The Twelve Days of Fitness - if you plan ahead and stay active, you can sail through Christmas

With Christmas just around the corner, I thought I would do the ’12 days to health and fitness guide’ to keep you active over our holiday season.  As you all have worked so hard over the past 12 months to set up new and healthy lifestyle changes, it is now your goal to stay on tack while still enjoying our traditional Aussie Christmas.

Day 1 – Active presents:  Buy active Christmas presents that everyone can play with and keep the entire family active.  Think of presents like scooters, bikes, skated or fitness games,

Day 2 – Short burst of exercise:  With all the social activity over the next few weeks, it may be difficult to find the time to fit in those big workout sessions.  Think about breaking exercise into smaller 10 minute workouts – try 10 minutes when you get up, 10 minutes at lunch and 10 minutes when you get home in the evening.

Day 3 – Enter a sporting event to keep you focused over Christmas:  That way you will be mindful to continue to train and stay healthy over the holidays.

Day 4 – Standard measures:  Alcohol is one of the easiest ways to over indulge at Christmas, so to avoid set backs in your health commitments use standard measures and plan the times that you will drink.

Day 5 – Hight intensity:  Once again swap your longer sessions of training for high intensity sessions.  Try circuit or interval training, add in skipping and body weight exercises and even put on the Christmas music to make the workouts festive and fun.

Day 6 – Hit the streets:  Head to the shops to do your pre and post Christmas shopping.  Walking around the shops, carrying bags and pushing heavy trolleys will get your heart rate up and keep you moving.

Day 7 – Relax:  Remember to pencil in some down time over the next few weeks. We all live busy lives throughout the year, make sure to unwind and relax as it is important for our mental health.

Day 8 – Putting up and pulling down the tree:  One of our favourite Christmas traditions is to put up and pull down the Christmas decorations and tree each year.  It takes time, energy, and whole lot of activity – just like a workout!

Day 9 – Exercise after food:  Try a long walk after breakfast or dinner.  This can help to walk off those larger meals and settle the tummy but it also is a nice way to take time out from the demands of Christmas.

Day 10 – Plan your Christmas splurges:  Try to maintain your healthy patterns and plan the times you are going to indulge.  Make sure the very next day you get up with focus and step back into the healthy patterns you have worked all year to create.

Day 11 – Plan a festive picnics:  Over the past few weeks I have suggested to revolve social activities around the outdoors like parks, beaches and to also incorporate healthy eating in the shape of picnics with fresh fruit, meats and salads.

Day 12 – Do you really want it:  We all want our treats over Christmas, but often overeating just makes us feel uncomfortable and will also mean you have to work all that bit harder after Christmas.  When you find yourself reaching across the table for an extra handful of peanuts or another fruit mince pie, ask yourself if you really do want this.

I hope you find some of these ideas helpful over Christmas and the New Year, but most of all I wish you all a wonderful holiday season filled with good health, lots of activity and memories that will last a lifetime.

Living and loving life to the fullest with the people who matter the most is a precious gift so let’s make this Christmas a magical one.