The holidays are fast approaching and that means we’re going to go from our “everyday normal” warp speed to Mach-10.  Shopping, cooking, eating, celebrating, wrapping presents for Christmas morning or the 8 nights of Hanukkah, and more eating.  Then there’s the holiday socializing that will include eating and drinking.  Yikes!

As a fitness professional I see a disturbing trend around the holidays.  And it’s not the eating and drinking.  It’s  that when your plate gets full the first thing that gets pushed to the side like a sprig of parsley is the workout.

This is not acceptable.

I know, you’re busy.  I know, you have “things to do”.  I know.  I know.  But as busy and as full as your calendar gets, you are not too busy to work out.  Sure, an hour class, 6 mile run or 35 mile bike ride may not fit in right now, so here are some ways you can get a workout done in under 20 minutes.

1.  Walk – around the block as many times as you can in 15 minutes or down the street for 10 minutes and then come back.  To up the intensity, add a weighted vest, add intervals (walk fro 2 minutes, walk really fast for 2 minutes, and repeat the patters), or at every corner add 20 jumping jacks.

2.  Prime-time circuit – watching tv isn’t passive with this circuit.  Walk in place for 2 minutes.  Do 10 jumping jacks, 10 pushups, 10 squats and a 30 second plank.  Repeat for 8 minutes – taking breaks if needed.  Stretch for 2 minutes after.

3. In home yoga – no driving required!  Here’s a great 19 minute yoga video.  http://www.doyogawithme.com/content/sun-salutations-i    Visit Do Yoga With Me for more videos that you can try at home.  If new to yoga, it’s a good idea to watch the videos through first so you can understand what the poses are and how to transition.  It can be challenging to watch as you practice your pose.

4.  Commercial Break – no fast forwarding.  On a 30 to 60 minute tv show the commercial breaks are approximately 2 minutes each.  For the entire commercial break perform each pair of exercises.

• 1st commercial break:  10 jumping jacks, 10 high knees (repeat until break is over)
• 2nd commercial break: 10 burpees, 10 wide squats (repeat until break is over)
• 3rd commercial break:  Plank
• 4th commercial break: Bicycle crunches (10), regular crunches

5. Play time! Have a dance party, chase kids, ride your bike around the ‘hood, play tag, play catch, play Wii tennis or some other kind of physical game with your kids, friend or coffee-break pal.  Move your body in any way that is not considered exercise.

Ok there’s 5 ways you can move your body that will take you less than 20 minutes.  Now you don’t have any excuses for skipping your workouts when life gets crazy.

Now go run!

Keli 🙂