Fitness Plans – Stay On the Training Train At Christmas

The Christmas/New Year period is the most productive time for fitness industry cliché. Fitness and lifestyle magazines are full of mostly good advice about how to have a healthy Christmas dinner, and how to lose those extra pounds once the decorations are back in the loft, and the tree is on the compost heap.

Motivation to get started after Christmas can be easy to come by. New gym membership, new sneakers, new outlook. But if you are already in a fitness program when Christmas rolls around, it can be a difficult time. Social and family commitments mount up in the festive period, and rightly take priority over training.

Your diet & nutritional program may also stroll off the straight and narrow on a regular basis during Christmas. This all might mean that your progress stalls, or you may even take a step back, and that can have a heavy impact upon your motivation to continue.

Many will see a little extra body weight, while aerobic performance or performance in the gym may suffer. I have seen many trainers programs grind to a halt during such a period, and never really get going again. Here’s some advice on how to push through to the other side.

Plan For Christmas As Part Of Your Fitness Program

Plan For Christmas As Part Of Your Fitness Program

Keep Your Eyes on the Prize

Remember that Christmas will be over in a couple of weeks, but that you have longer term goals for better fitness and health. In other words, take the long view. Ok, you may have put on some weight, and your training may have been put on hold, but the rest will do your body no harm, and you can get back into your training with renewed vigor.

Remember the things that motivated you in the first place, and focus on them. Look back at the free Seven Secrets to Getting Fit and Losing Weight Fast! Report you received from GetFitFast.com for a reminder of how to set and follow your fitness goals, and reset your own aims.

The reality is that life has a tendency to throw a spanner into the works of any routine from time to time. For your program to be a lasting relationship, and not a 6 month on, 6 month off cycle, be flexible and pick up your program when you can. Yes, your progress may stall a little, but if you take a short break, you will keep a lot of fitness and conditioning gains, and your body will benefit from the rest.

Just Do It

Getting back into the gym after a break can be hard. You can get a sinking feeling that it is going to hurt more both before and after a workout. You might also feel that you will not be as fit, or that you might not be able to lift as much weight. The important thing is that you get back into the gym for that first post break workout and that you have a positive experience that will leave you wanting to get back in there for more.

That means managing your expectations a little. Don’t expect to go in there and pick up where you left off. Ease yourself back into it and set yourself goals in the first few workouts you know you can achieve. In my Resistance Training series of blogs, I talked about adaption training, and this is a mini form of that – getting the body used to the rigors of training again.

If you are lifting weights, lift lighter and for more repetitions. This allows your muscles to re-adapt to the movements, and will minimize delayed on set muscle soreness (DOMS) after the workout. For aerobic exercise, run, row, or cycle at an easy pace. Steer clear of high intensity until you are back into the swing of your program.

Drink In Those Endorphins

If you can get into the gym and set yourself achievable goals, the endorphins will do the rest. I know the feeling of missing workouts very well, and it can leave you feeling low, and that working out just isn’t worth it. But once you get back in the gym, and work out, these feelings can very quickly turn to positive ones, helped along by the feel-good hormones that are released during exercise.

Everyone takes a break from their training program now and again – even elite athletes. Enjoy your break and try not to worry too much about your program – you have earned a rest. But when the time comes to get back into it, get back on the train!

A couple of weeks off is not reason to derail your plans for better health and fitness, and as soon as you get back to training, you will feel more positive. You can readjust your goals to keep you rolling forward to your health and fitness destination.