The holidays are over, now what?
For most people the last couple of weeks have created inconsistencies in their fitness journey, and I’m here to tell you, that’s absolutely fine. The holidays create travel demands, changes in diet, and introduce much more alcohol than many of us typically indulge in. This challenges our gym goals but it also allows us to spend valuable time with those we care about. This is why I say “its absolutely fine”. The gym isn’t going anywhere and a couple cumulative days of a bad diet and missed training is not going to ruin everything you have worked towards. The question is, what are you going to do now that the holidays are over?
In hopes of helping you get back on track, I’d like to cover a few mistakes that many people make when coming out of the holiday season.
Nutrition:
It’s likely that you have been overeating, or at a minimum, eating a drastically different macro makeup than what you typically aim for. This may have led to lethargy, bloating, and an overall sense that you have gained uncontrollable weight. Regardless of where you fall on this spectrum, the worse thing you can do is 1) under eat, or 2) give up.
Under eating -
Do not purposely under eat in an attempt to “make up” for the last couple of weeks’ inconsistencies. Doing so will only leave you hungry, which typically leads to binge eating, and incapable of recovering from training, which will inhibit your ability to crush your goals like you were before.
Get back to your pre-holiday nutrition routine. Whether you counted your calories and have a certain macro goal, or you intuitively eat, just get back to your old habits. You will be surprised how quickly you will feel like yourself again by doing so.
Giving up -
On the other side of things, don’t just give up because you had some apple pie at Christmas dinner. Understand that it is normal and completely healthy to enjoy food and alcohol. Don’t punish yourself for doing so, and absolutely do not continue with bad eating habits just because of the holidays. I can assure you that your diet over the holidays was not so bad that it completely negated your prior work. The best thing you can do is get right back to following your nutrition routine. With that, do not over restrict certain foods because you think you need too. Yes, you must be able to control your cravings, but over restriction often leads to relapse and binge eating, which are things we want to avoid.
Training:
Like your nutrition, it is likely that your training routine has been adversely affected by the holidays. That mixed with inconsistent sleep and an altered diet has likely lead to a hindered level of fitness. The best thing you can do is just get back on track with your routine.
To do so, it is best to slowly progress over the next 7-14 days back to your pre-holiday training volume.
Conditioning Circuits-
For conditioning, utilize EMOMs, or built-in rest periods. This will force you to have intra-workout rest and keep you from redlining for a 12 minute AMRAP. As the week progresses, minimize the rest periods.
Running-
If you track your HR when running, I would stick to sub-maximal work for the first couple of runs; prioritize Zone 1 and Zone 2. As the week progresses, you can build in > Zone 2 work with intervals. For example, instead of running a max effort 3 mile, do 3 x 1 mile repeats with a set rest time in between. This will allow you to slowly build back up to the volume you were at before with less intensity.
Lifting-
Auto-regulation is a great tool that we can use in the gym. It involves adjusting your working sets’ percentages based on how you are moving/feeling. I typically give myself a 5% range when using auto-regulation (i.e. 70-75%).
This can be used in a variety of instances including when you are coming back to training and need to ease into things. Say you typically do 5 x 5 @ 70%. This week, utilize auto-regulation and do 60-65% instead. This drops the intensity of the lift to de-load levels which will allow you to get moving again without jumping back into your typical percentage scheme. The buffer (60-65%), gives you room to move weight up in the chance you are feeling good. The next session, move to 65-70%. So on and so forth.
Don’t over do it-
Like your nutrition, the last thing you need to do is go spend 3 hours at the gym to “make up” for the holidays. Ease yourself back into training with some of the suggested methods stated above. As your fitness improves over the next 7-14 days or so, increase the demand. Before you know it, you’ll be back where you were before all the coquito.
Final thoughts:
This blog was not meant to supply world-renowned knowledge showing you how to time travel back to your pre-holiday self. Instead, I hope that by reading this you realize that you are not as far away from your goals as you might think, and that you do not make the same mistakes I have seen before.
Get back into your routine and give yourself some time to get back into the swing of things. You’ll be crushing it again before you know it!
Coach Jason
