Top Five tips for staying fit over that break

So it’s coming up to that time of year when we are all going to be taking holidays, traveling back home to see the family and just generally giving ourselves a bit of a break. And that’s great! You’ve worked hard all year and you and your body deserve a break. But! That doesn’t mean you have to undo all that hard work by sitting around at home, eating chocolate, chips and beer. I’m not saying you can’t have all that chocolate, chips and beer (it is Christmas after all), I’m only trying to encourage you to keep active just enough so that all the blood, sweat and sequins that went into your year aren’t completely wasted.

According to a classic study done by (Dela et al., 1992), a whole 10 weeks worth of training gains were lost within just 6 days of inactivity! So what can you do to enjoy your time off and not lose all those booty/bicep/abs of steel gains? Here are some tips to keep you on track for coming back just as strong as you left in 2017.

1. Go hard for as long as you can! Don’t let the excuse that Christmas is coming up give you an excuse to slack off earlier than it has to. Yeah, maybe Christmas is just 2 weeks away (is it?!!), and the weather is great (ummm???) and there are lots of events coming up. But that means there is still 2 weeks to push yourselves through before it gets here! Just because your trip home is 1 week away, doesn’t mean you can stop working for that last week leading up to it! Push yourself right up til that break! Then relax and enjoy the break, just don’t make your time off any longer than it has to be.

2. Do something small every day you’re away. It doesn’t have to be anything big like a full hour long workout, or 10km run (who am I kidding? If you’re reading this then you are probably a pole dancer which means you probably hate running anyway). But try and go for a 20 minute walk around the block or do a quick 10 minute workout as mentioned here. All you need is an average of one mile a day to negate the effects of time off. That’s only, like, 1.6km! Easy!

3. Make a game out of holiday behaviour! This is my favourite. It’s kind of like a drinking game but with exercise instead of drink. Hmmm, maybe not quite as fun, but after 5pm you could always switch it over from exercise to drink? Basically you just come up with some fun challenges for the day, Eg. Every time someone falls asleep on the couch you have to do 10 press ups, or every time the a grumpy relative complains about the Christmas songs. you have to do 20 burpies. Or on a similar note, every time someone burbs you have to do 20 sit ups. Get as many people involved as possible, make it fun!

4. Join an Instagram challenge. If coming up with your own challenge is too hard (you are on holiday so let’s keep things easy), just join an existing Instagram challenge. No doubt there will be a ton of great ones out there, and posting to Instagram will help keep you accountable, plus help keep your Instagram feed more interesting than all the drnks and meals you’re already posting about. Keep an eye on for our #AltitudePoleFitmasChallenge at www.instagram.com/altitudepolenz. And Aris _inmotion usually does great ones too.

5. Make the most of having your partner around. Ahem. This might not be for everyone, and by no means am I telling you to go out and do anything stupid. But if you are having family time off, and that family does involve a loving partner, then there are plenty of studies out there that show just how many calories a good old session of "adult cuddles" can burn. Just sayin'. ;)

Go off and enjoy your holiday season! See you when you're back!

Karry Summers

xxx