Don't Let Your Workout Take A Vacation This Holiday Season

People make excuses for skipping training year round, but if you’re looking for the one time of year when there are more excuses flying round more than any other, you’ve found it – the holidays.

There’s no doubt that with so much going on, it can be really difficult to stick to your training schedule throughout the holidays. But the key is to be flexible, adaptable and to commit to working out.

You’ve put in so much work in the first 51 weeks of the year, why waste week 52? Let’s face it, your diet probably isn’t going to be bang on point over the holiday period, and while you may utilize damage limitation tactics, those pounds are still going to creep on, especially if you let your training slip.

Let’s tackle the different excuses for not working out over the holidays first, then delve into the ultimate short, sharp and effective holiday workouts that will allow you to spend maximum time attending to your holiday duties, while still pumping iron, breaking a sweat and burning those stubborn fat cells.

“Christmas is a Time for Indulgence”

It may be true that the holidays are the one time of year you feel you can really let your hair down, relax, de-stress and forget about work, but this time should only be indulgent if you’ve put the work in for the rest of the year.

If you’ve skipped training sessions, cut your gym time short to get home and watch TV, slacked on your diet and not really given it your all, the holidays are actually the one time when you should look not only to minimize weight gain and maintain fitness, but to actually get fitter and stronger. You’ll have some time off for work, and the gym will likely be quieter, so make the most of this, get in there and work your butt off.

“I’m Going to Put on Weight Anyway”

This is a biggie – damage control. Hands up – who’s going to follow their diet to a tee over the holidays, not go over their usual calorie intake, skip dessert, avoid chocolate and candy and pass up on extra helpings of turkey?

Yep, thought so – no one.

And that’s fine, the holidays should be a time when you can take a break from your usual routine.

It only takes an excess of 3,500 calories to put on a pound of fat, and most people will manage five to six pounds in the couple of weeks surrounding Christmas and new year alone. If you can get in the gym everyday and burn off 500 or so calories, you can save yourself a good two to three pounds of fat gain.

“I’ve Got Family Round”

If there’s one thing that people get more stressed about than work, it’s family. No family is entirely normal and functional, and there are bound to be rows over Christmas presents, fractions at the dinner table and arguments over who gets the last piece of pie, but if there’s one thing that can distress you, exercise can.

Make yourself a much calmer person and be nicer to your family by distressing with a calorie-torching workout.

“I’m Too Busy”

Everyone’s busy, but this isn’t a valid excuse. It really doesn’t take that long to get a super effective workout done, as you’ll see in the section below.

Fighting Fat With Holiday Workouts

We’ve established that time is of the essence over the holidays – you want a routine you can get done in minimum time, but with maximum effect. Here are three quick, but highly effective holiday workouts you can try. Aim to train at least three times a week over the holidays, switching between the three workouts every session.

Tabata

Designed by a Japanese exercise researcher, Tabata is the ultimate in butt-kicking workouts.

It only lasts 4-minutes, and while you may scoff at this, they’ll likely be the hardest 4-minutes of your life. A Tabata is pretty simple to set up. Pick a multi-joint exercise (for this example we’ll use body-weight squats.)

- 20 seconds as many squats as you can
- 10 seconds rest
- Repeat 8 times

And that’s it. Very short, but very effective. The best exercise to use in a Tabata are squats, kettlebell or dumbbell swings, burpees, medicine ball slams, pushups, alternate lunges, hill sprints, step-ups, clean and presses and squat thrusts.

Ideally you’d get four different Tabatas done in a workout, but they beauty of a Tabata workout is that even just one has huge benefits. You could knock out a Tabata pushup workout while waiting for your potatoes to boil!

Full-Body Weights Workout

Weight training is a surprisingly good calorie-burner. Not only does it burn calories while you’re doing it, it also gives you a massive metabolism boost, meaning you carry on burning them long after your session’s finished. Full body workouts make weight training even more metabolically advantageous too.

- Back Squats or Front Squats – 5 sets of 5 reps
- Deadlifts or Lunges – 5 sets of 5 reps
- Bench Presses or Pushups – 5 sets of 5 reps
- Barbell or Dumbbell Rows – 5 sets of 5 reps
- Overhead Presses or Dips – 5 sets of 5 reps
- Chin-ups or Pull-downs – 5 sets of 5 reps

Use a weight that allows you to just about complete all the sets and reps with and aim to go a little heavier each workout.

Metabolic Circuits

Metabolic circuit training is the perfect blend of weights and cardio. You get the strength and muscle increases of a weights workout, plus the fitness, fat loss and calorie burn of a cardio session.

The rules are simple – pick six high intensity exercises that between them hit your whole body, and perform each for 30 seconds at maximum intensity. For example –

- Kettlebell Swings
- Jump lunges
- Incline Pushups
- Medicine Ball Slams
- Resistance Band Rows
- Burpees

Rest for 90 seconds, then go again. Start with three rounds and add a round each session. Once you can do six rounds, bump the time up to 40 seconds per exercise.

Holiday training doesn’t have to be time-consuming, boring or even feel like a chore. With the right attitude and approach to training you can minimize the usual holiday weight gain, enjoy your time in the gym, and possibly even come out the other side fitter, stronger and leaner.