As the holidays approach and Christmas desserts start to fill everyone’s kitchens, many find it difficult to stay healthy and fit. Additionally, as the New Year approaches, many people look to fitness as a resolution. Fitness does not need to be complicated. With a little bit of commitment and discipline, everyone can get healthy for a happier holiday.
There are three elements to physical health, exercise, nutrition, and rest/recovery. There are two categories of exercise that we will be focusing on, cardiovascular training and resistance training. Though cardio is more important for losing weight, and resistance training is more important for gaining muscle, both are important, says the National Center for Biotechnology Information. According to MenHealth, for weight loss and general health, cardio training and resistance training about three times a week will be plenty. Incline walking for about 20 minutes is probably the best form of cardio, and as you progress, you can increase time, incline, and speed. Then on the resistance training side of things, for general health, we want to focus on heavy compound exercises like the bench press and squat, says the National Library of Medicine. Three days a week is a good goal for trying to hit barbell back squats, Romanian deadlifts, barbell bench press, and lat pull downs. Once again it is important to continuously add weight or reps to progressively overload the muscle, according to the NIH. These will hit virtually every muscle group and give a great stimulus for muscle to grow. An example of this program would be as follows:
Day 1:
Back squats
3×6-8
Romanian deadlifts
3×6-8
Barbell bench press
3×8-10
Lat pulldowns
3×8-10
Incline treadmill walking
20 minutes
Day 2: Rest
Day 3:
Back squats
3×6-8
Romanian deadlifts
3×6-8
Barbell bench press
3×8-10
Lat pulldowns
3×8-10
Incline treadmill walking
20 minutes
Day 4: Rest
Day 5:
Back squats
3×6-8
Romanian deadlifts
3×6-8
Barbell bench press
3×8-10
Lat pulldowns
3×8-10
Incline treadmill walking
20 minutes
Day 6: Rest
Day 7: Rest
Nutrition is equally if not more important for achieving health goals. There are two important elements of this, calories and protein intake. The NIH explains a caloric deficit (eating less calories than your body uses) is necessary to lose weight while a caloric surplus (eating more calories than your body uses) is necessary to gain weight. For this weight to be muscle though there must be adequate protein intake. This would be about 0.8-1.2 grams of protein for each pound of body weight for optimal performance.
It is important to take rest days between training sessions. The body makes adaptations better when at rest and will be able to progress better if it has adequate rest.
Though both of these types of exercise can be greatly expanded on, for general health this is all that is needed. NIH studies show that exercise is one of the best ways to improve mental health. This holiday season, get yourself the gift of a healthier, happier life and start exercising.
