Xmas Excess

While occasional over-indulgence is to be expected – celebrated even – the festive season need not sabotage your fitness routine, as Rob Kemp writes

- Rob Kemp

1 WORKOUT WONDERLAND

“Take your training up a notch over Christmas and get into fighting-fit condition by mixing up some cardio when you can grab time away from work,” suggests Sol Gilbert, health expert at Tanita and director at Underground Gym (underground-gym.com).

“Find a piece of cardio equipment, grab yourself a set of dumbbells, a slam ball and smash out this 20-minute workout.”

Warm-up

• Start off by stretching all major muscle groups.
• Then begin to mobilise your body with a gentle warm-up: perhaps a 5-min jog on the treadmill at a steady pace.

Main event

Set your timer to 20 mins and see how many rounds of the below circuit you can complete:

• 60 secs of high-knee sprinting as fast as you can
• 15 x ball slams
• 10 x dumbbell thrusters
• 5 x burpees
• 30 secs rest

2 BOXING DAYS

“Exercise is scientifically proven to reduce stress, and my favourite stress-busting workout is boxing,” says Marc McLaren, PureGym strength and conditioning trainer. “You could get yourself in front of a heavy bag, set the timer for two-minute intervals and then release that tension. As it’s the Christmas period, keep everything time-specific. Get to the gym with the intention of getting in and out.”

• Set warm-up and cool-down times that are challenging but specific (e.g. 3k run to be completed between both warm-up and cool down).
• Boxing session one should be pre-planned and interval-based for intensity: 2 mins jump rope, 1 min shadow boxing (hold 1kg dumbbells in each hand for extra resistance).
• Boxing session two: 2 mins of bag or pad work, 1 min lateral jumps over a bar.

“Both sessions should be completed for as many rounds as time or fitness levels allow, for a maximum of ten rounds,” adds McLaren.