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4 Tips for Staying Fit this Christmas!! And a HITT workout!

4 Tips for staying fit this Christmas – The time for over indulging.

Firstly I’d like to say, if you want to over indulge without feeling bad about it… go for it!!

But as I know so many people get that guilty feeling and beat themselves up a about eating too much over Christmas and then furiously try to diet and thrash themselves in the gym after! So here are some tips to help you stay on track

1. Try not to take the “sod it” approach. You’re bound to have a couple of enormous meals or eat lots of sweets at this time but just because you’ve had one or two over indulgent days don’t think sod it I may as well carry on now, as this is when the weight starts creeping on.

2. What really makes a difference to weight loss or gain is how many calories you consume over the course of the week rather than one day. It’s literally as simple as energy in versus energy out. If you’re consuming more calories than you’re burning - you will put on weight but if you are burning slightly more calories than you’re consuming - you will gradually lose weight.

3. Stay active. It’s quite nice to wind down exercise over Christmas, especially with gym’s shutting (if you actually get the chance to use one when they are open), but guaranteed you’ll feel better about yourself if you do some sort of exercise a few times a week. Even going for a walk before a meal, if you can brave the elements, will make you feel like you’ve done something and triggers your mindset in to being a bit more healthy. Plus its always great to get little ones out of the house for a run around or spot of tree climbing (maybe not as high as the crazy child in this pic!).

4. Try 20 min workouts. If you do want to keep your body moving but the thought of working out for an hour makes you sit back down on the sofa with a big bag of crisps, try doing just a 15 or 20 minute workout. You can burn more calories than you think if you do a HIIT workout and it will ramp up your metabolism for the rest of the day and give you those fabulous feel good hormones… endorphins! Plus its far easier to escape for a shorter amount of time if you have little ones to take care of - we reckon about 5-6 episodes of Peppa Pig should do it.

Want to try it - Here are two 15/20 min HIIT workouts for you. The first one is if you are pre/post natal and the second one is if you are not!  However, feel free to swap in any exercises for ones that work better for you (just try and keep that heart rate up) or change jumping ones to low impact.

If you are a regular at exercise do the 40/20 set - thats 40 seconds of work with 20 seconds of rest per minute.

If you are a beginner or need to take things a little slower then do 30 seconds of work with 30 seconds of rest per minute.

Repeat everything below 3 times!

PRE / POST NATAL SET -

Exercise 1 - Air squats (you can go fairly quick with these)

Exercise 2 - Press ups on knees

Exercise 3 - Alternating reverse lunges (change to static lunges if experiencing PGP - pelvic girdle pain)

Exercise 4 - High bridge (in to a crab reach position (google if not sure) with hands facing forward, scoop your hips up and squeeze the glutes to come up in to what looks like a table then hinge the hips back down to the floor and repeat) 

Exercise 5 - Alternating side lunge (change to a static side lunge if have PGP)

REGULAR SET -

Exercise 1 - In and out squat jumps (squat jumps but tapping your feet in together in between each jump)

Exercise 2 - Press up plank jack (press up then jump your feet out and back in like a horizontal star jump in between each press up)

Exercise 3 - Speedy alternating lunges - as fast as you can but keeping the technique as best you can!

Exercise 4 - Down ups (these are burpee with no jump at the top)

Exercise 5 - Sit ups - watch your technique - don't pull on your neck!

Always take care when you are exercising - you know your own body and what you are capable of.  If you are pregnant or postnatal, please take extra care and definitely go at your own pace. Feel free to take a look at my other blog A Guide to the Do’s & Don’ts of Exercising When Pregnant by Pre & Post Natal if you are in doubt about what you should and shouldn't do!
Stay healthy and enjoy this Christmas period - lets face it ....we all deserve a bit of over indulgence after the past 10 months!!
All the best, Lily

 

PureNatal

Lily Gredley is a Level 3 personal trainer and pre and postnatal specialist based in South West London and Suffolk. We are happy to have her on board at StyleMyKid as one of our resident experts.
https://www.instagram.com/lilygredley/
www.lilygredley.com

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