Going home for Christmas is often synonymous with the idea that you’re going to relax and eat a lot of good food for several days, and enjoy the company of friends and family. But what we all seem to forget when the holidays come round is that we should still try to stick to our fitness routines to ensure that working out doesn’t become a challenge when we get back home.
While training with a punching bag might be impossible, especially if your parents’ home isn’t equipped with one, there are some tips and tricks you can use to stay in shape even at Christmas and even with all of the yummy meals you’re going to indulge in.
To make it slightly easier for you to come up with a plan, we’ve put together a list of pieces of advice you may want to take into consideration. Just remember — excesses can have a negative effect on your health and mind and can ruin your progress by convincing you that having an extra cookie isn’t all that bad for you.
Try to stick to a schedule
Part of being committed to your cause is related to sticking to a plan. Even if you go out of town for the holidays, you need to know for sure that once you get back to your usual life, you won’t have ruined your chances of losing weight or building some muscle.
If you like jogging, for instance, you could jot down the specific days where you intend to go out running. You can do it even if your childhood home is crowded and packed with family members. It’s tempting to forego exercising, especially at Christmas, but if you miss out on just two days in a row, you can build unhealthy habits instead of healthy ones.
Make sure you exercise at least 15 minutes a day
Another way of going about things is to split down your exercise routine and try to keep in shape just by doing medium to hard exercises for just fifteen minutes a day. There are many popular weight-loss plans these days that call for only seven minutes of exercise on a daily basis, but the intensity of the workout is far greater than many athletic people’s regular one.
By making sure you do exercise for a quarter of an hour, you’ll at least have a clean conscience, and you will be able to enjoy your food and rest a lot more. So, this method is good for the body and the mind, too.
Make use of any equipment you might have available
Unless you do plan to go to the gym even when you’re on vacation, the chances of you having the opportunity to work out with fitness equipment are slim, to say the least. Perhaps it might pay off to do a bit of research on calisthenics even before Christmas comes around.
Calisthenics is based on the exercise that one can do with as little equipment as possible. Just make sure you have a good pair of gloves to ensure you avoid any injuries in that area.