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3 Workouts to Maintain Fitness Through the Holidays

Q Do you have any workouts you can recommend for the holiday season? I’m busy, travelling a lot, and will be running on the treadmill through the summer since it is a cool way to get in my kilometres. – STACIE

“Happy holidays. Happy Holidays.” This is my family’s strategy when faced with holiday stress. To make light of a chaotic moment, one of us will start singing Bing Crosby’s holiday song. It’s become our ritual stress reliever.

The holidays, although joyful, can also be riddled with stresses that challenge our everyday routines. Singing aside, having a few go-to workouts can be useful for squeezing in a run when there is little time, while maintaining your momentum and motivation through the new year.

The following workouts are 32 minutes or less, include high intensity intervals (HIIT) to increase your post-workout metabolism and burn kilojoules and fat, and are a lot of fun to run on the treadmill because they make the time go by quickly. You may even find that they help you improve your speed along the way.

A few things to note before you try these beauties.

If you’re a beginner, do each interval no harder than a moderate effort level, walk the recovery intervals, and stick with Workout #1 once a week for this season. You can add more as you build your running base.

If you’ve been running regularly for at least 30-40 minutes, 3-4 times per week, if you’re not injured and have no aches and pains, and if you’re new to high-intensity workouts, run Workout #1 once per week for the first 2-3 weeks. If everything feels good (no aches and pains or fatigue), run Workout #1 a second time during the week with at least three days in between (i.e. Monday and Friday). Your other workouts should be easy-effort short or long runs. After at least four weeks of performing Workout #1, you can progress to #2 once per week.

If you’re a seasoned runner with a solid base of kilometres, you can run any of these workouts 1-3 times per week. Make the other workout(s) easy effort to balance the recipe (i.e. Monday and Friday do HIIT, Wednesday and Saturday do easy-effort runs; or Monday, Wednesday, Saturday do HIIT, Thursday or Friday do easy-effort runs).

Holiday Workout #1: This is a great introductory high intensity workout (HIIT).

Warm up by walking for 2 minutes. Start with an easy effort and build to a brisk pace just slower than a jog. This is an important step. Don’t skip it!

Run at an easy effort (conversational) for 5 minutes to continue to warm up.

Repeat eight times (16 minutes total):

  • Run at a sprint effort (hard) for 30 seconds.
  • Recover with 90 seconds of very easy jogging or brisk walking.

Walk it out to cool it down for two minutes after the final interval.

Total Time: 24 minutes

Holiday Workout #2: This is one step harder and great for those that have run high intensity workouts in the past.

Warm up by walking for 2 minutes.

Run at an easy effort (conversational) for 5 minutes to continue to warm up.

Repeat six times (18 minutes total):

  • Run at a sprint effort (hard) for 1 minute.
  • Recover with 2 minutes of very easy jogging or brisk walking.

Walk it out to cool it down for 2 minutes after the final interval.

Total Time: 25 minutes

Holiday Workout #3: The hardest of the bunch, #3 adds incline to the sprint.

Warm up by walking for 2 minutes.

Run at an easy effort (conversational) for 5 minutes to continue to warm up.

Repeat 5 times (25 minutes total):

  • Run at a sprint effort (hard) for 1 minute.
  • Recover with 1 minute of very easy jogging or brisk walking (walking recommended)
  • Run at a 3-4% incline at a moderate speed for 1 minute
  • Recover with 2 minutes of very easy jogging or brisk walking (walking recommended)

Walk it out to cool it down for 2 minutes after the final hill interval.

Total Time: 32 minutes

These are the perfect workouts for this time of year because they are short, effective, and they can be done inside on a treadmill, outside on the roads, or even on other exercise equipment. It’s all about making the most of your time and getting into that high intensity effort for short bursts so you boost your metabolism to burn fat for hours post workout. A little HIIT goes a long way, and so does a little song now and then!

Happy holidays.

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