Exercise During the Holidays: Tips for Maintaining Your Routine

The holidays for Maintaining Your Routine are here and if you haven’t made your fitness routine a priority, it can be very easy to fall off the wagon as friends and family get together and enjoy food and drink.

But there are things you can do to maintain your fitness routine over the holidays and throughout the coming year. Here are some tips on how to maintain your routine over the holidays so that you can stay healthy and happy in the new year.

Set goals

Have you been focusing on improving your health and fitness over recent months? If so, now’s a good time to look at how you plan to maintain that routine as we head into a long holiday weekend.

Take baby steps

It’s tempting to make New Year’s resolutions that promise dramatic, life-changing improvements.

But a study conducted by Mariano de la Iglesias, Ph.D., professor of psychology at DePaul University, found that unrealistic goals can actually backfire and make us less likely to achieve them than if we had made more modest goals.

So, forget about trying to overhaul your entire health routine overnight and take it one step at a time. If you usually start exercising by running around your neighborhood,

shoot for taking just one short walk before you tackle an actual run, and after a month or so of working up to that point, increase the distance as needed while still keeping pace with daily steps taken.

Adjust or alter routines

Life gets busy during the holidays. And, while there’s no time like today to get started on your health and fitness routine, that might be a little easier said than done.

If you find yourself pressed for time, don’t worry you can still stick with your program, even if you only have five minutes each day.

So you’re on a diet, but you have no idea how many ounces are in a pound. No problem! You can find out all of this and more with this infographic that breaks down the weight of conversions by nationality.

Mix things up

If you’re a beginner, try exercising in a different way. If you run or walk on treadmills all the time, join a group fitness class like cycling or yoga instead through Gym Management Software.

Sign up for a dance lesson even if you’ve never danced before! Trying new things can lead to better results because they offer more variety in terms of exercise intensity and they will also keep your workouts from getting stale.

Check out gyms in different areas of town so that you can mix it up even more and stay away from getting bored with your routine.

Cross train and be consistent

One of my favorite fitness strategies is cross-training, which involves mixing up my exercise routine.

One day I might go for a run, then hop on an elliptical machine and lift weights at home later in the week.

Not only does cross-training keep me interested and motivated there’s no boredom factor, but it also helps me get fitter faster.