Time is a gift we’d all like to get over the holiday season,  Unfortunately, that is beyond my scope of practice, but….I CAN help you maintain all of the effort you have put in over this past year building lean muscle tissue and losing fat!

You need every bit of your lean muscle mass because it accounts for about 60-75% of your daily calorie burning. Think about this…if you let yourself lose your muscle from neglecting your workouts, and continue to put in the same (or probably more calories) this month, your body has no choice but to pack on ugly, un-healthy, un-wanted body fat!  And if that’s not enough incentive for you…just think about that dreaded word none of us ever wants to hear regarding our progress (or hairline)…regression!  Remember how you felt when you first started exercising?  (Think elevated Toilet seat).  You swore you’d never let that happen again!

Don’t worry.  There’s many ways to maintain or increase the number of calories you burn over the holiday season.  As usual, my advice is to have a plan.  If you already know what you are going to do in a given situation, all you have to do is act on the plan. Taking the time to plan is the hard part.  Once in place, implementing it is easy.  Use the strategies below to help formulate your plan.  The beautiful thing is that these tips work! Use the strategies below to maintain and/or increase your current amount of lean muscle mass and maximize your daily calorie burn to best protect yourself against the deadly holiday bloat!

1.) It only takes One!  (Intense strength training session per week that is)

Studies show that you can stay buff through the holidays by performing a single, whole body intense, strength-training workout a week..  Then, in January, go back to at least 3 weight training workouts per week and three cardio interval workouts to maximize lean muscle development and burn fat!

2.) Get the Reps in

Here’s an interesting fact for you.  Your body cannot differentiate between 100 push-ups performed in a row versus 100 total push-ups performed in a day. If you truly cannot find 20 minutes to work out one day, split it up!  Just get your reps in. Grab those minutes between changing linens for your guests and taking your Grandma’s sour cream sugar cookies out of the oven.  Bang out 10 push ups, 10 rows and 20 squats!  Do this several more times in the day.  It will add up to BIG effects over the day, creating similar muscle building effects as if you did them all at the same time.

 I’m going to give you some multi-joint, compound movements to hit as much of your body’s major muscle groups in the shortest amount of time possible!  The only thing you will need is your body weight and adjustable dumbbells and/or a resistance band.  Do this up to three times a week.  You can use the plan below as a template to build your own “Get the Reps in” workout.  Adjust it, as you need to for your own fitness level.

Plan A and B are given to provide variety.  You can choose to alternate between them if you so desire.  Remember, either get your reps in all at once, or split them up as you need to into sets.

The Get Your Reps in For the Holidays Workout Template

Plan A-

Body weight Squats or Hip Extensions: 100-200 total

Push-ups: 50-100 total

DB/Band Rows: 50-100 total

Plan B-

Body weight Lunges or Single-Leg Hip Extensions: 50-100/total per leg

Off Chair/Couch Dips: 50-100 total

DB/Band Curls: 50-100 total (feel free to swap pull-ups or pull-downs here if you have access to the equipment)

Here’s a video of the exercises in case you don’t know how to do these exercises:  (Some of it appears to have come across headless…who knows!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UDNYeMRJFQ

3.)   Use Your Own Power!

We have become so accustomed to using convenience items to make our lives easier…and this has directly contributed to packing the weight on America.  This holiday season make it a point to not use them! Do as much using your own power that you can!  Chop you own veggies, stir your own batter, ride a bike,  or walk. Now I don’t mean to say that you cannot drive to the mall during the holidays…. however, when you get there, park as far away as you can so that you will be forced to walk to the mall.  Avoid the elevators and escalators and use those stairs!  If you stay in a hotel, choose a high floor and walk up every time J  Give the kiddies a break and carry your own groceries in from the car.  Stay on your feet as much as possible and resist the temptation to let a machine do your work for you.  (O.K., you can still use the washing machine),

4.) Get Involved!

The holidays in our family have proven fantastic opportunities for playing outside…Football, Basketball, Tennis, walking the Lake.  Talk about an awesome way to burn calories without even thinking about it!  Our children perform high intensity intervals by accident!  Don’t jut sit there watching…Get involved!  No, you might not be the greatest touchdown contributor, but you’ll have a blast burning calories and fat and building some amazing memories.

All these calories here and there truly do add up and could make a difference between your thighs fitting in your pants or ripping your pants by the time the clock strikes midnight this New Year!

January is coming!  Be on the look out for information regarding our Strategic Bootcamps!  Take the thinking out of it and let us plan for you.