Christmas is just around the corner. Most of us are ready for it and ready for the joys of the festive season. For most people this normally includes festive drinks with workmates and friends, a mince pie or seven and less time, and motivation to lace-up your trainers and do any exercise.
As Christmas approaches it is very easy to slip up with your exercise schedule, get comfy on the sofa (which is starting to develop a perfect imprint of your bum!) and before you know it, it’s mid-January and you’re heavier and less fit than you were just three weeks ago, but with no motivation to do anything about it! Apparently, stats say that the average Brit puts on a whopping 5lb over Christmas!
So here are my top tips to get you out of this funk and exercising before the festive break!
Justification
Justification is one of the simplest methods for helping you to get up and get moving. Over Christmas there are plenty of indulgences that creep in from advent calendar chocolates, boxes of Quality Street, roast dinners and a few too many beverages.
Consequently, try and then justify the treats you may succumb to by going for a 20 minute run or popping into a bootcamp session for 45 minutes. Then you have it a guilt free mince pie, whilst also making sure you maintain some exercise routine that you can carry over into the New Year.
New Year Goals
New Year is the time of year in which we all make resolutions and set goals for ourselves, particularly when it comes to weight loss and exercise. Imagine how much easier it will be if you have been able to keep a base level of fitness and already have an exercise routine that you can maintain or even add to. It is always so much harder to get back into exercise after a period of complete abandonment, plus, fitness goes quicker than it comes.
Challenges & Accountability
If you really want to avoid getting stuck in an exercise rut over Christmas, then set yourself a challenge and be accountable for it. For example, tell people you know that you are going to go for a run on Christmas day for 45 minutes. This will mean that you have challenged yourself to run for 45 minutes, but also people know that you are going to do it, meaning it will be a lot harder for you to wimp out.
Indoor Training
If you are one of these that gets put off by the wind and the cold outside during the winter, then take it indoors to avoid convincing yourself exercise cannot be done. Lots of leisure centre will allow a ‘free-trial’ day in which you can go for a swim or use some of their facilities. Furthermore, take a trip down to Fitterbody Bootcamp and have a brilliant experience that will get you sweating, but feeling amazing afterwards
The thing is if you’ve been exercising for a while, your body is bound to need a break. It’s good to give your muscles some time to get over the heavy training that you have done throughout the year. And Christmas is the perfect time to give your body that break. BUT a short break does not mean you have to write off the whole month of December with limited exercise, lots of booze and crappy foods. Please don’t undo the hard work that has gone into getting you to where you are now.
Hope you guys can keep up the good work over the Christmas period, ready to tackle the New Year with the momentum you carry over during this really fun time of year.
Kristian