Get Fit Quick Tip:

Make your strength workout a priority during the holidays.

Think skipping your weight workout will help during the holiday season? Think again. Here’s why logging your workout will HELP you during the holidays:

Decrease stress through forcing deep breathing to complete your set.

Look good at your party.

Increase energy and maintain your physical fitness to accomplish the extra tasks on your schedule.

Enter the New Year with fitness momentum.

Time to yourself to quiet your mind and move your body.

5 reasons why you shouldn’t skip your workout…

Check out this YouTube Video for a demonstration of the workout. (Always consult a physician before beginning a workout. Perform exercises at your own risk.)

Even though, for most of us the Holiday Season means a well-deserved couple weeks break, exercising may STILL end up taking a back seat.

What with that extra free time soon getting filled with seeing relatives, organising trips, entertaining little ones, watching TV, buying and cooking large quantities of food (not to mention eating it and drinking more than usual) before we know it, we’re back to work starting the New Year with some newly acquired holiday flab.

Thousands of gyms and health clubs DEPEND on this behaviour so come January, we jump on the New Year resolution “get fit lose weight” bandwagon cliché, more often than not broken in a matter of weeks.

So how can we avoid being a New Year cliché for another year running? Luckily the solution is pretty simple: look at your calendar and PLAN your time.

The “most wonderful time of the year” can, unfortunately for many also be the most stressful. Planning reduces the chance of getting “caught out.” Yes, sometimes unexpected things happen, which means we need to be flexible with changes, but knowing roughly what to expect each day affords a luxury that can reduce a great deal of stress.

The other most effective stress-buster? Yep, short bursts of intense exercise. Not only will this make you feel amazing, but it’ll allow the fog in your head to clear, giving you greater ability to stay centred if things end up being more stressful than you were expecting.

Gen Levrant is an Advanced Personal Trainer and weight-loss specialist. She runs a private functional training studio in Southampton UK helping people get safe and permanent results. For more info, email gen@fasterpt.com. Follow her on Twitter @PTGen or via Facebook.

Fast Fitness: Get Results from your Exercise by Gen Levrant