How Do You Maintain Your Personal Fitness Routine While Traveling for the Holidays?

Everybody worries about their diet going haywire when they travel home for the holidays, but what about your fitness routine? If you neglect your fitness routine while you’re running around away from home, you could suffer the effects of detraining and end up losing ground that you’ve worked so hard to gain. We’ll share some tips on how you can keep fitness on your mind even when you’re miles away from your favorite friendly neighborhood personal trainers here at Vertex Fitness. (Speaking of your favorite neighborhood trainers, be sure to give us a vote in the Best of the Main Line contest this year!)

Maintain Accountability with Help From Family

When you’re away from your personal trainer and planning to miss a few weeks, the best thing that you can do for yourself is find another avenue for your support network and accountability partner. Mention to a friend or family member that you’ve been working out, and that you’d like to keep it up while you are visiting. They may invite you to use their home equipment, or you could ask to go for a jog together. The people you love will be proud of you for prioritizing your health, and their support can help bolster you through the holidays while you run the gamut of unhealthy choices. Research shows that working out with a partner improves your performance, and accountability is key while you maintain your fitness routine.

Look Up a Local Gym While You’re Away

When you’re an extended guest with family or friends for the holidays, you may find that it’s a relief to slip away for a few hours and get a good workout in. You can look up a local health club or fitness center while you’re in town to get a little bit of me time before getting back into the festivities. HealthClubs.com can be a good resource to look up a local place to work up a sweat while you’re in an unfamiliar city.

Get Your Eating Under Control by Finding Joy in the Grey Areas

Life is all about finding the balance in the grey areas. You don’t need to abstain from a nice turkey dinner or a bit of dessert and ignore your favorite Christmas traditions in order to bring a little sanity to your diet during the holidays. Instead, enjoy one glass of wine, not four. Grab a second helping of cranberry sauce with turkey, but skip the gravy this time around. It’s not about sucking the joy out of eating, it’s about finding balance. Here’s another great tip: spoil your dinner. Load up on the fruit and vegetable platter appetizers before the meal starts, and you’ll find yourself feeling full and satisfied long before you totally bust your calorie count.

Most Importantly… Don’t Skip Workouts

The holidays are stressful if you have a long list of errands to run and presents to buy, so it can be tempting to scootch your workout right out of your schedule to buy yourself another hour at the mall. Don’t do it. Don’t sacrifice your health and well-being just to check things off of your list. Your family will be much happier when you are relaxed, healthy, and happy than with another strand of tinsel or gift under the tree. Don’t derail your fitness routine in favor of busywork and running around. Maintain your healthy routines and do something good for yourself.

Maintaining your fitness routines during the holidays is an important part of attacking your goals in the New Year. Be sure to take time out just for you to keep up with your workouts, even if your personal training schedule is disrupted, and check out our tips for staying healthy for the holidays.

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