November 25, 2015

Staying Balanced During the Holiday Season

Post by Alex Brown
Tags: , , ,

The days are growing shorter, the snow is beginning to fall, and the holiday season is upon us.

Wintertime usually brings less activity, more socializing, and a lot more food. From Thanksgiving dinner to drinks and hors d’oeuvres at holiday parties to comfort foods on chilly days, it can be easy to over-indulge and neglect training during this time of year.

We’re all about enjoying this season and everything that comes with it, but we also know you’ve worked really hard to improve your health and fitness over the past 11 months and we don’t want you to lose all the progress you’ve gained.

So read on for tips on staying balanced during the holiday season, brought to you by NuAquos – the official sports drink of Savage Race.

1) Plan Ahead

Rather than deciding that the holiday season gives you a free pass to eat and drink whatever you want whenever it’s available, plan ahead. Maybe you want to loosen up on your nutrition plan for the entire month and you’re great at keeping things in moderation. If so, awesome!

But if that is challenging for you, you may want to decide to eat your normal, healthy diet at home and at work during the holidays, but to enjoy special treats when you’re celebrating with friends and family. Planning ahead will help you avoid temptation and keep everything in balance.

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2) Be Selective

There’s no reason to have to say no to Grandma’s famous peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, or Dad’s epic deep-fried turkey. But be selective. Choose the foods that are really worth it, and skip over the store-bought pies or boxed mashed potatoes that aren’t amazingly good.

We all have our favorites, and our fond memories of loved ones preparing special meals during the holiday time. Choose those favorites that evoke the best memories and the most enjoyment, but skip over the rest. (Remember that you can go grab a store-bought pie any day, but you may not always have a chance to enjoy Mom’s homemade apple pie.)

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3) Keep Training

With fewer obstacle course races taking place during the winter, this may be a great time of year for you to scale back your training and catch up on some much-needed rest and recovery.

However, don’t abandon your training completely for the next six weeks. Instead, take some planned rest and put together a training schedule that fits with your commitments for the rest of the year. Even if you just do a little bit every day, you’ll feel better and stronger by the time January rolls around.

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4) Make it Fun

Start a family tradition of a Thanksgiving morning family workout before you enjoy dinner together, or challenge your coworkers to a game of touch football before you head to your office Christmas party. Go for a walk with your kids after a holiday meal, or head to the park for a day of sledding and playing in the snow.

Another way to get in a fun workout is to grab a deck of cards, and assign an exercise to each suit. For example, hearts could be burpees, spades could be squats, etc. As you flip each card over, the number tells you how many reps to do and the suit tells you what exercise. (For an added challenge, make aces a jog around the block.) Team up with a friend and alternate who works and who rests. By the end of the deck, you’ll have completed a fun, challenging workout.

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5) Stay Stress-Free

As fun as the holiday season is, it can be a stressful time for many people. More obligations and less routine plus more food and less exercise can throw you off your game and make you feel stressed and unhealthy.

To combat this, keep everything in balance. You may want to say no to some invitations, try to keep a normal sleep schedule, and use the tips above to keep your nutrition and training on track. Remember that gratitude and giving are more important than rushing out to buy gifts, and an attitude of thankfulness can help keep the stress of the season at bay.

Enjoy the weeks ahead and we’ll see you in 2016.

Happy Thanksgiving, from all of us to you!

 

NuAquos-2NuAquos is a functional beverage that rehydrates with all 6 base electrolytes, promotes recovery with 12 grams of protein, and restores nutrients with 19 vitamins and minerals – all with unparalleled taste.

 

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