It’s that season again, folks – the season with one major holiday after another packed into a few fun and festive months! As enjoyable as this season can be with all the parties and gatherings and family time, it’s generally a time when people put their health on the back burner. While there’s nothing wrong with indulging in a piece of pie or a festive sugar cookie, your fitness should still be a priority.
How do you make fitness part of your family’s life this year? Try these tips from our pros at Glamour Girl Fitness.
Preserve Your Schedule When Possible
During the holidays, your schedule will probably be a bit off thanks to time away from work and school, travel, out-of-town guests, and so on. In the midst of all those shifts, though, try to keep your family’s workout schedule as close to “normal” as possible. Aim to work out around the same time of day as usual and with the same activity rotation as usual. You’ll be more likely to keep getting out there and working out if it’s an expected part of your daily routine.
Create a Family Fitness Challenge for the Holidays
Looking for a way to motivate your kids (and yourself) to stay active over the holidays? Try creating a collaborative family fitness challenge for the season. For example, you could set a goal for the family to collectively log a certain number of steps or a certain number of exercise minutes in the month of December, or just during the kids’ winter break from school. Have a family prize that everyone wins in you reach the goal together, like a special outing or a gift the entire family will enjoy.
Sign Up for Active and Festive Events
If you’re trying to find fun and festive workout opportunities for your family, let your community help! There are actually many fitness-based events scheduled around the holidays.
Try signing up for races like the half marathon, 5k, mile, and dash held on Thanksgiving Day every year. Many gyms and wellness centers have festive community events as well to promote fitness over the holidays, and some offer family-focused fitness classes as well.
Try a Fitness-Based Countdown Calendar
For people who celebrate Christmas, advent calendars are popular as a way to count down to Christmas. You can implement this same concept for any holiday, though, and with a health-focused twist too.
Try creating a countdown calendar for your family. Have a different family workout or fitness initiative for each day on the calendar, along with a prize each family member gets when they complete the calendar (or even a small prize for each day in the countdown).
Giving Your Family the Gift of Health for the Holidays
During the holidays, it’s easy to get so focused on giving material gifts that we forget about the gifts that truly matter, like time, health, and togetherness. The ideas above can help you give your family the gift of fitness this year. For more fit tips, follow us on Instagram and be sure to learn more about our family fitness programs as well.