We'ver all seen the extreme unraveling of the fittest bodies during the holiday season. There are two primary reasons why people get fat at this time of year:
Abundance of calorie-dense food. If a hidden camera were placed in your refrigerator, pantry, or cupboard during the holiday season, you’d notice a significant growth in the amounts of foods that are low in nutrients but high in calories, such as meats with heavy sauces, candies and chocolates, or gift baskets with processed, packaged foods that are coated in oils. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying these foods, but out-of-sight is out-of-mind and in-sight is, well, you get the idea!
Busy schedules. Social events, shopping and other obligations tend to abound during the holidays, and time spent driving, flying, standing in line, socializing and partying is time that you can’t exercise. To make matters worse, as stress from a busy schedule builds, your propensity to fall victim to cravings for calorie-dense foods increases.
How to Stay Fit During the Holidays
Here’s the good news: among a multitude of other healthy effects, exercise helps to control food cravings, de-stress the body, and increase calorie-burning. The question becomes: which holiday exercises are best? Here are three quick tips:
Tip# 1: Choose exercises that move as many body parts as possible. My wife and I were recently traveling and we had 45 minutes to hit the gym before getting on the plane. While I launched into a combination of jumping jacks and squats with overhead press, my dear wife began moving an elastic band with one arm. I gently reminded her that we had a short period of time to boost our metabolism, and she quickly joined me. During the rest of our time, we did lunges, treadmill running, rowing, push-up variations, and exercises that used multiple joints. If you need creativity, check out this page for some of my favorite multi-joint exercises.
Tip# 2: Choose exercises that move body parts quickly. I recently tweeted from the Get-Fit Guy twitter page that super-slow training, a mode of exercise in which you move in a slow and controlled fashion, gets great results…in twice the time. During the busy holiday season, when you need to get in a quick workout that burns as many calories as possible, the act of moving explosively will ensure you burn more calories during the workout and for the hours following the workout. Include moves such as medicine ball slams and throws, lunge jumps, treadmill sprints and fast bicycling.
Tip #3: Choose exercises that you don’t usually do. Though you need to use caution so you don’t injure yourself trying something too advanced for you, if you choose exercises your body is unfamiliar with, you’ll burn more calories in less time, because your body won’t be as efficient at those exercises. So if you usually benchpress, try standing cable chest presses, or if you usually squat, try around the world. Don’t be afraid to branch out--it will make your body better, and sharpen your mental skills too!
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