Right before Thanksgiving I wrote an article talking about navigating your way through the holidays when it comes to balancing nutrition and fitness with your holiday events. To expand on that I’ve got two early Christmas presents for you. Below you will find two quick and easy holiday workouts that can fit into your busy schedule.
The Holiday HIIT workouts are quick and powerful and leave no room for excuses.
The Holiday HIIT Workout
While these workouts are designed to be done in short time periods they are not short on effort or work. They are based on High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). I often talk about the benefits of HIIT but if you’re unfamiliar with what HIIT is take a look at this.
Unlike the traditional implication of HIIT as an after workout cardio routine, we will be utilizing it as the actual workout itself. You will effectively combine resistance training and cardio for an all in one holiday workout.
Holiday HIIT Workout I
After the warm up do the listed exercises one after another resting only the prescribed time. When you finish the circuit rest one minute then repeat. Do as many circuits as you can.
Burpee
| EXERCISE | WORK | REST |
| Jumping jacks (warm up) | 45 seconds | 15 seconds |
| Bodyweight squat (alternate medicine ball squat) | 30 second | 15 seconds |
| Pushup | 30 seconds | 15 seconds |
| Dumbbell swing | 30 seconds | 15 seconds |
| Dumbbell punch | 30 seconds | 15 seconds |
| Run in place | 30 seconds | 60 seconds until next circuit |
Holiday HIIT Workout II
Holiday HIIT II follows a Tabata protocol. You’ll do 20 seconds of work followed by a 10 second rest for a total of 8 sets. This workout is intense. It is advised to use lighter weights than you normally lift as you’ll be doing a straight 20 seconds of work as opposed to a set number of reps. A good estimate is 50% of your one rep max. So, if you normally do a bicep curl with a 30 pound dumbbell use a 10 or 15 pound for these sets.
- Run in place
- Dumbbell bench press (alternate pushup)
- Bodyweight squat (for a bigger challenge hold a pair of dumbbells)
- Kettlebell swing (alternate with a dumbbell)
- Seated cable row
- Dumbbell curl
- Overhead triceps extension
- Burpee
Kettlebell Swings
These holiday workouts will help you keep up the hard work during the busy holiday season and not let it derail your progress. As these workouts are intense it is suggested to take a day’s rest in-between. Consider a Monday-Wednesday-Friday split. Or do Workout 1 Monday and Thursday and Workout 2
Tuesday and Friday.
The intensity of these workouts and short rest periods are ideal for fat stimulating muscle growth and burning fat.
Tim Santoro
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