Thanksgiving officially marks the start of the inevitable excuses I get from individuals about why they shouldn't start a workout program now. These pitiful excuses last until a little after New Year's Day. This is a topic for another newsletter, but I always fail to see the logic in eating tons of Holiday treats and eliminating your exercise (which helps burn calories and offset that) until after the New Year. People work so hard trying to keep pounds off, lets throw a bunch more on during the holidays, to work overtime afterwards shedding them.
Anyways, one of the initial questions I receive is this, "How can I avoid adding extra pounds when I love all the Thanksgiving day foods?"
Thanks to some of my clients and their wacky families (some of you have some odd family members), I have come up with a fitness regimen that you can apply that day, during your Thanksgiving feast, that will help you burn calories, yet allow you to stuff down as many pumpkin pies as possible.
We will begin with arriving at the family household where you will commence your eating. You will want to wear something that is loose fitting or expandable, but looks like you are dressing up for the event. Maybe you can iron some nice black Nike sweat pants. This isn't for allowing your belly to expand when you engage in the eating, but to allow for movement for the following exercises:
• Chasing the Bratty Kid - Your cousin Alfie has this little brat of a son that is constantly hopped up on Mountain Dew and is a terror. Your first order of business is to chase this little kid around the house. Make sure you have a packet of sweet tarts to feed the kid so he has plenty of sugar and just let him go. This will get your heartrate going, work on your speed, quickness, and agility as you avoid all the appalled relatives. Bonus Workout: Once you catch him, throw him up in the air five times. I'll let it be your option if you catch him on the fifth toss.
• Catch the Table Scraps - Aunt Millie, you know the nutty one that open mouth kisses you hello, has made some type of green stuffing balls. These things are perfect to chuck on the floor. You can either try to quickly squat down and catch them before they fall or let them fall and squat down and pick them up. Who is going to eat these things anyways. A great leg workout.
• Avoiding the Head Nods - You need to be mentally alert to have a exercise properly, so challenge yourself. Listen to one of Uncle Art's stories and focus on staying awake. So what if you have heard the story about the bear and the rabbit a million times. It's about mental sharpness. Try to do this story prior to eating Turkey, unless you want to earn double points.
• Chucking the Potatoes - At one point during dinner, you will be freaking out because of your "wonderful" relatives. Before you snap, take two handfuls of mashed potatoes and chuck them at the relatives really getting under your skin. Make sure you throw equally hard with your right and left to keep them balanced. Try to replenish quickly to get the heartrate up.
Follow these four exercises and you will burn plenty of extra calories to fill them up with pie, stuffing, whatever your heart's content. I hope you can tell that this whole story was in jest, but in case you didn't please post on our Facebook fan page how the workout went and if you are banned from all other family functions.
Have a great Thanksgiving!
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