

  Because

• 51:15Nick Bare?

  if we think back to the beginning of this episode, talking about responsibilities over routines.

• 51:22Nick Bare?

  I have to ask myself questions like if I'm traveling for work and I have to be

• 51:29Nick Bare?

  at our first meeting at 7:00 AM.

• 51:35Nick Bare?

  Well, what does that mean for how much time I need to allocate prior to that meeting? To get my workouts in, my training, travel to and from, does it make more sense to run? Does it make more sense to lift? If I'm traveling for vacation with family, I obviously don't want to carve out family time to go to the gym.

• 51:59Nick Bare?

  So it's what is available and what is accessible?

• 52:06Nick Bare?

  Now, the way that I like to approach

• 52:12Nick Bare?

  my workouts while traveling. If it's a family vacation, which we do once, maybe twice a year.

• 52:21Nick Bare?

  I like to use these weeks as deload weeks. Now, a deload week is a week of training where you reduce volume and intensity.

• 52:34Nick Bare?

  Typically after a harder, more intense training block where volume's high. And it allows for your body to rest, recover, and prepare for the next training block.

• 52:49Nick Bare?

  So this doesn't mean that while we're traveling for vacation, I just stop training altogether. Cause movement and working out and training makes me feel good. But it allows for flexibility and for that week of training to look a little bit differently. So the week prior to vacation, prior to deload, I might increase volume and intensity a little bit extra in preparation for deload and also in preparation for the next training block.

• 53:21Nick Bare?

  So I like to time up my family vacations with a deload week, which I highly recommend. Cause then you also don't have the stress and pressure of trying to fit in all of these workouts and training sessions. While you're on vacation with your family, where you should be relaxing, spending quality time together. Now, if it's travel for work, it's in and out, or if I have more control of my time and schedule. Well, that might look a little bit differently.

• 54:00Nick Bare?

  I will always plan my training two weeks out prior to travel, if possible.

• 54:08Nick Bare?

  Because I will set up the week prior to travel

• 54:12Nick Bare?

  to shift some workouts around. So that I can prioritize strength training sessions. So that while I'm traveling, I just have to run.

• 54:25Nick Bare?

  If I get to the gym while traveling, that's like icing on the cake. That's a bonus.

• 54:32Nick Bare?

  So last week, for example, we went to, I guess, Fargo, North Dakota.

• 54:38Nick Bare?

  And there were a lot of things that we were working on doing while in Fargo. We had some some store visits we had to do. There were some meetings that we had. We had to speak and give a presentation to all of the Shields

• 54:57Nick Bare?

  store managers

• 55:00Nick Bare?

  at an event in the evening.

• 55:03Nick Bare?

  So I went into that travel trip with the expectations that we'll probably get to go to a gym once while there. And we identified the gym we were going to go to. It was called Beef Brand Gym. It was absolutely incredible Fargo, North Dakota.

• 55:23Nick Bare?

  But I reserved the other days of travel just for running. So earlier in the week, prior to that travel, I front loaded my strength training sessions. So that while traveling,

• 55:38Nick Bare?

  I only had to run. And any opportunity to go to the gym was, you know, icing on the cake. It was a bonus.

• 55:49Nick Bare?

  And I'll do this because one, the the ease and simplicity of being able to go run is much greater than that of going to the gym.

• 56:03Nick Bare?

  You know, when it comes to a gym, you're restricted by hours of operation, travel to and from. And if that conflicts with your work and travel schedule, it makes things challenging and hard. Running, I can lace up my shoes, go out the front door of the hotel or the Airbnb or wherever I'm at. And go run as far as I want to run back and be done on my terms in preparation for what the schedule of that day looks like. So I will always

• 56:38Nick Bare?

  front load or back load strength training days within a week around travel. So that all I have to do while traveling, if needed, is run.

• 56:51Nick Bare?

  And the earlier, the better. One of the things I've said over the years that I firmly believe is that we have to make the time so that we don't have to find the time later.

• 57:08Nick Bare?

  When I'm traveling,

• 57:11Nick Bare?

  no matter what it's for. If I'm going to make time for me to go run, go to the gym, get a workout in. I don't want this to

• 57:29Nick Bare?

  affect

• 57:31Nick Bare?

  my other obligations and responsibilities for that day.

• 57:36Nick Bare?

  So I'm going to forward think and backwards plan.

• 57:40Nick Bare?

  And set my alarm for when I have to be up to go run or train to make sure I'm done with my fitness. So it doesn't affect anyone else, whether in my business or my household or my family.

• 57:59Nick Bare?

  We have to make the time. So we don't have to find the time later.

• 58:05Nick Bare?

  So that's the way that I approach training. I'll plan my week. I'll either front load or back load strength training sessions.

• 58:17Nick Bare?

  If you have the ability based off the length of your travel. I will prioritize running while traveling. Because the ease and security of getting those sessions done.

• 58:35Nick Bare?

  If it is a long duration of travel and it's for vacation where family is the priority, I will utilize that week as a deload.

• 58:45Nick Bare?

  And then I will make the time. So I don't have to find the time later.

• 58:53Nick Bare?

  These are some of the the principles, the strategies and tactics that I incorporate while traveling. As I've mentioned a million times at this point, whether that travel is for family, vacation, work. Just the necessary travel of life, events, weddings, birthdays, stuff like that. I approach each one a little bit differently based off my responsibilities.

• 59:31Nick Bare?

  But just because you're traveling doesn't mean that your routines, systems and habits have to go out the window.

• 59:40Nick Bare?

  There's seven days in a week, not five.

• 59:45Nick Bare?

  Don't want more.