Congratulations, you’ve made it through Thanksgiving! Now the real holiday fun begins!
Traditionally, lots of people tend to take a “Christmas-or-bust” approach to December: Everything is focused on the end-of-the-month celebrations, and everything else—including health and fitness—is put off until the new year.
And we understand! You’re busier than usual, and now you’re trying to balance traditions with pandemic precautions. There’s a lot on your mind! And you should always be kind and patient with yourself when it comes to your fitness journey.
But also: We want to inject some holiday enthusiasm into December workouts! Fitness shouldn’t feel like obligatory drudgery. This is the time of year for everything to be a celebration, and that includes hitting the gym and working up a sweat!
What if you approached your December workouts with the same holiday spirit you generate when putting up the tree or turning on holiday lights for the first time?
Of course, we always want fitness to be a celebration, but there are practical reasons for staying positive and embracing exercise through the holidays.
- Exercise is a chemically proven stress reliever. In a time when you might be more stressed than usual, exercise makes an even bigger chemical impact than usual.
- A workout is a solid chunk of time when you’re focusing on your physical body rather than mental worries. Your brain needs time to rest, too, and that’s what’s happening when you’re moving your body.
- Exercise rejuvenates physical energy. It may seem counterintuitive, but if you’re feeling rundown just from wrapping presents or coordinating Zoom calls, then the answer is to get your heartrate up.
Altogether, it just takes 30 minutes to make a massive difference in the rest of your day. Just half an hour! Everything else will stay just the same in half an hour, but you’ll come back to it a whole new person.
And lastly, you don’t want those New Year’s resolutions looming on the horizon, filling you with a sense of dread about getting “back” in shape after the holidays. Wherever you are now, you’re only going to get better. Set a timer, put on some up-tempo holiday tunes, and get moving.
Have a holly, jolly workout. It’s the best time of the year.
