Written by Josh Hoodless
If you can honestly stick to your regular exercise routine over the Christmas and New Year period uninterrupted, then that’s great!
But for most of us, the holiday period involves work parties, family, friends, more parties, eating, shopping, decorating and much more.
Something has to give, and it’s usually your workouts.
Time to get festive and maybe try a new routine. The goal is to maintain!
Try a new full body three-day split program at the gym with different repetition ranges each day. You can fit those three gym workouts into each busy period of six-10 days. That way, you can train three days in a row or once every three days so your schedule won’t matter as much.
The goal is not to make any progress but to maintain your levels that you worked hard for all year.
When it comes to cardio, stretching, playing sport other training modes, make sure you fit them in when you can. It’s a possibility that you don’t know when your next workout is so make it a good one.
Only have 30 minutes for your gym workout? Do big compound movements, like deadlifts or squats, that use a lot of muscle and also burn calories rather than just pumping the guns.
Putting on extra kilos of fat doesn’t come from just one big Christmas buffet, it comes from the day’s to weeks to months total calorie intake.
A good tip here is to cut down on your calories during the day and prepare for the night time feast!
Let’s face it, the boss has paid for an open bar with whatever expensive food options that takes your fancy and you say no?
Mum and the family has just spent two days preparing the Christmas feast and you say no? No way! Enjoy yourself during the festive season.
Here’s a tip: Fill up on whole foods like vegetables, meats, potato dishes and salads. That way if you’re really full, you’ll have less chance to eat the high calorie dessert or fit another beer in.
Speaking of beer, try a lower calorie beer if you’re having more than a couple.
And avoid the high sugar/calorie mixers with your alcoholic beverages. Less refine carbs, less refine sugar. You got this!
Everything in moderation.
Have fun, but be smart. Think feast or famine rather than just constantly grazing. Whenever you get to exercise, make it worthwhile. Whenever you get to indulge, make sure you haven’t blown your total calories completely out of the water.
Do you want to spend the first six months of 2021 trying to get back in shape or maybe just January?