How to Lose Fat During the Holidays

With holidays such as Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas and New Years’ coming up fast we all should be preparing our bodies ahead of time to prepare for the onslaught of foods coming our way. Therefore, the key to stay lean – or, even shed a few pounds during the holidays – is to plan and act ahead of time.

I am not suggesting you totally banish all holiday foods, but rather, choose to moderate your food intake and plan your workout accordingly.

Why suffer and watch others eat heartily at Thanksgiving dinner while you eat sparingly and then blow your diet on some insignificant Tuesday? I say eat that Thanksgiving meal but be careful with your eating habits the weeks before and the weeks following up to the next winter holiday.

As for your workouts, do them short, intense, and with a strategic purpose. By that I mean to choose full body movements and use full range of motion with each exercise. This will burn more calories, strengthen your muscles functionally, and save you valuable time.

Here are a few workouts for beginner, intermediate, and advanced exercisers:

Beginner Holiday Fat Loss Circuit

20 Jumping Jacks
20 Bodyweight Squats
15 Kneeling Push-ups
20 Mountain Climbers

*Repeat 2-3 times resting 20 seconds between exercises and 60-90 seconds between each circuit. 2 circuits = 150 reps, 3 circuits = 225 reps.

Intermediate Holiday Fat Loss Circuit

20 Mountain Climbers
20 Push-ups
20 Stationary Lunges (20 each leg)
40 Shadow boxing (40 each arm punches)

*Repeat 3 times resting 20 seconds between exercises and 60-90 seconds between each circuit. 3 circuits = 300 reps.

Advanced Holiday Fat Loss Circuit

20 Mountain Climbers
20 push-ups
20 Front Step Lunges
20 Jumping Jacks
10 Clapping Push-ups
10 Squat Jumps

*Repeat 3 times resting 20 seconds between exercises and 60-90 seconds between each circuit. 3 circuits = 300 reps.

Here's the Fastest Way to Burn off Belly Fat

According to Australian fat loss expert, Professor Steve Boucher, "High intensity intermittent exercise (i.e. intervals) may result in greater fat loss in the abdomen."

Basically, intervals burn stomach fat FIRST, over all other sources of fat on the body. Nothing else, not crunches, nor cardio has ever been shown to result in stomach fat spot reduction. The best news is that this type of exercise takes less than 20 minutes to complete!

Other research finds that for fat loss the best kind of interval training is the 45 second burst. That is, you do 60-90 seconds of a low intensity cardiovascular activity (like fast walking or a slow jog) followed immediately by 45 seconds of a high intensity burst, like a sprint. You do this interval exchange about 6 times.

If you are a beginner or new to this type of training you might do 60-120 seconds of a low intensity activity followed by only a 30 second burst of high intensity. This will first acclimate yourself to this more demanding type of workout. However, you'll still find the results astonishing!

It's harder to do interval training on a machine like a treadmill because you have to wait for it to slow down and gradually pick up speed. But, go ahead and use a machine if there happens to be inclement weather outside.

You can even do bodyweight interval training for fat loss in the belly area. Just like with the walk/sprint mode you can do a hig/low intensity bodyweight circuit. Here is an example:

Start by doing a dynamic warm up:

Standing high knee drill
Standing Butt kicks

Then, the bodyweight circuit:

Squats (15 reps)
Standing calf raises (15 reps)
Jump Squats (10 reps)
Push-ups (15 reps)
Triceps dips (15 reps)
Burpees (10 reps)

Repeat this circuit 3 times with 20 seconds rest between the exercises and 60 seconds rest between the circuits.

For more exercises designed to burn body fat and belly fat go to: www.xpressworkouts.com.

How to Rapidly Increase Your Exercise Capacity

Public health guidelines suggest 30-60 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise on most days of the week. However, despite overwhelming scientific evidence that regular activity is effective in the prevention of chronic diseases and premature death, most adults fail to meet even the minimum physical activity requirement.

Countless studies have shown that the most commonly cited reason for not exercising is a “lack of time” (Godin et al., 1994). This finding is universal; regardless of age, ethnicity, sex, or health status, people report lack of time is the primary reason for their failure to exercise on a regular basis.

Given that lack of time is such a common barrier to exercise participation is why I developed our Xpress Workouts program.

I recently read a study on the Gatorade Sports Science Institute (GSSI) website by Martin J. Gibala, PhD. on “High Intensity Interval Training (HIT): New Insights.” It reads,

“...From a practical perspective, one of the most striking findings from our recent studies was the dramatic improvement in exercise performance during tasks that rely mainly on aerobic energy metabolism, despite the very low training volume (Burgomaster et al., 2005; 2006; 2007; Gibala et al., 2006). In our initial study (Burgomaster et al., 2005) subject doubled the length of time that exercise could be maintained at a fixed submaximal workload - ~26 min to 51 min during cycling at 80% of pre-training VO2peak – after only six HIT sessions!”

Click here to read the full report

Once again more positive evidence mounts for high intensity short duration exercise such as with our 300 Workout program exclusive at our sister site, Xpress Workouts.

Robert Garza CPT, RTS