DNA Holiday Tip #3: Squeeze Workouts

For many of us, the holidays mean travel, parties, and schedule disruption. It’s cold and dark in the mornings and at least dark in the evenings, chasing away motivation in favor of extra snooze time. January is coming, and some people will declare an exercise break until the gingerbread men disappear and resolution time rolls around.

Fortunately, short workouts can rescue you from holiday lethargy. If you have 4 minutes, you have time to get a shot of exercise that will keep you from sliding completely into end-of-year sloth. You have probably met Dr. Tabata‘s workout by now, but just in case, here’s a reminder:

8 rounds, for a total of 4 minutes, of 20 seconds work (HARD!!!) and 10 seconds rest

You can do Tabatas with just about any exercise. The idea is to go for speed and intensity, so I don’t recommend anything with a lot of impact, such as jumping squats, unless you are very comfortable catching yourself in the bottom position on your heels. You can also use weight, but not too much – speed over weight.

Good tabata exercises:

• Squats (weight on heels and go fast!), with or without a light to moderate weight
• Situps
• Pushups (go to knees if needed)
• Burpees
• Just about any kettlebell exercise, if you have access to a bell – swings, squats, cleans, snatches, sumo deadlift high pulls…
• Sprints – a special kind of “fun”

Tabatas are stackable too: pick 2-4 exercises for a great 8-16 minute workout. I don’t recommend more than 20 minutes of Tabatas at once – it’s hard to keep the intensity up high enough to get the best benefit. If you have more energy to burn, go for a run or do some burpees.

As with any workout, if you are new to high intensity exercise, modulate the intensity to meet your level. The effort should feel challenging, but don’t overdo it!

Other good workouts for travel and/or space, time, or weather constraints:

• 50 burpees (keep going to 75 or 100 if you like)
• 100 double unders, if you have a jump rope handy
• More fun than 100 double unders: Annie – 50-40-30-20-10 of double unders and situps. If short on time, just do 30-20-10, or do single jumps x2 instead of double unders.
• 5 rounds of 10 each: situps, pushups, squats.
• Sprints: pick a flat spot 40m long or so, and sprint it 10 times with 30 seconds of recovery after each sprint. Go ALL OUT!!
• If you’re near a hill, sprint UP and jog down 10 times.
• Max Planck. It’s not just a constant… (no apologies to the non-science-geeks) Hold a plank position, on your elbows if possible and on your hands (pushup start position) if you’re just starting out. SQUEEZE EVERYTHING and go for max time – at least 30 seconds, and aim for 3 minutes!

Enjoy!