A Simple Workout To Keep the Pounds Off During the Holidays

Holidays and fitness don’t always seem to go well together.

 

When you think of holidays, you tend to lose all the built-up determination and inhibitions in front of the festive delicacies and busy schedules that come with the holiday events.

 

You may start missing your training sessions and find it challenging to keep up with your otherwise rigid diet plans.

 

The holiday season soon becomes the cheat-season, followed by a generous addition of some extra pounds that you will try losing in the next year. But there are ways to break this cycle without giving up on the joys that holidays ought to bring.

 

Here are some tips and workout plans to help you keep your fitness in check while you binge on festivities.

 

A Simple 20-Minute Workout

 

Holidays are kind of enigmatic. It feels like you finally have time to enjoy your days free from work but end up feeling you have no time to do anything at all, especially your daily exercises.

 

So this short 20-minute intense workout should help you speed up your daily fitness routine when you are hard-pressed for time and can’t spend hours in the gym.

 

The complete set of exercises in this workout routine will help you burn at least 100 calories.

 

You will have four groups of exercises, starting with cardio warmups and then a focused exercise that helps tone your upper body, lower body, and abs.

 

Repeat each exercise five times and gradually improve it to 20 repetitions within the 20 minutes time frame.

 

Warmups

 

• High Knees Running

 

Try to simulate running on the spot with alternate knee push-ups taking your knees as high as possible in front of you.

 

• Full Star Jumps

 

Stand straight with your arms by your side. Now jump, and as you jump, spread your legs wide and hands raised. Land on your feet set wide apart and your hands touching vertically over your head. Try to maintain a width that is equal to shoulder width at the least.

 

• Squat Jumps

 

Start with a squatting position with your fingertips touching the floor. Then jump high, raising your hands above your head. Then come back down to the original position.

 

• Mountain Climbs

 

Like low burpees, this is exactly the mountain climbing movement where you bring each foot forward with its knee by the chest alternatingly. In between each repetition, slightly lift off both your feet of the ground for a brief moment.

 

 

Upper Body Exercises

 

• Press-ups

 

Facedown with your body flat on the floor with your hands placed alongside the shoulders. Press up as you exhale until your elbows touch, and then lower yourself slowly. This exercise works on your chest muscles.

 

• Overhand Pulls

 

Overhand pulls give work to your back muscles. Stand next to an open door with each foot on either side of the door panel and your face facing the edge. Hold the handles of the door on each side in an overhand grip. Now move your feet towards the front along the bottom of the door and pull back so that your arms are straight. This is how you start the exercise. Now, try to pull yourself so that your face is almost touching the edge of the door and get back to your original position.

 

You can follow up this exercise with a slight variation of using an underhand grip.

 

• Tricep Dips

 

Find a good chair that won’t give up when you push on it. Sit on the chair’s edge, gripping the front edge of the chair. Keep your legs straight and heels on the floor and move forward. Now give a dip with your arms as your elbows flare outwards. Now lower yourself slowly and get back to the original position. Do make sure that the chair is stable enough to support your weight.

 

 

Lower Body

 

• One Leg Squats

 

Get your quadriceps into shape with this simple exercise. Stand with one leg and keep the other turned up with the foot resting up on a chair. Lower your body by bending the standing leg as you feel the tightness in your muscles. Now go back to the original position and do this with the alternate leg.

 

 

• High Rises

 

Lay down on the floor on your back and lift your legs and rest on a chair. Now lift your hips off the floor such that your torso and upper legs are aligned. Keep the position for 30 seconds and get back to the starting position.

 

Abs

 

• Planks

 

Lie flat on the floor face down, and then lift yourself off the floor while resting your body on your elbows and toes. Keep your body flat, and try not to sag in the middle. Hold the position for at least 20 seconds.

 

• Straight Leg Lifts

 

Lay down on the floor, keep your feet together and raise them as far as you can. Raise and lower your legs while you keep your hips on the floor. Try not to add any swing or momentum as you move up and down your legs.

 

 

Imagine Reaching Your Health & Fitness Goals & Loving Every Minute of It….

 

All the exercises outlined in the given workout routine are quite simple and easy to perform at home. You can get more insights into the best exercises suitable for your needs by working with the right fitness therapist. 

 

Our Fort Myers fitness trainers at Back In Motion Physical Therapy & Performance will help you get started. We also suggest ways to deal with strengthening your muscles to avoid back pain. 

 

Find the best way to keep up with fitness when you have suffered injuries or any specific medical conditions in the past. Talk to us now by choosing one of the options below.

 

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