The holidays can throw a real wrench in fat-burning goals. Aside from all the indulgent eats and yummy treats tempting you at every turn, holiday travel can make fitting in fitness tricky, if not downright impossible.
Holiday Travel Fitness Roadblocks
When traveling for the holidays, there are lots of obstacles that can stand in your way, including: being away from your gym, no access to fitness equipment, being cramped in your family’s home with little space to move (let alone exercise), and schedules that are either crammed with activities or so slow they’re near sloth-like. Whatever is blocking your way, the result can mean no fitness for you.
Take the Holiday Travel Fitness Detour
Instead of letting your fat-burning goals go on standby until January, Santa has sent a sleigh full of creative ways to stay off the fitness naughty list without sacrificing any holiday magic.
- Walking in a Winter Wonderland: Maybe the easiest way to move more is to go for a walk. This is perfect when you need a little break from the holiday chaos, or when you want to catch up with a cousin or sibling without being surrounded by a group. Go after dark and be treated to the delight of a Christmas lights tour around the neighborhood.
- Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree: Formal holiday gatherings might come with a dance floor where you can rock it with family and friends. But you don’t need to be donning sequins and velvet when headphones and a music app are all you need to have your own personal dance party. Wake up early to boogie in your bedroom, the basement, or even the bathroom if it’s the only place for personal space.
- Reindeer Games: When the kiddos are part of holiday festivities, feed off of their energy and get moving with some good old fashioned, non-screen based games. If there’s snow outdoors, spend time with the littles building snowmen, constructing a snow fort, or having a snowball fight. If your holidays are paired with heat, take advantage of warm weather and head to a playground, a park, or even the beach to squeeze in a playful sweat session.
- Home for the Holidays: Give your workout a homey, DIY feel by using items found around your host’s home (nothing valuable, of course!) to get moving. From stairs to soup
A walk is an easy way to fit in fitness, while also a good chance to catch up with a loved one. cans you can stay fit without any fancy equipment. If your host is more of a minimalist, rely on body-weight exercises, including push-ups, sit-ups, and unweighted squats.
- Run Rudolph Run: Who needs equipment when sneakers and some fitness clothes are all you need to pick up the pace. Go solo, or ask your family members to join your pavement-pounding pack.
- It’s Christmas Everywhere: If your usual exercise routine includes fitness classes, use this opportunity to see what your new neck of the woods has to offer. Unless you’re in really remote areas, small towns and big cities have lots of classes to take as drop-ins. You might even discover a whole new form of fitness that you’ll want to continue back home.
- Sleigh Ride: Sledding may seem like no work at all, as gravity whips you down the hill. But don’t forget you still have to climb up the hill in order to sled back down. If there’s no snow, use what could’ve been the perfect sledding hill to run sprints and perform HIIT routines that will really break a sweat.
- Santa Claus Is Coming to Town: Travel delays are inevitable. So while you may be headed to one town or another, when flights leave you grounded in the airport before you can arrive, turn the downtime into chances to move. There are plenty of places to walk or run, and don’t overlook what fun can be had when using the airport walking belt or escalators in the opposite direction (just be polite and stay out of other people’s ways).
Believe in Holiday Travel Magic
Stop seeing holiday travel as a disruptor to your fat-burning progress, and instead as amazing opportunities to switch things up. Your body goals can be easier to achieve when you make changes to your fitness routine, as your body can plateau when always doing the same thing. Consider viewing holiday travel as Santa’s way of making sure you get exactly what you need this season.
Where are you spending the holidays this year? Share with other in the comments!
Carrie Anton is a freelance writer focusing on health, fitness, and sports. She's been published in Self, Women's Health, Oxygen, and Maximum Fitness.
