The festive season is upon us and we’re all ready to wave the white flag and surrender any fitness & health gains we’ve made. But hold on, all needn’t be lost and without sounding all ‘bah humbug’ there’s some great work we can do without spoiling the celebrations.

Sticking to any plan revolves around one thing – enjoyment and feeling successful. The aim here is to design a look at a few proven methods that work for you and will get you through the festive season feeling good about yourself.

Below are a couple of concepts that I’ve used with real success to get people great results or at least staying in the game over the festive season while still having a great time.

Movement Snacks

For years I struggled to maintain an exercise habit. I then figured out that in times of increased workload or stress, that there’s so much to be gained from complimenting my main workouts with ‘movement snacks’ just being consistent without the big time commitment. Here are my favourite movement snacks – mini workouts with no kit in 15 mins or less:

• A 10 min Walk, Run or Interval Session
• 10 Squats & 10 Push Ups X 3-5 Sets
• 1 minute Bear Crawls / 1 minute squats X 5 Sets
• 2 minute bridge hold / 2 minute tall plank (Top of push up).

Simply pick what you enjoy and want to do!

Give up One Thing
Now, I know I said I wouldn’t be a bah humbug but, surely oh surely, we can give up one thing for a few weeks so we avoid that terrible feeling of over indulgence?

Why? Because by eliminating just one thing, it will ensure you’ve maintained an element of control which, in turn will make you feel successful. And this will make you want to adopt further strategies to look after yourself.

Examples? Well, I’m sure you can think of a few?

Oh, and keep it super realistic… you might struggle to not have a tipple or two!

A Better Than Nothing Behaviour

How can you strip down the thing you’ve been wanting to do into something so tiny you could do it every day easily?

• If you want to start running then run 1 minute per day
• If you want to eat more greens then eat one lettuce leaf per day
• If you want to drink more water, drink one glass per day

We call this the ‘better than nothing behaviour.’

Try doing one and see how it goes.

After a few days of doing your ‘better than nothing behaviour’ you’ll want to increase it as it’s easier to add more than to stop.

Don’t. Keep things tiny.

The moment we tell ourselves to do more we become more reliant on our rather unreliable friend – motivation.

Be unambitious. Be boring. Be consistent. Be better than before.

Water, Sleep, Walk.

I love this concept.
We’ve always been told to walk 10,000 steps, drink 3 litres of water and sleep 8hrs per night but it’s tough… really tough. So, we lower the bar and commit to the below:

• Water – 7 glasses per day
• Sleep – 7 hours per night
• Walk – 7 thousand steps per day

This concept is doable for the vast majority of the population and if adhered to will form a great foundation for a more advanced personal wellness campaign in the new year. These are great foundations many overlook!

Summary.

The festive season is one to enjoy but also a time where our wellness gets neglected and we can, if not mindful, feel fatigued and overwhelmed and lose our fitness.

The above strategies, based on well researched behaviour design concepts, are a great way of helping you look after yourself during the festivities.
For optimum success, remember to NOT take on too much. Feeling successful is what will help you maintain your habit.

Have a great festive season and I look forward to helping you in the New year!

Ady