Staying Fit When You Live Out of a Suitcase

“How do you even find time for the gym?” I get asked that more than anything else.

From the outside, the nomad life looks like it would make training impossible. No regular gym, no regular schedule, a different city every month. In practice, it’s the other way round.

Having a body I can rely on is what makes all the moving sustainable, and the gym is one of the few things I won’t let travel take from me.

I didn’t always see it that way. In the early days, my body was the first thing to go.

Late flights, unfamiliar food, “I’ll get back into it once I’m settled.” Except you never really settle when your whole life is built around not settling.

I learned the slow way that when everything around you keeps changing, you need at least one thing that doesn’t.

For me, that’s training. The rest of the week hangs off it.

When your address keeps changing, your routine has to be the thing that stays put.

Why the routine matters more than the location

My mistake was thinking of fitness as a place. A gym I belonged to, a class I went to, a setup that only worked at home.

Take the place away and the whole habit falls apart. So I stopped tying it to a place and tied it to the week instead.

Now the rule is simple, and it travels: I train several times a week wherever I am, and I decide when before the week starts, not on the day. A hotel gym, a drop-in day pass, a bodyweight session in a tiny rented room, or a long walk when there’s honestly nothing else.

Which one doesn’t matter. What matters is that it isn’t up for debate, and it comes with me.

A routine that fits in a suitcase beats a perfect one that only works in one city.

Freedom only works if you build your own structure

People like to say the nomad life is about escaping structure. I’ve found it’s the opposite.

Being free to work from anywhere only works if I bring my own structure, because nothing out there is going to hand it to me. No office hours, no commute, no colleagues waiting for me at a desk.

If I don’t build the frame myself, the days just blur together.

Training is the most honest part of that frame. It’s the same small promise to myself, kept in a new place every time, and keeping it is what makes the rest feel like a life and not one long, exhausting trip.

In the weeks I train, I work better, sleep better and think more clearly. In the weeks I let it slide, the freedom starts to feel like drifting.

Discipline doesn’t fight the freedom. It’s what holds it up.

Anyone can work from anywhere for a month. Doing it for years takes a routine that travels with you.

Why Tokyo makes this easy

If you’re a nomad who wants to stay in shape while you’re here, you’re in luck. Tokyo is one of the most walkable cities in the world, so you move a lot just living an ordinary day.

There are gyms and drop-in options everywhere, from tiny neighborhood places to 24-hour chains.

And here’s a very Tokyo perk: most wards run their own public sports centers with gyms and pools you can use for a few hundred yen a session. For someone traveling light, that’s perfect.

Check the ward’s rules before you go, though: some require a first-time orientation session and registration before you can use the gym, some limit it to people who live, work or study in the ward (Nerima does both), and you may need indoor shoes and ID.

Then there’s the part I love most, the sento and onsen culture. A hot bath at the end of a long day does something for your body and your head that a foam roller never will. It costs a few hundred yen and there’s usually one within walking distance of the station.

One caveat if you have tattoos: some gyms, sento and especially onsen still turn away people with visible tattoos, so check the rules before you go.

Tokyo’s great for runners too, and I’d build that into any routine here. If running’s your thing, our guide to running Tokyo’s parks and the Palace loop is a good place to start.

Walking, running, cheap gyms and bathhouses. This city makes staying in shape feel less like a chore and more like part of living here.

It’s about health, not looks

Just to be clear, this isn’t about looking a certain way. It’s about not letting a life on the move quietly eat into my health, my energy, or my sense of being grounded.

My body is the one thing I really do take everywhere, more reliably than any apartment or any plan. Looking after it is how I make sure the freedom I chose stays freedom, and doesn’t slowly turn into something I need to recover from.

You’re allowed to build a life that moves. Just pack a routine that keeps you on your feet while it does.