Christmas is looming. On December 25, you’re likely to be in a house full of people, you’ll have eaten too much and will surely be starting to feel sluggish at best, gross at worst. A quick workout can be the fix you’re looking for to reset your energy and relieve some of the guilt you’re feeling for eating that second helping of turkey. Two of our Golf Digest Certified Fitness Trainers share two time-efficient workouts you should try on Boxing Day.
For a quick cardio workout, Jennifer Fleischer suggests sprint-interval training (SIT).
“SIT is a highly time efficient workout that’s been proven to help boost your metabolism, regulate blood sugar levels, reduce body fat and increase your overall endurance,” Fleischer says.
And while you certainly can do this workout running, you don’t have to. Fleischer says it can be done while walking on a treadmill at an incline, riding a stationary bike or jumping rope.
To do the workout, do two sets of 30-second intervals with 30 to 60 seconds of rest between sets. Rest four minutes, then repeat. Do this a total of four times.
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“If you’re thinking four minutes of cardio exercise isn’t enough, think again,” Fleischer says. “When compared with a 60-minute endurance training session, a high-intensity workout for less than four minutes resulted in the same improvement in aerobic capacity in a 15th of the time.”
Fleischer says the study also found the SIT workout increased anaerobic capacity, which she says helps stimulate weight loss.
If you’re more interested in doing a strength workout, Ann-Kristin Allen recommends a Tabata workout. “I really love it for loosening up, burning a lot of calories and it also builds muscle in a short period of time,” she says.
If you’re not familiar with a Tabata workout, it’s where you do an exercise for a short amount of time, rest for an even shorter period of time, and then repeat. Allen says for this workout, do three exercises: squats, push-ups and planks. She says to do squats for 20 seconds, then rest for 10 seconds. Repeat the cycle eight times. Continue with push-ups, then planks.
With this method, you’re spending four minutes on each exercise, so your entire workout is just 12 minutes.
Allen says by the end of it, “the aches and pains and sluggish feeling goes away.”
Even with a house full of guests, you can find time to get this workout done. Or better yet, get them to join you.
