You are not the only person to feel boxed in by the holiday season. Although this is a joyous time for celebration, we have all gotten bogged down with the extra activity of shopping, cooking and finishing up work projects. However, if you have made an effort during the year to create your best body ever, you don’t want to spoil it within one month. The risk of losing cherished muscle mass means a lower metabolism (your resting metabolic rate makes up 60-75% of your daily caloric burn) and the risk of storing up body fat. In addition, lack of exercise will also mean a regression of strength and power while performing daily activities and playing sports. Lucky for all of us, there are sneaky ways to avoid the black hole of inactivity. Below are outlined strategies to help you maintain your current fitness levels and fight off excess baggage.
1.) Complete at least one intense strength training session per week
When this time of the year creeps up on us, maintenance is the key. Let’s be honest, most of us are not in a position during the holidays to drop massive amounts of weight or even keep up with a flawless six-day per week workout routine. If you are pressed for time, one effective strength workout per week is an effective way to preserve your current levels of strength and lean muscle mass. So, to make this happen, shoot for at least one good workout per week that includes strength training and bouts of high intensity training. Here is an example:
Complete 4 Rounds of the following circuit. Rest for 20-30 seconds between sets and 1-2 minutes between rounds:
1. Clean, Squat and Press (5-8 reps)
2. Pull ups or modified Body Back Rows (5-8 reps)
3. Front/Back Lunges (8 reps ea. Leg)
4. Turkish Get-ups (3-4 reps ea. Side)
After you complete the 4 rounds, perform 8-10 sets of Kettlebell Swings for 30 seconds on/30 seconds rest
This type of training will help to prevent unwanted regressions in fitness. To best prevent weight gain, aim for three total body strength workouts per week. To maximize fat burning, perform three total body strength workouts per week and also perform three cardio interval workouts per week on non strength-training days.
2.) Hit Your Totals
Confusing your body will do no harm. It cannot differentiate between 100 push-ups performed in a row versus 100 total push-ups performed in a day. Therefore, when you honestly cannot find a 20-minute time slot to complete an effective total body workout, search out 2-3 minute chunks of time during the day to execute some repetitions of big bang exercises. Instead of taking a break to check your email, knock out 10 squats, 10 push-ups and 10 Turkish Get-ups. Now do this 3-5 times throughout the day and by the end you will have burned the same amount of calories in addition to creating similar muscle building effects as if you did all of the exercises at once during a single workout.
It is important to note that this “Hit Your Totals” routine is merely a back-up option to the ideal 20-30 minute interval training workouts which are scientifically proven to burn nine times more fat than long slow distance exercise. Short rest periods between exercises create the optimal hormonal environment for rapid fat loss and lean muscle gain, where as the long rest periods (full recovery) between movements do not. However, during holiday crunch times, reality sets in and it comes down to effective (“Hit Your Totals”) versus optimal (Total Body Circuit Interval Training Workouts). Just don’t get caught up in the additional category of lazy!
When designing your workouts, choose multi-joint, compound movements that hit as much of your body’s major muscle groups in the shortest amount of time possible (e.g. squats, deadlifts, lunges, push-ups, rows, etc.). Use the plan below as guide to build your own “Hit Your Totals” workout. Adjust the repetition ranges accordingly based on your current strength levels. Perform this plan up to three times per week, resting a day between workouts. Make sure to alternate between Plan A and Plan B for more variety. You can either hit your total by doing one exercise first (e.g. perform push-ups rest-pausing as needed until you get 100 total), or by simply employ circuit style training (e.g. 20 squats, 10 push-ups, 10 rows, repeat 10x throughout the day to hit your totals).
The Hit Your Total Workout For The Holidays
Plan A: 3-5 rounds throughout the day
Body weight Squats: 50-100 total
Push-ups: 40-100 total
Turkish Get-ups: 9-15 each side total
Plan B (if you have weights): 3-5 rounds throughout the day
Deadlifts: 18-30 total
Dumbbell Renegade Rows with Push-up in between: 15-25 ea. Arm
Get-up Sit-up: 24-40 each side total
3.) Boycott The Machines
Machines are to exercise what spell checker is to vocabulary. They do half the work for us and make us dumber in the process. Our bodies were not meant to sit and press in a fixed range of motion. In the real world our joints need to be prepared to stabilize and be strong on their own, without the help of a bench or machine. This holiday season, and forever into the future, make it a point to not use them! And this doesn’t just go for the equipment you find in the gym. I am also talking about cars, elevators and leaf blowers. Park further away at the mall, take the steps and get out and rake the yard. The more you move, the more you burn and the more you stay young. Stand up as much as possible and resist the temptation to let a robot or machine do the work for you.
4.) Play outdoors!
Instead of opting to sit on the couch and become chatty Cathy, challenge your family and friends to a game of tag football, a snowball fight or take a walk. It is not important that you get your heart rate up to an intense level but instead just get off your butt! If you are outdoors and playing like a kid, you are getting more Vitamin D from the sun, you’re burning more calories and you are creating more memories than metabolizing your food. Once again, all these calories here and there truly do add up and could make a difference between you fitting in your pants or ripping your pants by the time the clock strikes midnight this New Year!Call 910.231.5011 or email shawn@headstrongathletics.com for more information on our group kettlebell classes and personal training.
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