Christmas is coming and the goose may be getting fat but no doubt, you’ll be trying hard not to. So how do you go about exercising in the lead up to the festive season.
It’s easy to talk yourself out of activity. The number of excuses you can use are endless. It’s too cold to go out, I’ve lost my card or you’d rather sit at home and check social media.
Here are a few tips recommended by Edinburgh Leisure to help keep you active in the run up to the festive season.
- Know your “WHY”. What are your reasons for getting started? Keep this in mind whilst you progress and then reassess them to continue to set new targets and understand your why. This can help to keep you going and motivated to push that extra 10%.
- Do it for you. You are the main benefactor in all of this. It is you who will get the results and the health benefits of activity. If it’s for you, you are more likely to stick at it to gain the rewards.
- Walk before you can run. The amount of people we meet who want to start how they left the school games day! Build up gradually with bouts or intervals of intensity and rest. Get a feel from your first few sessions then gauge what can be increased or maintained.
- Variety. Take part in different activities like swimming, aerobics / circuit classes, Yoga / Pilates, weights class or even an indoor cycle class. This will help to work different muscles in different ways and can stave of any boredom caused from doing the same thing two to five times per week.
Pound away – Madonna’s favourite new exercise regime - Keep going. Create the habit and feel good factor or desire for progress in your results. You will achieve a greater turn up rate if it is habitual for you.
- Save the date. Diary your exercise to know when you plan to be active and keep to it as you would other appointments. Make this your time and keep it this way
- Train with a friend. Share the experience with a friend, member of family or colleague. This can prevent a late call off and create an accountability to you as well as your training partner.
Train with a friend - Use an app or diary to monitor. Recording what you have done and seeing the improvements in the number of repetitions, distance travelled or how close you are to achieving the World Health Organisation’s guide for physical activity (150 minutes of moderate intensity or 75 minutes of high intensity per week)
- Make it social. Exercising in groups can be more inspiring and motivating as well as the reward of a tea / coffee and chin-wag post exercise.
- Reward yourself! Some choose to pay weekly for weight loss classes. Why not reward yourself by putting away an amount you deem reasonable for each week that you achieve your attendance target and add extra for results you achieve. It’s a good way to save too and treat yourself to a spa day.
If you’ve been motivated to start exercising before the festivities so you can fit into that ‘Little Black Dress’, why not trial Edinburgh Leisure’s facilities as a member in December with their ’12 days of fitness’ promotion.
It allows you 12 consecutive days of membership, for only £12, and will give you unlimited access to all of Edinburgh Leisure’s gyms, fitness classes and swimming pools during this time, as well as the climbing arena at EICA:Ratho. Passes will be on sale from 1 December.
