Skip the Excuses

What’s your excuse for not exercising during the holidays this season?

Fitness professionals and coaches like me have heard them all. Luckily we have answers for every excuse you can come up with.

I’m just too busy with holiday plans and shopping to fit in exercising.

A workout doesn’t always mean going to the gym for an hour. If you don’t have time for structured exercise, keep your activity levels high throughout the day. Step up your walk to a more vigorous pace while doing your Christmas shopping, do a set of squats in between each present your wrap, or take five minutes out of your day to walk the stairs. There is ALWAYS time for activity, even if you can’t make time for structured activity. With all of the hustle and bustle of the holidays, even most of us have down time. How do you plan to spend that down time?

Exercising only once a week won’t do any good, so I might as well not do anything and start up again in January.

Something is ALWAYS better than nothing. Research has shown that exercising three times a week, at a minimum, will get you maximum benefits. But even working out one day a week you build some type of base and increase that in January. I would recommend exercising on Wednesday for about an hour to 90 minutes, if possible, to get a mid-week pickup. Or you can do it Monday to get the week started well. I would also suggest that if you are not accustomed to a normal workout schedule, that you give yourself a trial run at it now and see how it works out. If you do that by the time January rolls around, you will have already started changing your mental state of mind and it will desire that hour of workout time.

I’m already overeating over the holidays, so I might as well not exercise since I’ll never burn off the calories.

While I would never recommend overeating to anyone, overeating is definitely a reason TO exercise. I like to tell people that while it’s not significant how your might abandon your nutrition for one day, it is important as to how you manage it the remaining 360+ days of the year. And while it’s true you can’t burn off the exact amount of calories consumed in one workout, you can at least re-consider that extra cookie or piece of pie. Working out increases your metabolism for the day, allowing your body to burn a higher percentage of fat. It’s especially important, if you know you are going to eat a big meal, to always get your muscles working. Also, if you think you are overeating…slow down and eat less at a sitting. Eating smaller meals throughout the day is also a great way to keep your metabolism going and you won’t eat as much each time your sit down for a meal.

I have young children with me all the time, so it is hard to get any time to exercise.

It’s great to incorporate your kids in the exercises your do. You can also involve the children in physical activity around the house. Believe it or not, kids actually like to get involved with “grown-up” activities like exercise. My kids are always trying to keep up with me while I am going through a P90X routine.

It’s too cold, snowy, windy or wet to exercise outside.

You have to have the proper gear, including a wind breaker to buffer the wind. As long as you are bundled up properly, you should be OK. When you have warmth around your chest, your body is warming up the cold air you breathe. It’s the core temperature that matters. To get your lungs used to the code air, start with a shorter stints of exercise outside.

Obviously you can always exercise inside! Nearly all of the workout programs offered by Beachbody are designed to be done indoors.

My family members aren’t active, but I’d like to get them involved.

Create a family fitness challenge. Train for a 3K or 5K together and tie in an effort to raise money for a charity. Develop a way to measure and chart your progress and give points as rewards that can then translate into money for charity. Challenge your kids to see who can clean their room the quickest. Make sure your rewards are desirable, like a new pair of shoes or a new iPod, this will ensure that you have that reward in the back of your mind and it will keep you motivated.

Still have an excuse?

There are many more excuses that have been made, but none of them have much merit if you are serious about starting something that will get you the results you desire. In the end if something matters to you on a personal level, you will find a way to make it happen, if not, you will find an excuse.

Enjoy the holidays, but don’t forget that you need to consider how you take care of your body even if you do not currently have it at the fore front of your mind.

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