We share holiday training strategies so you don't lose all your gains. Learn the tips and tricks to keep training & gaining during the holidays.

Holiday Training Strategies - Expectations & Mindset

When it comes to holiday training, expectations need to match reality. For many people, they confront more variability which does not lend itself to normal consistency of training in more regular times.

Travel, changes in gyms and equipment, different food and alcohol, time off work, time with family - these variables mean that our normal recovery capacities won't be there for us.

Understand that weights that you may have missed reps or harder-than-expected reps. Plan and prepare to have flexibility built into your workouts.

When it comes to mindset, don't lose heart because of lower performance. Andrew also recommends training curious. This means that you should probably try the planned work weight, barring some extremely challenging or missed warm ups. You may also find that you can hit an unexpected PR during this time.

Look to enjoy training and keep up the habit. Plan and prepare to train, but be ready to adjust.

Holiday Training Strategies - Expectations & Mindset

Before you even get to the gym, you need to find the gym. Where are you going to train? What equipment do they have? What equipment can you pack (shoe, belt, wrist wraps, chalk, etc.)?

Andrew straps his shoes to his carry-on backpack. Niki has her case the perimeter of the suitcase (as opposed to the belt cinnamon roll).

Make training a part of your holiday plans before the holidays begin.

Holiday Training Strategies - Training Adjustments

Matt, Andrew, Niki, Scott, and CJ have discussed ways to adjust training to reality over the years, and the holidays are similar to any other times where training likely takes a backseat but needs to remain as part of the plan.

Here are some strategies that may apply to your holiday situation:

• shorter workouts
• longer, less frequent workouts
• change the exercise (e.g. RDLs not deadlifts)
• autoregulation
• train curious

The bottom line is, you need to prioritize training, but prioritizing training during the holiday probably doesn't look like a 5-day-a-week super advanced plan, but rather finding a gym, scheduling lifts on days that make sense, packing necessary equipment, training with curiosity, flexibility, & long-term progress in mind.

We hope these holiday training strategies help!

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