Christmas Vacation Workout

Hey There Loves! I hope you’re having a fabulous Thursday! I’m so excited to be bringing you yet ANOTHER guest post from my handsome hubby! (Lucky for all of you, he’s coming back next week too!) And I just want to say… I’m totally taking credit for naming these workouts! So you’re welcome for that 😉 HAHA Enjoy the guest post! I’ll be back at the end to wrap it all up. Oh. And just so you know… we don’t have a cute featured photo of him working out in a Santa hat because HE REFUSED. How dare he! HAHAHA

 Hi everyone, I’m back with something that I hope you’ll be able use over the next few weeks. I wanted to give you some ideas of how to get your workout in over the holidays. I also want to apologize in advance because after reading this post, you’ll have NO excuse not to get a workout in. I know for us, we’ll be traveling to spend time with our families and won’t have access to a proper gym so we’ll have to improvise!

Deck the Halls and Do Some Burpees. There are quite a few things you can do to get a great workout in, you just might need to be creative. The first alternative is a body weight circuit. Simply using your own body weight and performing high-intensity exercises can elevate your heart rate and get you to sweatin’ in a hurry. Do the following exercise in a circuit fashion for an allotted amount of time.

1. Squats x10 reps
2. Push-Ups x10 reps
3. Burpees x10 reps
4. Sit-Ups x10 reps
5. Squat Jumps x10 reps
6. Lunges x10 reps
7. Pull-Ups x10 reps (if you have a bar or something sturdy to hang from)
8. Supermans x10 reps

To start, do this circuit for 10 minutes and try to get in as many rounds as possible (AMRAP). Record how many times you perform each exercise and the next time you do this same workout, try and do an extra round or add some time to your workout (12-15 minutes).

Feliz Navi WOD. Now if you do have access to a gym of some sort (like in a hotel fitness center), there should be no excuse for you to not get a few workouts in. Most hotel fitness centers I’ve seen have at least a few pieces of cardio equipment and some dumbbells or plate-loaded machines that you could utilize. You could always hit up the treadmill or elliptical and get a few miles in, or head over to the machines and make your way down each machine. Similar to the body weight circuit before, do 8-12 reps on each machine for anywhere between 3-5 rounds. If you want to change it up a bit, you could do a combination of cardio and machines. This set up is one of my favorites, it’s actually an adaptation of a CrossFit workout call “The Murph”. (You can check it out here.)

1. Your choice of cardio (run/walk, bike, elliptical, etc.) for 10-15 minutes
2. Choose 3-4 Machines and perform 3-5 rounds of 8-12 reps per machine
3. Another form of cardio (run/walk, bike, elliptical, etc.) for another 10-15 minutes

I love tossing in what I like to call a “mini” Murph every few months to my workouts to change it up a bit and challenge myself. Usually I will run 1 mile, do 50 Pull-Ups, 100 Push-Ups, and 150 Body Weight Squats, then finish with another 1 mile run. It’s definitely a doozie and I wouldn’t recommend jumping into this one right off the bat. Once you have a good fitness base under your belt you could add this in every once in a while.

Santa Swims Too. Going along with the hotel fitness center workout, many hotels have a pool, right? It may not be an Olympic sized pool and full-on laps may be a challenge, but it does provide a unique opportunity to get a different kind of workout in. Most hotel pools will be pretty small and not very deep but that’s ok. The following exercises can be done in water that’s anywhere between your stomach to just under your arm pits and can be done in circuit fashion for time (remember AMRAP?) and make sure you’re on one side of the pool.

1. High Knee Runs x30 seconds
2. Mini-Squat Jumps x15 reps (don’t squat too low, there’s no need to dunk your head under the water)
3. Butt-Kickers x30 seconds
4. Side Raises x15 reps (you can hold onto some smaller towels for added resistance, but simply raise your arms straight out to the side until they are parallel with the ground and return them back to your sides)
5. Chest/Reverse Flys x15 reps (with your arms straight out to the side parallel with the ground, pull your hands together in front of your body then return)
6. 1 or More “Laps” (you can either run through the water or swim to the opposite end of the pool and back and depending on how far that is you could add more “laps” if you’d like)

These are just a few things you can do while traveling for the holidays to stay on the right path toward our health and fitness goals. Remember, consistency in your training and diet habits are key to seeing results. Don’t let traveling give you an excuse not to work out or slack on your healthy eating habits.

Best of luck and Happy Holidays!
Trevor Klump, MS, CSCS, USAW1, Pn1

Okay. He’s totally showing off with that whole “Mini Murph”-ish. If y’all are like me, and can’t stand the thought of having to run, might I suggest my favorite ways to work out? I’m all about those YouTube fitness videos. I go back and forth between Cassey Ho and her amazing Blogilates and Caleb AKA The Fitness Marshall’s Sweat Sets. Both have a workout play list already made for you. So all you do is choose the one you like, press play, and get moving! They are both so much fun that I promise you won’t feel like you’re working out at all. And if you’re dancing along with The Fitness  Marshall, you’re going to pick up some fun new dance moves for those New Year’s Partys 😉 

And PS…. whatever he says can’t stop me from eating at least 40 Christmas Cookies next week! 

I hope you all have an absolutely wonderful weekend! We’re doing some fun Christmas activities with Trev’s family and gearing up for one final week before Christmas break! Talk to you on Sunday!

Xx.
Savannah