How to Fit In Your Workouts During the Holiday

How to Fit in Workouts During the Holiday Season

You can stick to your action plan to transform your body, mind, and life even during the busiest time of the year. After all, if there is any time you want to feel, look, and function your best, it would be during the busiest (and most likely to be photographed) time of the year. Here are my top three tips on getting workouts in during this busy season.

#1: Get your workout off of the” to do” list and on your calendar.

Schedule a workout appointment to increase the chances of doing your workout. Whether you go to boot camp class, meet with your trainer, or work out with a buddy. Scheduling the number of workouts you want to do in your calendar ensures that there is room for them in your daily plan. For greater chances of success, schedule your workout first thing in the morning even if it means getting up 20 minutes earlier. Very few emergencies will happen before the day gets started so you are more likely to get your workout done.

#2: Experiment with shorter, more intense workouts.

If you are short on time, a quick 5-15 minute workout really can be just enough to get your heart pumping and sweat flowing while keeping you mentally in the transformation game. Getting your workouts in, even if they are super short, can help keep motivation and dietary compliance high so give one of the short workouts at the end of this post a try.

#3: Make it a family affair.

Informal “playercise” with your family is a much better option than skipping your workouts. Play tag, chase, or hide and seek with your children or organize a game of flag football or active Wii game tournament.

Short Holiday Workouts

Start each workout with this shortened warm up.

Short Warm Up:

Repeat this circuit twice with no rest.

10 Bodyweight Squats

10 Pushups

10 Reverse Lunges

Workout #1

Do as many rounds of this each superset as you can in 5 minutes. Rest only as long as needed to catch your breath. If possible, continue for the entire 5 minutes without rest. Rest 60 seconds before going on to the second superset.

Superset #1:

Squat & Press (8 reps)

Deadlifts (12 reps)

Superset #2:

Pushup Row (5 reps each arm)

Hip Bridge and Overhead Press Combo (10 reps)

Workout #2: Equipment Free

Do as many rounds of this each superset as you can in 5 minutes. Rest only as long as needed to catch your breath. If possible, continue for the entire 5 minutes without rest. Rest 60 seconds before going on to the second superset.

Superset#1:

Y-Squats (overhead squats without weight- 12 reps)

Plank Jacks (10 reps)

Superset#2:

Burpees (10 reps)

Alternating Lunge Jumps (5 reps each leg)

NOTE: If you are short on time, do only one of the supersets in the workout for a 5-minute workout. If you have extra time and want a challenge, do all 3 or 4 of the supersets for as much as a 20-minute workout.