The holiday season is fraught with peril
for anyone who wants to be in shape
How much time should you have off over Christmas? It’s the question every gym-goer asks and there isn’t one single
answer for everybody.
Some travel miles to seek a gym that opens on Christmas Day and take perverse pride in doing a sickening leg session when everybody else is indulging. Others wouldn’t be seen dead in the gym between Christmas Eve and January 2 and go totally off-plan when it comes to eating.
For some professional sportsmen and women, including footballers, the holiday season is a hectic time so they can’t afford to tuck into too many treats. But for most people I think the mental and physical benefits of a few days off outweigh the disadvantages.
My rule is: if I have six uninterrupted training weeks in the run-up to Christmas, I have a week off before easing back into things in the final day or two of the year. I find if I leave it until January it’s harder to get going again.
Our Healthy Cheats feature gives more detailed advice on this issue, and IFBB bikini pro Michelle Brannan gives some tips in her Bikini Body column.
Some guys who probably won’t be leaving too much turkey on their plates this yuletide are NFL players.
Growing up in Britain, American footballers were often mocked for the extra padding they carry around their midriffs and in their shoulder protectors but the growing popularity of the game has been accompanied by wider appreciation of what they do and the purpose of their training.
In terms of explosive power, these guys are second to none.
They hit, and get hit, harder than anyone so our article revealing the workouts of some of the stars makes fascinating reading for anybody that wants to cultivate savage power.
Enjoy Christmas. And if you do overindulge, get set to work
hard next month and beyond with fitnesstep1 as your guide.
