Here’s How to Avoid The Christmas Bulge: Interval Training

There are many battles we face when it comes to beating the Christmas weight gain. The two most important battles being with food and missing workouts. Let interval training help you beat the Christmas bulge.

The holiday season is upon us and it spells trouble on two fronts. The obvious is our battle with food. Every time you turn around there’s a holiday party, whether it’s at a friends house or the office, and this is going to mean plenty of choice when it comes to very tasty, unhealthy, high-calorie food. Not to mention the free-flowing alcohol you’re going to encounter as well.

The second uphill battle is one that not nearly as many people think about during this time of year, and that’s how busy we get and how many workouts get skipped over as a result. We just don’t have time to get to our normal 1-2 hour gym session a day. Workouts seem to taper off during the holiday season and before you know it, we’ve eaten all this high-calorie, unhealthy food, beer, and wine, and we’re starting to take on a closer resemblance to Santa Claus then we dare admit!

In the blink of an eye, the holiday season is over and we’re 15 pounds of unsightly fat heavier-not to mention sporting less muscle mass too. It really is a travesty! For some of us, we struggle to get back into the habit of getting to the gym for our workouts on a consistent basis.

Once you’ve been on the couch for a few weeks, it can be a battle to get back into the training groove, which quite possibly means a permanent vacation from training.

So what should you do about surviving the impending holiday doom? The saving grace is interval training!

Why Should You Try Interval Training?

Long-term studies on this topic confirm that high-intensity cardio training causes more fat loss than typical low-intensity aerobics.

An example of a high-intensity interval training program you can follow consists of 10 sets of 4-minute cycling at 90 percent of max effort alternated with 2 minuets of rest.