The silly season is well and truly upon us! Not only are you likely to have a full social calendar between now and the end of the year, but also potentially the stress of end of year deadlines, Christmas shopping, travelling and not to mention disruption and uncertainty thanks to the global pandemic.
For many of us the festive season brings holidays, celebrations, time spent with loved ones whilst enjoying great food and drinks. It can also mean time away from home or your usual routine, which can be mentally tough, a period of heightened stress and anxiety for many. 2021 has been one of the most challenging years yet for many individuals and businesses, our mental and physical health may have been impacted.
With all the festivities at this time of year and whether you are travelling away or staying home, there are some key things that you can do to help keep your health and fitness progress, routine and goals on track. Yep, I’m saying that you can basically still have your cake and eat it to! There is no need to throw all your healthy habits out the door for the festive season… after all, your health doesn’t take holidays.
You may find that you’re training naturally reduces over this period, this may be due to competing activities, hangovers or travel. Don’t let this be a source of stress for you, it can actually be a good thing. If you’re training normally involves heavy lifting or high impact activities, periods of rest help to provide a chance for your joints and muscles to recover. Periods of lower intensity exercise or reduced training load assists in rebalancing hormones, allows adequate time for muscles to repair and further aids in recovery.
Our bodies have adaptive mechanisms that respond to the ways in which we train. If you undertake regular exercise for extended periods of time, your body adapts to the forms of training, the energy systems targeted, and you may notice a plateau in your strength, fitness, and/or weight loss. Taking a period to ‘tone down’ your training allows your bodies adaptive mechanisms to reset, ridding the body of fatigue and allowing it to recover fully. Research has shown that periods of reduced activity followed by a return to regular training results in increased weight loss, supports strength and fitness goals.
Also, muscle memory is a thing! Whilst you may feel you lose muscle tone or mass during periods of decreased training, rest assured that when you return to your normal training routine muscle memory will assist in restoring your tone and mass and you will not be starting from scratch.
However, this is not a free pass to sit back and do nothing. It is important for your physical and mental health to incorporate some form of daily movement or physical activity. Take advantage of the sunshine and longer days to use this time of year to try new or different things, you may find something that you love and want to add into your fitness program when you get back into it in 2022. Get up early and get outdoors to go for a walk or run to explore the area, whether that is your usual local area, or you may be taking in new places and fresh scenery in your travels. If you are away, you may be able to head to the local beach for a surf, or the swimming pool – exercise doesn’t always need to be structured. Organising to catch up with family or friends in the form of exercise serves two purposes – movement and connection!
Most importantly, take advantage of the break, reconnect with loved ones and enjoy some well-earned rest, balanced with some form of movement.