Antidote to Holiday Overload: 6 Survivor Exercises

Greetings all, and welcome to December!

Now is the time that some of you may be getting advice in your email box or elsewhere about how to make it through the holidays unscathed, or at least with minimal damage.

I will not add to the advice about what foods to choose at a party, how to keep up with all the extra activities, or how to prepare a healthy holiday meal.

Instead, I would like to give you 6 quick survivor exercises you can do in response to the following scenarios (or fill in your own):

• You are super busy, on your feet more than usual, or partying.
• Partying, too much food, feel sluggish.
• A bit under the weather, as happens to many of us this time of the year.
• Doing well, but flagging a bit on your usual exercise and need a slight boost to get you going.
• Not enough partying, too much work, bad weather.

Without further adieu, here’s 6 survivor exercises to take care of some kinks, get you off the couch, or just help you feel more energized no matter what. These take only a few minutes. I recommended doing all of them in one session, but even just doing a few of them will help.

1. Sit to stand. Find a firm chair. Get up and down from it 10 times in a row. Take care not to have your knees out in front of your toes. Use your butt muscle to get you up!
2. Crossovers. Find a long hallway. Go down it sideways. With the first step, cross one leg behind the other. With the second step, cross the leg in front of the other. Keep going, alternating front and back crossovers. Never mind that your family and friends think you may have lost your mind. Ask them to join you!
3. Heel raises. Grab on to the back of a chair for balance. Rise up on your toes 10 times. If you want to get fancy, do this again with toes pointed out, then 10 times with toes pointed in.
4. Hugs and reverse hugs. Stand tall. Give yourself a big hug. Unhug yourself by bringing your arms way out to the side. Try not to shrug your shoulders up. Do this 10 times with abandon.
5. Shoulder rolls. Stand tall again. Bring your shoulders up toward your ears, then roll them back, squeezing your shoulder blades together. 10 times.
6. Knee to chest. Stand tall (are you getting the message here?). Bring one knee up toward your chest. Grab it with both arms if you can and pull it a bit further. Go to the other leg and do the same. Alternate this 10 times.

Yay! You are done! I can guarantee that you will feel better afterwards.

All for now,

Cheers and Happy Holidays,
Kristen

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