Keeping Your Fitness Routine During the Holidays

Keeping a fitness routine in tact on a daily basis is hard enough without throwing in the madness of Christmas, New Year’s and unpredictable winter weather. Summer bodies are made in the winter so staying on top of the workout game is a must. Here’s 5 ways to beat the end of year chaos: 1.    Have a plan: You can never get to your destination if you don’t have directions to get there. When we are trying to accomplish something most times it fails because we don’t have a solid plan. Establish your goals (be specific as possible) and outline how you’re going to get there ON PAPER. For example, mine would be something like this. Goals:

• Lose 15 pounds
• Complete the Rock N’ Roll Country Music Marathon in under 5 hours
• Practice yoga twice a week

Action Plan

• Follow Hanson’s Marathon Training Plan
• Choose specific day/time to attend yoga sessions. Plug into calendar
• Evaluate eating habits and develop healthy eating plan

Next steps:

• Start marathon training week of Dec. 9
• Register for yoga classes
• Set aside time to develop healthy eating plan

But don’t let this be in vain. Be sure to revisit your goals/plan every week to stay on task and make adjustments. Nix anything that isn’t working so you don’t get discouraged or frustrated and give up. 2.    Try Something New:  I get bored really easily so during the winter months I make an extra effort to try indoor activities that I wouldn’t normally try during the summer months. This year I’m taking advantage of all the cool things Atlanta has to offer like indoor rock climbing and barre classes. I’ll also be setting up my indoor cycling trainer to keep it spicy.  3.    Train for a Spring Race: For me part of staying on track will be training for the Country Music Marathon in April 2014. Find a Spring race and commit to the training for an easy way to stay motivated and on task.  4.    Find an accountability partner: Sometimes you just need someone to harass you.  My accountability partner happens to live with me (my husband) so when I’m feeling not so motivated he has no problem harassing me, I mean motivating me to stick to my plan. Find someone that doesn’t mind getting on your case when you fall off to give you the extra push you need.  5.     Get the Family Involved: Hey! No one said you have to do this alone! Get the family involved. Find activities you can do together like ice skating, visiting your local inflatable bounce house or putting up Christmas decorations. Anything that gets you moving counts!   How do you stay motivated during the holidays?

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