From Cookies to Crow Pose: Tips for Busy Women to Plan their Holiday Workouts

The holiday season is a time for celebration, family gatherings, and indulging in delicious treats. As much as we all love these traditions, they can make it challenging to stick to our exercise routine. With the added responsibilities of organizing and planning for the holidays, finding time to workout can seem impossible. However, for busy women who are determined to stay fit and healthy during this busy time, there are ways to organize exercising into your holiday schedule. In this blog post, I will share some tips and tricks to help you plan your holiday workouts and stay on track with your fitness goals. So, from cookies to crow pose, let's find a way to balance the holiday spirit with our exercise routine.

The Importance of Scheduling

Look, I get it. Your holiday agenda is more jam-packed than Santa's sleigh on Christmas Eve. But if Mrs. Claus can juggle elf management, tending to a bunch of reindeer, and still bust out a wicked warrior pose, then we've got no excuse to skimp on our sun salutations. Enter the magic of scheduling. It’s time to wield that planner like a peppermint-flavored wand and designate specific slots for your workouts, right alongside the annual cookie baking marathon and the uncomfortable office party. Oddly enough, seeing your fitness routine etched into your schedule can add just the right dollop of accountability you need to keep it up. Just imagine it: you, committed to your workout as steadfastly as you are to finishing that tin of holiday popcorn. Now, isn't that a tidbit of holiday magic?

Fun and Festive Workout Ideas

Workouts, like Santa’s reindeer, don't all have to look the same. Have you ever considered swapping your usual monotone treadmill trot for an epic snowball showdown? Or challenging your family to a fierce Christmas tree pose-off? If that's not enough to put the jingle in your bells, how about a dance party fueled by your favorite holiday tunes, including those guilty pleasures from Michael Bublé’s Christmas album? (Don't worry, your secret's safe with me.)

If yoga doesn't tickle your tinsel, why not try donning your ugly Christmas sweater and partaking in a festive HIIT session? Yes, you read that right. High Intensity Interval Training... with a side of holiday spirit! You can bet that’ll raise more than just your heart rate.

The idea here is to transform your workouts into festive frolics that you actually look forward to, rather than dread like that awkward holiday office party. Not only does this make sticking to your fitness goals more fun, but it also adds a sprinkle of novelty that might just distract you from the fact that you're actually working out! So, go on, trade in that grueling jog for a jubilant Jingle Bell Rock. Who knows? You might find yourself actually looking forward to your next sweat session... now there's a Christmas miracle!

Partner Up for Accountability

Feeling as excited about braving the winter chill for a run as you are about locking lips with Aunt Edna under the mistletoe? Then, it might be time to find your fitness Frosty the Snowman. There’s nothing like a bit of friendly competition to make you leap off the couch faster than Rudolph on Christmas Eve. Having a workout buddy to share the season’s fitness frolics with can not only add a layer of accountability, but also double the holiday cheer. And hey, who knows? You might even end up challenging each other to a high-stakes holly jolly plank-off. It's like adding an extra dash of cinnamon to your eggnog - an unexpected yet delightful twist. So, grab your Santa-hat wearing, yoga-loving, eggnog-chugging buddy and conquer the season's fitness challenges together. After all, misery does love company, especially when it's dressed in a tacky Christmas sweater.

Make Use of the Holiday Energy

Oh, the holidays - a veritable winter wonderland of hidden workouts! The joyful vigor of the season is practically begging to be repurposed into a rosy-cheeked workout routine. Those 12 trips up and down the attic stairs to retrieve Grandma’s antique ornaments? That’s your cardio covered. Wrestling with that 7-foot fir to make it stand straight? Welcome to your impromptu weightlifting session.

Chasing the cat who's hell-bent on climbing the Christmas tree? You're basically running a festive version of the 100-meter dash. Every hall you deck is another opportunity to sneak in a workout. Those sugar-plum squats while you hang the stockings? Gluteus terrificus! Balancing precariously on a stool to place the angel atop the tree? Hello, core strength!

And let's not forget the arm workout you're getting from shaking those gifts trying to guess what's inside. Or the lower body strength built from standing in endlessly long shopping queues. Even laughing your bells off at Uncle Bob's terrible Christmas cracker jokes counts as an ab workout.

So, as you dance merrily through your holiday tasks, remember to embrace the hustle and bustle as a unique, season-themed fitness opportunity. After all, if you can transform the scramble of holiday preparation into a joyous jig of a workout, then you're already slaying the game... and maybe even burning off a few of those festive cookies along the way.

But hey, no pressure. If all else fails, you can always count your sprint to the fridge at midnight for a cheeky leftover turkey sandwich as cardio. It's all about that silver (bells) lining! So go forth, you jolly fitness elf, and use that holiday energy for all it's worth. Just remember, as you're lunging into the New Year, eggnog in hand, it's all in the name of fun, festivity, and a healthy dash of holiday hilarity!

Embrace the Spirit of Forgiveness

Attention, fitness enthusiasts! You know that old saying, "the road to perdition is paved with good intentions"? Well, it's the holiday season, the road is icy, and sometimes we just skid right off the path into a delightful ditch full of Grandma's pecan pie. And you know what? That's perfectly okay! (Especially if you managed to save the pie on the way down.)

Your holiday season workout schedule is a bit like a snowman. You build it up with high hopes, and sometimes it gets a little melty around the edges. But instead of looking at your slightly soggy snow-fitness-man and feeling down, remember: a snowman's most defining characteristic isn't its perfectly round snowballs, it's the carrot nose of optimism and the coal smile of resilience.

So, if you happened to exchange your morning crow pose for a crow-sized portion of leftover turkey and cranberry sauce, don't beat yourself up. And if your family's Christmas tree pose-off turned into a full-on 'Best Home Alone impression' competition, well, who are we to judge?

The thing is, holidays are all about indulging in life’s little pleasures and treating yourself. If that means occasionally trading your plank for an extra slice of pumpkin pie, then so be it.

Remember, the key here isn't to avoid the occasional festive frolic, it's to wrap it up in the sparkly ribbon of self-forgiveness and put it under the tree of acceptance. No workout skipped is worth feeling like a lump of coal. So, brush off the powdered sugar from your yoga mat, and get back to your sun salutations with a gingerbread-infused grin.

Because let's face it, holiday workout plans aren't written in stone, they're scribbled on candy wrappers. So, when you find yourself knee-deep in eggnog and wrapping paper, remember: you're not a failure, you're just fully embracing the holiday spirit. And there's always room for one more round of Jingle Bell Rock.

Merry fitness, and to all a good flight up those stairs! (Yes, that counts as cardio.)