Every year many people approach the festive period excited for the fun and festivities December brings, actually, as Iโm writing this, Iโve just returned from a Xmas market in Exeter, UK. and there were thousands of people out eating, drinking, and being merry, with their health & fitness concerns a million miles away.
When youโve been in theย fitness industry as long as I have, youโd be remiss not to acknowledge trends, and of course one of the biggest we see every year is the regression made in December, and the over-correction made in January in the form of new years resolutions, restriction and anย unsustainable ineffective approach to working out and eating well.ย
If I had to reduce my fitness coaching to one core message, it would be and has been, that you have to break the โall or nothingโ cycle, because you take too many losses when you allow your efforts to go to nil, and an over-restrictive approach to exercise & nutrition can never be sustained, which leads to a lot of burn out and frustration.
Just ask any gym owner how busy their training floor is in January vs March and youโll get a feel for how long this kind of over-correction can be sustained.
Iโm going to talk broadly about how to navigate the period and see what the obvious banana peels and opportunities are.
You Can also check out a video version of this topic here:
At the end of the article, I am going to offer aย wild cardย opportunity, almost as a tongue-in-cheek challenge. But at the same time, from a coaching perspective, I would say that there is a time and a place for a โscorched earthโ approach, and whether or not it is the right move for you will depend largely on the amount of discomfort you feel right now from not being where you want to be with your health & fitness.ย
To formulate a strategy as to how you will approach the festive period, I am not going to give you a one-size-fits-all all approach, just like in myย online personal trainingย service, individual differences are always in play, so let’s explore a few questions I’d encourage you to ask yourself.
How detrimental will taking Christmas off be?
I donโt feel itโs my place to give you an overly prescriptive way to deal with Christmas, how you enjoy the holidays youโve worked hard all year for is up to you. But assuming youโre reading this article to help make the best of what could be, or for you, has historically been a period fraught with banana skins, then Iโm here to help.
First of all, letโs look at what the potential downside losses are if everything goes wayward over Xmas, once we know that youโll be in a place to decide how tactical youโd like to get.
To answer a question like how detrimental would it be to take Xmas off, is (like almost everything) takes nuance and personal reflection, so strap yourself in, letโs start asking some questions, the answers to which will permeate beyond just focusing on Xmas.
How detrimental skipping exercise and healthy eating during Xmas will be, really depends on your current trajectory and its relationship to where you are now in relation to where you want to be, and getting a good grip on how long that process is going to take to complete.
What I mean is that if right now you already have a level of fitness, muscularity, and body fat percentage that you are happy with and are currently engaged in consistent exercise, then taking a few days off over Christmas isn’t going to be too detrimental at all.
This is because you already have theย habitย set that you need to achieve your fitness goals, if you aren’t already where you want to be, on a long enough timeline if you are confident in your exercise program and healthy eating then it will only be a matter of time until you achieve your goals. In this scenario, youโll simply take a few days off and you can easily jump back on that train and be right back where you want to be, which is great! So if this is the scenario you are in, donโt overthink Xmas, just enjoy it.ย
However, it’s a little more complex if you arenโt where you want to be because the potential lost ground is more severe the further away from your goals you are. In fact, you could argue that any deviation from the pursuit of your goals is a banana peel that could get out of hand because a track record of consistent training has not been established.
I suppose to give you a real answer, we have to define exactly what we mean by โtaking Christmas offโ if you are just taking Xmas day itself off, there is only so much trouble you could really get into, a single day off is always going to be easily recoverable.
However if what you mean by taking Xmas off is allowing the entire festive period to be a washout that’s 3-4 weeks with the eye off the ball, and that may not be in your best interest for a number of reasons. Firstly, that is enough time to see a regression in fitness, put muscle mass at risk of loss, and gain a decent amount of body fat if not eating well, but more insidious, is the backward step it implies youโd be making with your habit forming.
As I mentioned above, if training and eating well is second nature to you, there’s not much to be concerned about, it’s a well-established switch you can just throw back on whenever you want, but if right now youโve been working hard to establish momentum, I really suggest you donโt set yourself back to square one, it’s not easy to make exercise a daily habit, so if youโre there right now, as a coach, I would urge you to protect your momentum.
This leads us to dig a bit deeper into what we mean byย โoffโย exactly, because when youโre coming from an all-or-nothing mindset, taking Xmas off might be a little too literal, whereas the real key to staying in shape long term is knowing how to pull back slightly from your full training program, but keep a minimum threshold of activity and habits that mean you donโt move backwards. This doesnโt have to be more than 10-20 minutes per day, and youโll be able to do most of it at home, or simply walking around your local area.
The other element in play here which leans a little more toward the personal development side of things is being very honest with yourself about how prominent of a role health & fitness plays in your life.
The deeper a need exercise serves for you, the less I would suggest you allow things to slip. For example, ask yourself thisโฆ.is exercise purely a tool you use to look better? I.e is following a training program for you purely an aesthetic endeavour? Iโm not undermining that at all, I spent years doing just the same. The reason I ask you to make this distinction is that if all health and fitness is for you is changing body composition and looking better in the mirror, then I really wouldnโt worry too much about some time off, again, as long as you trust your workout program you are on a pretty linear path from A to B, so a deviation can just be made up in January by getting back on your program.
However, if your health & fitness program represents more to you than that, a long period of inactivity may give you more problems than you might initially think, and if that’s the case Iโm really writing this article for you. You see, many people donโt realise that the benefits of regular efforts towards your health & fitness can be thought of as an iceberg, with the clearly visible parts representing the commonly recognised benefits like better fitness, strength, fat loss, and muscle growth. But what isnโt as obvious are benefits such as better mental health by way of reduced anxiety and feelings of depression, the opportunity for pain-free movement, a reduction in health risks, and improved digestion.
So if youโve noticed an improvement in any of these areas due to being more active or generally focusing on your health more, I would think twice about allowing yourself to lose momentum over Christmas, as these habits may be what is keeping you at a certain threshold or even keeping your head above water so to speak, and giving you a better quality of life. I know the phrase โquality of lifeโ sounds a little extreme but if youโve ever gone from immobile and in frequent pain or in daily digestive discomfort to not even having to consider it anymore, then you know what I mean.
Personally, I wouldn’t want to run the risk of unpacking and unravelling all of those habits just because itโs Christmas.
What happens if I can’t control my routine?
For the vast majority of people, to one extent or another, you will not be able to fully control your routine over Christmas. Maybe you’ll be eating with friends & family, and theyโll want to do food their way. Or maybe the challenge will be that gyms will be closed for a period of time. Further still, perhaps your major challenge will simply be oppressively cold weather that isnโt going to lend itself to outdoor running and cycling.
All of these things could cause an interruption in your plans, so itโs at this point that we have to get a little philosophical. One of the biggest assets you can develop in pursuit of your health & fitness is to develop your internal locus of control.
I.e to what extent are you going to ensure that you maintain control of your health & fitness efforts over Xmas or will you be influenced or impeded by logistics, other people, or pure convention?
This is a serious question and perhaps something to meditate on now before those challenges present themselves. To be sure, developing an internal locus of control is a lifelong endeavour and worth having as a constant consideration. Repeatedly asking yourself, Am I responsible? Am I in control of the things that are in my best interest? Or am I letting something or someone get in the way of my progress?
We may then touch on a little bit of stoicism. By this I mean, there are going to be times when we cannot control all of the circumstances in our lives, and when that’s the case we have to find a way to lean into the things we can control.
Staying with family and canโt control nutrition? Then you double down on exercise.
Gyms are closed over Xmas? Then you exercise at home
Too cold to get out for a run? Do indoor HIIT
Adopting this mindset and always finding a way to focus on what you can control and act on what keeps you moving forward will serve you long beyond Xmas. Essentially it orients you toward being solution-oriented.
After all, what’s the alternative? Letting one thing not being quite perfect lead to discouragement? and then letting something else fall by the wayside? You do that for too long and youโll find yourself at the business end of the all-or-nothing cycle.
Health & Fitness is all about consistency
If my major message of warning is that the ‘all or nothing’ cycle is to be avoided at all costs. The natural expansion on that is that the key to long-lived results with health & fitness is to be found with unremarkable, but unflinching consistency.
Always remember that small consistent efforts are 100% the way to win with health and fitness. An athlete trains every day, and if they miss a day it is only to rest and recover, a bodybuilder trains, records and eats with meticulous detail week after week, year after year for marginal gains. You donโt have to live like that, but you should operate with this as a frame of reference, consistency ALWAYS wins the day in the end, there is no way around it.
Why can’t I just start again from January 1st?
Well, you can, but there are a couple of questions to consider here tooโฆ
Where do you want to be on January 1st? And How hard have you worked to get where you are right now?
Think ahead to the spiral of events that could unfold if you donโt strategise the next few weeks. Itโs going to be tempting to seek and bask in comfort over the Xmas period, I know there will be times Iโll have my feet up by the fire with a book, no doubt enjoying nice snacks and drinks. But donโt confuse this time of home comforts with a free ride on activity, youโve no doubt worked hard to be at the point you are right now, and at any point in life you are in control of the decisions you make, and will you protect what youโve worked hard for or will you let things slip?
Remember your physique and fitness levels wonโt go into stasis with inactivity, theyโll regress, muscle is lost if not stimulated, fitness decreases over time and fat gain is likely when calories go up, reduce in quality, and activity levels go down.
Why would you accept this? Now is the time to decide that this isnโt going to happen.
To play out the cycle a little more, what will happen if you completely take your foot off of the gas is going to be arriving in the first week of January, in significantly worse shape and considering options for making up lost ground. This usually means diet culture and undereating or over-exercise. Perhaps both.
All of these are short-term measures and arenโt going to establish any kind of maintainable positive lifestyle, this turns a positive intention at the start of the year right back into the storm of that dreaded all-or-nothing cycle.
The best way to avoid it is to decide right now, before youโve even finished reading this article that you wonโt allow yourself to be in that position on January 1st.
Tactics
Well, thatโs my philosophical call to action, I hope it’s provided some food for thought. On the tactical front, below is a list of easy measures you can put in place to help minimise any potential backward steps over the next few weeks:
The Period (The 2-3 weeks of Holidays)
- Intermittent fasting – Consider adopting or increasing a time-restricted eating period.
- Focus on proteins for major meals – Ensuring that you focus on protein first in your major meals will help you get the nutrients you need to sustain muscle and help with recovery, it will also help with satiation
- Do the shopping – if you can control what’s available you can control whats eaten
- Stay hydrated – Keep water intake high, and drink water before meals
- Eat before going out – If youโre going for a night out, make sure itโs after a proper meal.
- Reach for the teas – they keep you feeling full and you can use them to avoid sugar cravings
- Walk every day – this is the easiest way to get activity no matter where you are
- Shorter workouts –Short Workout structures can pay dividends (donโt stop training, just keep workouts short and frequent)
Christmas Day
- Skip breakfast that day – (if you are comfortable with time-restricted eating)
- Get out for a walk – (steady state) that morning
- Drink water before your main meal – This will help you feel satiated and avoid over-eating
- Have a warm drink after dinner – This should also keep you feeling full
The unseen opportunity – The ‘Mayweather Effect’
How to adopt the underdog mentality
I did promise that I would throw a ‘wild card’ into this article so here goes. As a fitness coach, Iโm always on the lookout for challenges one could instigate that would cultivate character. One of the routes to character building is to determine to do things while they are hard. After all, if you rely on great conditions to do something, you will have to rely on fortune, not fortitude, to get to and stay where you want to be, it certainly isnโt going to be the most reliable route to success.
Iโll always remember watching arguably the best boxer of all time Floyd Mayweather train for a fight, he was already a world champion, had already guaranteed himself a place in the Boxing Hall of Fame, and indeed had already become a very wealthy man. I remember being struck by the fact that he was training at 2am purely because he knew that his opponent wouldn’t be.
I started to think of this as the underdog mentality and thought about how this could be applied in my own life. Could I work harder than others? Could I work when I knew others wouldnโt? Could I exercise, write or read when I knew others would not be? To be honest, for a time I got a bit of a kick out of it, and I still work out on Christmas day to tip my hat to this concept of the โunderdog mentality’
The argument for doing this is that if you are really far away from your goals right now, or a little too uncomfortable with the current state of your health, fitness, or appearance, a logical approach might be to say to yourself “Why would I do anything that takes me further away from my goal right now?” and to be honest, I’ve been here myself, which is why I’m putting this option forward. There are times in life, I believe, when it is 100% in your best interest to relentlessly pursue your goals. This is not to be confused with the all-of-nothing approach, I don’t mean over-exercising or taking health risks, I mean fostering an unrelenting dedication to consistency.
Sometimes the act of breaking a cycle, breaking convention, and opening a new frame of reference for something you once saw another way can be very motivating. For example, why not reframe December each year as a period in which you are the most consistent and dedicated with your training? Why not arrive on January 1st lean, strong, and feeling fantastic? It still doesnโt mean you canโt enjoy Xmas, you are just flipping the way you see a period of time usually associated with indulgence and damage limitation. Iโll leave that with you.
Most importantly, enjoy yourself
Ultimately, what Iโm getting at here is that there is no good reason not to enjoy Xmas, but the idea is not to lose the whole month in the name of a single day.
No matter where you are at the point of reading this article, I think our aim should be to arrive in January with goals, not resolutions. The major difference is that goals are built on an existing framework and a track record of implementation, they have a clear outcome and strategy. Whereas for the most part resolutions are based on regret and are the less serious, more fanciful cousins of goals. Rooted in neither substance nor strategy.
Have a fantastic festive period and remember that real progress is all about consistency and balance. If you would like to discuss how I might be able to help you set and achieve some health & fitness goals for the coming year, letโs jump on aย callย and outline a strategy and timeline for their completion.