It’s that most wonderful time of the year–when preparations and celebrations wreak havoc on our well-ordered fitness routines!  If you’re having trouble fitting in fitness in the midst of a busy season, here are some ideas to help you ward off unwanted inches and pounds!

Sneaky Fit to the Rescue!

Sneaking in fitness where you can really does work!  Remember, alignment and muscle activation are the keys to success, so even if you can’t get a 15-20 minute workout in, you can still activate and maintain your size–and maybe even lose a few inches!

Sneaky Fit Ideas:

• Dashing through a store?  Shift weight into heels and keep those ribs up for a little extra activation!
• Grocery shopping for holiday feasts?  Either hang onto the cart with hands under the handle and thumbs away or make a loose fist, stretch those thumbs and press down on the cart handle for extra lat (and core) activation.   It takes the load off those tired feet, too!
• Standing in line?  Softly bend your knees, pull belly button up and back (but not a full tuck–neutral spine) and think of a string pulling your head nice and tall to the ceiling. Now gently shift weight back a bit and think to turn out your whole leg from ankles to knees to hips.  HELLO muscle activation from head to toe!
• Doing your shopping online?  Sit towards the edge of your chair, knees straight out from hips and ankles under knees with toes forward. Pull that belly button up and back to spine and lift ribs.  Press into the desk or your thigh with the non-mouse-clicking hand. Having your hand in mitten or bear claw position with a stretched thumb will use a bit more lats and balance the muscles in your back and shoulders.
• Driving all over to find that perfect gift?  At stoplights, curl your core against the back of the seat, place hands on steering wheel at 8 and 4 o’clock positions, thumbs away and gently pull to help you get those ribs up using your lats–but don’t lose that core!  Inhale slowly for 4-5 counts and exhale bigger for 8-10!

Quick Fitness Breaks:

• If you’ve been walking what seems like a marathon through stores (and between them in malls!), slip into a handicap stall of the restroom and do at least the arch and scoop portion of Primary Back Stretch or Scarecrow Ski
• To relieve those tired feet, try these Foot Stretches!
• Been sitting too long at the computer looking for that Star Wars Lego set? Try Seated Lawnmowers to stretch the back, relieve neck tension and trim the torso, too!
• Fingers tired from typing or writing out Christmas cards? Finger Fitness to the rescue!
• Tired back and neck from carrying all those packages? Butterflies are an easy move to memorize and effective for clearing the brain fog and relieving sore shoulder, arm, neck and upper back muscles!

Need a fun but easy “workout” idea to get a bit more cardio in through the holidays?  

Check Out Holiday Hoedowns!

There are 4 fun Holiday Hoedowns on YouTube–for FREE!   A variety of Hoedown styles and all are under 4 minutes!

• The First Christmas
• Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
• Christmas This Year
• Frosty the Snowman

These are a variety of regular and “tap-it” Hoedowns with different hand positions–if you’re not familiar with some of them, watch first, then do.  FUN way to fit in fitness, burn fat, calories, blood sugar– and ramp up the cardio, too!

Other Ways to Fit in Fitness

{Note:  The following paragraph contains affiliate links.  If you purchase through one of these links I will receive an affiliate commission, which helps me with business expenses and buying dark chocolate sea-salt caramels, both of which help keep this website running!}

• Short workouts:  The MORE Workouts have 3 mini workouts that are under 10 minutes each–including a chair workout!
• TappCore and TappCore 2:  TappCore has 8 moves on a menu you can choose from, plus a short 8 minute stepping workout.  TappCore 2 is 12 minutes of core cardio in a chair!
• 3 Moves Per Day:  Primary Back Stretch plus 2 moves can keep that lymph pumping and muscles strong! Chaptered workouts such as Mindful Movement (Healthy Hormones) or Senior Fit can help you save time jumping through the workout!
• Step Away the Stress and Inches!  Broom 2 is a short, 13 minute stepping workout.  As I mentioned, TappCore has a short 8 minute stepping workout on it, and all three MORE Workouts have short stepping workouts on them as well. (MORE 3 has TWO stepping workouts!)
• T-Tapp Tuesday Videos:  Teresa shared a move nearly every week for 2 1/2 years on WTSP T-Tapp Tuesday!  Most are 3 1/2 to 4 minutes, even with the intro, and often Teresa is also explaining what the move targets or what health benefits you will get.  GREAT way to fit in fitness!  There is a list of all the moves by date and name in this post at the T-Tapp Forums.

Doesn’t it feel good to have options to keep moving and maintain your ground during this busy season?!

Would you like a calendar of moves to do through the first week of January?  Sign up for my e-mail list and receive my Dashing into Holiday Fitness calendar with a different move for each day PLUS a Holiday Hoedowns focus for each week! The calendar has links to take you directly to the FREE YouTube video of the move to make it SUPER easy for you to fit in fitness for the Holidays!

(I also share tips, sales and other helpful information in my e-mails as well as downloads from time to time that no one else gets on the blog or Facebook!)