Sound off – The calm before the storm

Why do my local nursery and Super Fresh have Christmas Tress? Really? It’s not even Thanksgiving yet. Could we wait one more week for goodness sake?!

We’re in the calm before the storm now. Next week begins the 4 week frenzy the will culminate with Christmas and New Years.  And for many people that means four weeks of slacking off their workouts – missed classes and workout sessions, all in the name of “getting ready for the holidays”. Seriously, what level of preparation prevents you from putting in 60, 30 0r even 15 minutes a few days a week to improve or maintain your health and fitness?

I get it that we all have more commitments this time of year – parties, shopping, decorating, but your workout simply can’t be a casualty of the season.

If you know me, you know that I’m a big fan of short high intensity circuits. This type of workout isn’t a permanent means to a fitness end but it is an effective solution when you find yourself time crunched. To get the benefits of this type of circuit you must “go hard”; in other words keep the speed and intensity high during the entire circuit.

Devote 20 minutes 3-4 days a for the next 5 weeks. Consider it training for the next big holiday sale – strong and fit, you’ll be able to outpace the other shoppers at the mall.

Holiday workout “sprint”:

Do each of the following exercises for 1 minute. Rest 1 minute after Exercise #5 and then repeat the circuit (including rest) two more times.

  1. Burpees
  2. Walking lunges
  3. Bear crawls
  4. Bicycles
  5. Chair dips