A Workout Strong Enough for the Holidays

by Michelle Sutton-Kerchner

This holiday workout gets it done. If you cannot manage any other exercise, do this …

Holidays mean hectic days. Often, the workout is the first thing axed. Combined with the onslaught of festive meals and treats, your healthy lifestyle is in danger. Preserve it with a powerful routine that fights back. Gingerbread men, beware!

Focus on Weightlifting

With big dinners on the calendar and sweets continuously at your disposal, you need to maximize your caloric burn, right now. Weightlifting bulks up your ability to burn calories all day long.

A pound of fat burns about two to three calories daily. A pound of muscle burns seven to 10 calories a day. Which do you want working for you as you sip that hot cocoa with extra marshmallows? Yep– get lifting!

Aerobic workouts are effective at burning calories and stress, so definitely include some heart-pumping exercises in your fitness program. However, to combat those holiday splurges in minimal time, be sure to hit the Fitness Floor.

Aim for Heavy

Of course, you cannot begin weightlifting at the level of a champion bodybuilder. However, according to studies, most individuals lift too light. Muscle growth cannot be stimulated without maxing out muscle capacity (lifting to fatigue).

Use the amount of repetitions you do as a guide for how much weight to lift.

3 Steps Experts Recommend:

1. Aim for eight to 16 reps. If you can continue lifting beyond 16, you should consider increasing your weights.
2. Continue adding reps weekly in increments of 16. Increase weight once this becomes comfortable.
3. Then, cut back to eight reps at the newer weight and build your way back up. Be sure those last few lifts push your muscles to exhaustion.

Determining reps and weight amounts can be daunting. Although you want to see progress, you do not want to risk straining or injuring yourself. A personal trainer can determine how to best challenge your muscles while remaining in safe parameters. If you are new to strength training, it is especially helpful to have this guidance.

A trainer can advise on the best weights and equipment for you as well as share techniques for proper execution and form. With the holidays upon us, you need every rep to count. However, holiday shopping is stressful enough without overly stressed muscles. There is a fine line between being challenged and being couch-bound. (And those decorations aren’t going to hang themselves!)

Calorie-blasting Muscles

A full-body workout is great when sounds of the season are calling. It multitasks so you can manage exercises that tackle a variety of areas in minimum time. Leg workouts are another solution for holiday fitness.

Leg strengthening delivers plenty of bang for your Santa-crunched buck. Exercises that simultaneously recruit legs and buttocks muscles often burn more calories than training any other area (when done at the same intensity). Your mashed potatoes, gravy, and pie solution: Plenty of leg sets.

Larger muscles require more energy to work. Therefore, more calories are burned during the process. These leg-butt combos burn the most calories: leg presses, deadlifts, squats, and lunging. Add weights to the latter two exercises for maximum burn.

Back muscles and chest muscles are the next two groups that burn the most calories. Ask a personal trainer to suggest a mini-workout routine that targets your legs, back, and chest. If your full workout gets tangled up in holiday hoopla, at least you can engage the biggest burners. Plus, muscle work helps the body better metabolize sugar. This makes those holiday cookies easier to digest in more ways than one.

Source

“Are You Lifting Enough Weight?” by Paige Waehner at verywellfit.com.

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• Fit for the Holidays