By Lance Catchings
During the holiday season many Central Texans are looking for ways to keep off the traditional holiday weight gain and jump start their New Year’s Resolutions for 2021. Covid-19 has made many conscious of their personal health and Texans are taking charge of their physical fitness whether it be at the gym, track or burning up calories while making laps around the neighborhood.
Here are three holiday workouts that can be done alone or with family to help keep off the traditional weight gain.
Walking, Running, Hiking:
These activities may seem over-simplified but are some of the most efficient ways to burn calories for beginners. All you need is a comfortable pair of shoes and you’re set for these activities. Start small and build on distance each week. Listen to your favorite music or audio book and the time (and distance) will fly by.
Cycling:
This is another activity that can be done from home, at the gym or down your favorite less traveled road. This can be a great lower body and core workout, and should you take a class will quickly realize how fast the level of intensity can be raised.
H.I.I.T (High Intensity Interval Training):
HIIT workouts are very popular and extremely effective by raising the level of cardiovascular intensity followed by short periods of rest. A favorite HIIT warm-up workouts is 4×1 (four movements followed by one minute of rest). Air Squats, burpees, push-ups and sit-ups. Start with Air Squats and do as many as possible in one minute. Once the minute is over, go right into burpees, followed by one minute of push-ups and one minute of sit-ups. After sit-ups take a one-minute rest. Repeat this process for four rounds, and there is a quick 20-minute home workout for beginners or a nice warm-up for those who are more experienced.