TOPIC: What Is The Best Workout To Maintain Strength Over The Holidays?
The Question:
During this holiday season some may want to continue maintaining strength built over the course of the year or maybe less. The focus of this article will be about maintaining mass through the remainder of the year as we recover from Thanksgiving and gear up for Christmas and New Year's Eve.
What is the best workout to maintain strength over the holidays?
What additional training tips would help those new to training (and on the road) who want to keep their strength up?
Bonus Question: What training advice do you have for fitness buffs and their families when stress becomes a real issue about training or not training during the holidays?
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1st Place - Opiewags99
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During this holiday season some may want to continue maintaining strength built over the course of the year or maybe less. The focus of this article will be about maintaining mass through the remainder of the year as we recover from Thanksgiving and gear up for Christmas and New Year's Eve.
Workout
What Is The Best Workout To Maintain Strength Over The Holidays?
During the holiday season, it seems common for us to fall in the dreaded trap of overeating and skipping workouts, which inevitably leads to the loss of strength and an increase in body fat percentage.
Because of the fact that there are so many other distractions in life during this time of the year (shopping for presents, church meetings, family gatherings, etc.) that we set our sights lower than the typical strength and muscle gaining, to the simple goal of maintaining our strength while spending as little time working out as possible. Fortunately this is doable.
Now, the main goal of a strength maintaining workout is to spend as little time as we can in the gym in order to spend have more time for more important things we need to get done. This will be accomplished by using compound movements to engage as many muscle groups as possible in each movement. This will allow a good and complete workout with a very number of exercises.
The Workout
Depending on the availability you have, this can either be a 1 day a week workout, or a 3 day split.
3 Day Split:
Day 1: Back, Biceps & Posterior Shoulders(& Abs):
- Wide-Grip Pullups: 4x10 reps
- Chin-Ups: 4x10 reps
During your rest periods throw in mini sets of floor crunches (15-20 reps)
Click Here For A Printable Log Of Day 1.
Day 2: Chest, Triceps & Anterior Shoulders:
- Dumbbells/Barbell Bench Press: 4x10-12 reps
- Dips - Chest Version: 2x10-12 reps
- Dips - Triceps Version: 2x10-12 reps
Click Here For A Printable Log Of Day 2.
Day 3: Legs:
- Barbell Deadlifts: 3x12 reps
- Barbell Full Squats: 3x15 reps (Adding a standing barbell calf lift at the end of each rep)
- Romanian Deadlifts: 3x10 reps
Click Here For A Printable Log Of Day 3.
1 Day Split:
(For special circumstances if time is limited, for instance this is what I'll be doing once a week most of the month of December)
- Barbell Full Squats: 4x10 reps with a standing calf raise on each rep
- Barbell Bench Press: 3x10 reps
- Dips, Triceps Version: 3x8-10 reps
- Wide-Grip Pullups: 3x10 reps
- Romanian Deadlifts: 3x10 reps
Do sets of floor crunches to work your abs between sets if you need more time to rest a specific muscle group.
Click Here For A Printable Log Of 1 Day Split.
Notes:
- Instead of wide-grip pull-ups, wide-grip lat pull-downs can be done if you can't handle the pull-ups.
- If preferred, the Romanian deadlifts can be replaced with barbell lunges, as some people prefer not to do the straight legged deadlifts.
- Also dumbbells can replace the barbells in any exercise if preferred.
A Few Things To Keep In Mind:
- Lift a weight heavy enough so that you can barely finish the last rep of each set. This usually means that I lower the weight by about 5-10 pounds each set.
- Be sure you're properly warmed up before starting the working sets (Personally I like to do a quick set of push-ups, mini set of pull-ups and 5 minutes on the recumbent bike).
- Keep your rest periods short in between sets, which means < 2 minutes (As this is the goal of this workout plan.).
- Focus on the muscle group you're working on while doing each rep. This ensures a stronger contraction and thus a better workout.
- Do exercises in as large of a range of motion as possible.
Additional Training Tips
What Additional Training Tips Would Help Those New To Training (And On The Road) Who Want To Keep Their Strength Up?
One of the most important things to keep in mind is to keep good form while doing all of your exercises. This means that sometimes you'll have to use lighter weights, which is hard for some people to do because of their egos. But what really matters?
The numbers on the bars you're lifting or the fact that your pecs will be almost ripping through your shirt? I think you understand the answer now. The reasoning behind this is that you will be using the muscles you're attempting to work out rather than the leaning or jumping motion to pull the weight up, not fully working any muscle out at all.
For you new guys, this means learning how to do all of these exercises properly. Don't be afraid to ask for help, people in the gym are friendlier than they look. If I'm in the gym I'm always glad to help someone new. I think it's good to see other people taking an interest in getting into shape, as the fact that people who are overweight is becoming a serious problem in this country, is sickening.
Bonus Question
What Training Advice Do You Have For Fitness Buffs And Their Families When Stress Becomes A Real Issue About Training Or Not Training During The Holidays?
Stress is a natural and unavoidable part of the holidays, but I have three pieces of advice for people that need some advice on managing it:
- Always ensure that you have enough time to rest. This includes not working that extra two unnecessary hours at the end of the work day if not required as well as ensuring you get adequate amounts of sleep.
For me, I always make sure that I have 8 hours of rest every night. I recommend melatonin because of the fact that is also acts as an excellent antioxidant as well as promoting sleep.
- Make sure that you get at least one workout in a week. Mentally, not working out in over a week can cause me to feel like I'm wasting away and fattening up for the slaughter. The fact that I can get a fully body workout, for example the one shown above, improves my self confidence which also aids in lowering the amount of stress that I feel.
- Remember to spend time with the people who really matter. This includes family, close friends, and most importantly, yourself. Give yourself enough time to do what you love.
The fact that you can do a full body workout all in one day can aid in allowing you more time for yourself. And if you just to happen to love working out, work out more. But also be sure to choose spending time with your loved ones over going to that office Christmas party, because those are the people who really matter.
Happy Holidays Everyone!
-K (Opiewags99)
2nd Place - EAGLES56
During this holiday season some may want to continue maintaining strength built over the course of the year or maybe less. The focus of this article will be about maintaining mass through the remainder of the year as we recover from Thanksgiving and gear up for Christmas and New Year's Eve.
Workout
What Is The Best Workout To Maintain Strength Over The Holidays?
Lifting over the holiday season may incite time management and dietary imperfections. During this time, maintaining strength may pose a problem when getting to the gym becomes difficult. When the gym will be closed and the next workout might not be for days, it's important to get the most out of one's training session.
The Workout (2-3x/week):
5-10 minutes of full body dynamic stretching
- Pull-ups: 2 x Failure
- Flat/Incline/Decline Bench Press: 3 x 6-8
- Bent/T-Bar Row: 3 x 6-8
- Clean: 3 x 6-8
- Military/Arnold Press: 3 x 6-8
- Deadlift: 4 x 3-8
- Front/Back Squats: 3 x 6-8 / 2 x 10, 20
- Standing/Seated Calf Raises: 3 x 6-10
- *Optional Weighted Chin-ups/Incline Hammer Curl: 2 x 6-10
- *Optional Weighted Dips/Close-grip Bench Press: 2 x 6-10
10-15 minutes of static stretching
Click Here For A Printable Log Of This Holiday Workout.
**Pyramid weights with either the second or last set being the heaviest. Feel free to superset opposing muscle group exercises (such as Presses and Rows). Use moderate-heavy loads and be sure to have a spotter.
Additional Training Tips
What Additional Training Tips Would Help Those New To Training (And On The Road) Who Want To Keep Their Strength Up?
The key to keeping one's strength up is making continual, linear progress each workout. Either complete one more rep than before or add a few pounds to the bar. Although failing to increase the number of repetitions or weight load will maintain strength gains but will not increase them.
Additional Training Tips:
- Stick to compound exercises which recruit the most muscle fibers.
- Use proper form.
- Use a suitable weight. Forget ego and use a manageable weight.
- Don't bounce or jerk the weight.
- Don't lockout.
- Maintain a healthy caloric surplus (high protein).
- Don't skip a meal.
- Don't skip workouts.
- Workout on non-consecutive days.
- Practice dynamic stretching pre-workout and static stretching post-workout.
Bonus Question
What Training Advice Do You Have For Fitness Buffs And Their Families When Stress Becomes A Real Issue About Training Or Not Training During The Holidays?
Stress over the holidays is usually expected - especially with one's mother-in-law around. To prevent stress from becoming a real issue about training or not training over the holidays, stick to a rough schedule.
Don't expect everything to fit nicely and plan in advance for getting to the gym later or having to leave sooner. When partaking in various forms of training, such as morning weights and afternoon plyometrics, don't fret when skipping afternoon sessions for family time.
Tips To Relieve Stress Over The Holidays:
- The tried and true deep breathing method. Breathe in deep through the nose, feeling the diaphragm expand and out through the mouth focusing on contracting the diaphragm. This can be performed to a count or a set number of breaths. Try taking 10 long deep breaths when feeling stressed.
- Set aside ample time. Avoid becoming too busy.
- Reward ones self. Indulge a little - but not too much- after all, it's the holidays.