Christmas is just around the corner. Parties and food abound almost everywhere and anywhere you go. Food that will tickle your taste buds will be so mouth-watering that you can’t resist getting a bite out of every tasty dish.

What does this mean? Loads and loads of calories will get stuck in your body due to plenty of unhealthy and fattening food. Not to mention, unlimited free booze to keep you partying all night.

Oh but wait, there’s more!

This busy season might keep you skipping your workout sessions too, letting that pile of food in your stomach give you the Christmas flabs. Pretty soon your tummy will have a huge bulge like Santa Claus because you’re 15 pounds heavier!

What a horriblee in your stomach, you will soon love to sit on the couch and find it hard to go back to training. For some people, this can even mean the start of taking permanent time off from training.

Scary, isn’t it? Yes it’s scary but it can happen to you!

But hey, you can still avoid all this forthcoming Holiday disaster and not get all those unwanted, ugly, scary loads of fat build-up in your stomach!

You can still smile and be merry this Christmas by simply gearing up with the right interval training!  

 Interval Training – Why Is It Important?

Studies have shown that individuals who have finished “7 high levels of intensive interval training workouts” in a period of 2 weeks showed an improvement on the following:

• An increase in aerobic capacity by as much as 13%
• An improvement in fat burning capacity by 36%
• Demonstrated a 25% increase in key aerobic enzymes

Right after the 2 week intensive training, these individuals started using smaller amounts of muscle glycogen for half an hour of riding a bicycle at 60% maximum effort. The “highly intensive interval training system” they put into practice comprised of the following:

• 10 rounds of 4 minute cycling exercises
• At 90% maximum effort
• With intervals of a 2 minute resting time

Studies reveal that a high-intensity cardio workout results to more calories burned in the body triggering increased fat lost Understand Before You Start Working Out

• Intervals – Exercise routines that are done between intervals of resting periods.

Example: Jumping Jacks of 8 sets of 20 seconds per 10 seconds of rest. This simply means that you do jumping jacks for 20 seconds and after which you rest for 10 seconds, and then you repeat the whole thing over again for 8x.

• Circuit – Various exercises that are done in sequence, but repeated for the number of sets per round.

Sample Workouts for The Holiday Season

Most of the time, you are busy enjoying the merry season of Christmas, that sometimes you can’t help but get caught up in all the fun and you tend to forget your workout sessions.

Here are samples of workouts that you can use to avoid gaining weight this Christmas. These routines can be done anywhere since these do not require any special equipment.

All you have to do is simply try out any of these workout routines right in the comfort of your home or office as quickly as you can, and still get good results. Before you start your workout, you need to do some warm up exercises and the routine below will help you with that.

Pre-Workout Exercise Routines  

• Exercise 1 -  Bodyweight squats :1 set of 15 seconds + 15 seconds of rest
• Exercise 2 -  Jumping Jacks :1 set of 15 seconds + 15 second of rest
• Exercise 3 -  Push Ups :1 set of 15 seconds + 15 seconds of rest

  NOTE: You need to do this Warm-Up Exercise routine set twice.   

Workout Routine 1 – MORNING

• Burpees                : 8 sets of 20 seconds + 10 seconds of rest

  Workout Routine 2 – NOON

CIRCUIT – 8 sets of 15 seconds + 30 seconds of rest

• Mountain Climbers   : 1 set of 15 seconds
• Push Ups            : 1 set of 15 seconds

  Workout Routine 3 – NIGHT

CIRCUIT – 2 to 3 rounds + 15 second rest

• Jumping Jacks       : 1 set of 15 seconds + 15 seconds of rest
• Bodyweight squats  : 1 set of 15 seconds + 15 seconds of rest
• Side Hops           : 1 set of 15 seconds + 15 seconds of rest

 

Longer Interval Workout 1

CIRCUIT – 5 to 8 rounds + 15 seconds of rest

• Jumping Jacks        : 1 set of 60 seconds + 30 seconds of rest
• Run In Place             : 1 set of 60 seconds + 30 seconds of rest

Longer Interval Workout 2

• Box Jump             : 8 sets of 15 seconds per 15 seconds of rest
• Bodyweight squats    : 8 sets of 15 seconds per 15 seconds of rest

High Intensity Upper Body Interval Workout

• Jumping Jacks        : 1 set of 30 seconds + 15 seconds of rest
• Plank                : 1 set of 30 seconds + 15 seconds of rest
• Bodyweight Squats    : 1 set of 30 seconds + 15 seconds of rest
• Push Ups             : 1 set of 30 seconds + 15 seconds of rest
• Mountain Climbers    : 1 set of 30 seconds + 15 seconds of rest
• Reverse Lunge      : 1 set of 30 seconds + 15 seconds of rest
• Push Ups             : 1 set of 30 seconds + 15 seconds of rest
• Hip Thrust           : 1 set of 30 seconds + 15 seconds of rest
• Side Hops            : 1 set of 30 seconds + 15 seconds of rest
• Jump Rope            : 1 set of 30 seconds + 15 seconds of rest

So now that you know the advantages of having an interval workout, then you are smarter than the rest of the health buffs out there. Not all people are aware of the benefits involved in interval training.

Most people are still confused as to why they are not getting any results with their low-intensity aerobic exercises. Some folks find high-level intensity workouts to be stressful and tedious, while most individuals prefer to walk on the treadmill.

Since this Christmas season will keep you busy, then it is much better to get a 10 to 15 minute workout on interval training, rather than do an hour of aerobics.

You can use a jump rope or do jumping jacks. You can even run in place or perhaps ride your bicycle to work. Whatever you do, just make sure that you are doing high-intensity interval training, so you can avoid getting a flabby stomach this holiday season!

Related articles

10 Tips to effective Fat Loss

Myths About Ripped, Rock Hard Abs