Holiday Season: Get in shape to party!
With the party season in full swing, ironguides coach Alun ‘Woody’ Woodward offers some great tips for triathletes who’d like to have their cake and eat it too without gaining weight, or getting sick.
As we head into the second half of December, the party season is in full swing. This is a great time of the year but also a minefield for athletes; everywhere we see temptation that would derail all the good work we have done in the past weeks to regain fitness after a good break from the race season.
We should enjoy the festive season as it truly is special and with a little planning we can come out of this month still in great shape and ready to advance into the new year.
There are two big problems we face during this period that I want to talk about in this article and I will also recommend the steps we can take to avoid them, i.e.:
• Weight Gain
• Illness
The biggest fear most athletes have at this time of year is weight gain. We are surrounded by amazing food and far too many opportunities to drink. We don’t want to be the party’s grinch who declines all, telling everyone we can’t as it would make us fat and slow.
We can solve this problem by doing some special training before a party to make sure our bodies are primed to USE calories, rather than STORE calories. That way we can relax and have some fun!
I have heard from many of my athletes over the years that they have done an amazing session before a party so that they could enjoy the food free of guilt, but this was almost always a long, hard endurance session. While it may seem perfect for burning a lot of calories, in truth it is only going to make you extra hungry and lower your immune system (I’ll take more about the latter further down).
The calorie-burning effect of such a session is done almost as soon as you’re finished and the body has a window of opportunity to refuel the muscles that closes within 30-60 minutes after the session; beyond that, the calories are just going to be stored as fat. You can see this plan doesn’t work for the party season.
There is however a way to train in a much shorter time that is going to spike anabolic hormones, strengthen your immune system and allow you to eat and drink as you want without having to worry about weight gain. The answer is strength training and specifically exercises that are going to stress your central nervous system leading to a good hormone release.
Here is an example of a great pre-party session:
Pre-party circuit training – 30 minutes
Perform the below exercises in a continuous cycle and then take 2 minutes rest before repeating. Perform the cycle between 3-5 times and then you’re done and ready for PARTY TIME!
GOBLET SQUAT with overhead push – 10 repetitions, or until you fail.
• Hold a dumbbell/ kettlebell or anything heavy in both hands at chest height and close to your chest. Now squat down as far as possible in a slow controlled movement, come back up and once standing push the weight up directly overhead and then return to the start position at your chest.
• Make the weight as heavy as you can manage for 10 repetitions.
PLANK – hold position for 60 seconds
• Support yourself on your feet and elbows with your body straight and tense. Elbows are directly under shoulders and full forearm is on the floor to offer support.
JUMP UPS – 20 repetitions
• Find a bench or something similar that is 30cm high, now stand in front and jump up onto the bench and step down slowly and then repeat. Try to land as quietly and softly as possible onto the bench.
PUSH UPS – 10 repetitions
• 10 slow and controlled push ups – if this is too easy for you then really focus on the upward phase, go down fast and spend 5 seconds on the up phase.
PULL UPS – To failure
• Choose a hand position that suits your strength, hands facing backwards is easier and will allow more repetitions before fail. Try to perform these slow and controlled without using inertia to aid the movement.
• Not everyone can do a full pull up; if you fall into this category then a lying pull up bringing your chest to a bar is a great alternative. Also if you have no equipment to allow a pull up, this one is normally possible in some way. So you are lying on your back with a bar or something to pull on above you and under your chest (a kitchen table can be perfect for this), now grasp the bar and, keeping your body straight and supported with heels only on the floor, pull yourself up to the bar. Repeat in a slow controlled movement until you can do no more full repetitions.
This is very demanding. While a very short session, it will stimulate a BIG hormone release that will see you through your party feeling great and burning calories all the way! The other advantage of this session over a conventional endurance/ cardio workout is that your immune system will not be compromised.
ILLNESS
The party season is also the season of sickness. With so many people together in close proximity and typically in hot indoor environments, it is the perfect breeding ground for bacteria. The last thing you want is to enter into this environment with a decreased immune system. It has been known for a long time that the immune system is reduced following hard cardio exercise which is another reason to avoid this type of training before a party. Hard cardio training stresses the body and creates a catabolic (break down) state. What we want is the body in an anabolic (build up) state, which is why we should choose the strength training approach I outlined above.
So now if you have a party ahead, skip your endurance workout and get a good intense strength circuit done instead before heading out to have some fun. I guarantee you’re going to feel great, have more energy for the party and you’re going to be burning through all those tasty calories as you eat them!
Have a great holiday season everyone.
Alun ‘Woody’ Woodward, Certified ironguides Coach – UK/Hungary
* * * Your best is our business.™ * * *
**Article reposted with permission from ironguides**
