Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to try a holiday exercise streak. It can
Speaker 1: be easy to feel too busy to exercise over the holidays,
Speaker 1: or perhaps to feel like it is not worth the bother,
Speaker 1: but a little physical activity can do a lot to
Speaker 1: ease stress. Committing to exercise every day between Thanksgiving and
Speaker 1: New Year's will help you start the new year off rite.
Speaker 1: So I know a lot of us are staring down
Speaker 1: the next six weeks or so with a little trepidation.
Speaker 1: Work is often busy as people try to get ahead
Speaker 1: of vacations and any end of your deadlines. If you
Speaker 1: have kids, they no doubt have extra concerts, pageants, class parties,
Speaker 1: and the like. You may be hosting family, or you
Speaker 1: may be traveling, and then there are all those presents
Speaker 1: to buy and wrap. If you are an adult managing
Speaker 1: a lot of responsibilities, it can be hard to feel
Speaker 1: merry and bright, so fitting in exercise too might not
Speaker 1: seem like the most appealing idea, but there is pretty
Speaker 1: solid evidence that even a short amount of physical activity,
Speaker 1: like less than twenty minutes, can completely change your mood.
Speaker 1: Life suddenly feels doable. You feel more energetic. Some people
Speaker 1: think of exercise in the context of burning off the
Speaker 1: extra calories from all those holiday foods, but I personally
Speaker 1: find it kind of hard to care about that. Instead,
Speaker 1: to me, exercise is about ten tapping into your superpowers
Speaker 1: so you can do all the amazing things that you
Speaker 1: are capable of doing. To that end, I am planning
Speaker 1: on undertaking a holiday exercise streak. I plan to do
Speaker 1: at least fifteen minutes of physical activity every day between
Speaker 1: Thanksgiving and New Year's I invite you to join me
Speaker 1: in this. I usually run a couple days a week,
Speaker 1: and I work out with my trainer once and I'll
Speaker 1: make sure to add in a brisk walk on any
Speaker 1: other days. Think about what kind of exercise works best
Speaker 1: for you, and feel free to switch it up to
Speaker 1: be more appealing. Maybe two days a week you go
Speaker 1: to an exercise class at your gym, one morning a
Speaker 1: week you do a yoga video, two days you walk
Speaker 1: with colleagues at lunch, and then two other days you
Speaker 1: lift weights. Or maybe you've got an indoor pool where
Speaker 1: you swim laps three mornings a week. The other days
Speaker 1: you go for a brisk walk around the block with
Speaker 1: your dog. Maybe a friend would be willing to join
Speaker 1: you in this streak so you can hold each other
Speaker 1: accountable and maybe work out to gather too. It might
Speaker 1: also help to think through each week and think roughly
Speaker 1: about when you will exercise each day. For instance, you
Speaker 1: might see that Tuesday and Thursday are going to be
Speaker 1: go go go all day long, which might motivate you
Speaker 1: to set the alarm a little bit earlier and run
Speaker 1: on your treadmill before the craziness begins. But maybe your
Speaker 1: Fridays are more relaxed, so you and a friend could
Speaker 1: meet for a walk mid afternoon. Now, for many things,
Speaker 1: I do believe that often is as good as always,
Speaker 1: and that is generally true with exercise as well. There
Speaker 1: is no real upside to exercising seven days a week
Speaker 1: versus six, But given that the holidays can get hectic
Speaker 1: and we are often diverging from our use schedules, I
Speaker 1: find that the idea of a streak helps with cutting
Speaker 1: down on excuses. When you commit to doing something absolutely
Speaker 1: every day, you stop asking should I exercise today? Instead,
Speaker 1: the question becomes when will I exercise today? That is
Speaker 1: not a question of motivation. It is just a matter
Speaker 1: of logistics, and I believe that even during the holidays,
Speaker 1: it is almost always possible to find fifteen minutes. If
Speaker 1: you have to break that up into three five minute chunks,
Speaker 1: that is fine too. Whatever you can do is great,
Speaker 1: and by laying the groundwork for finding the time to
Speaker 1: exercise and all kinds of crazy circumstances, you'll have no
Speaker 1: problem keeping the exercise habit into the new year. You
Speaker 1: know that even on a go go go day, you
Speaker 1: can wake up twenty minutes early and jump on that treadmill.
Speaker 1: You know that one of your friends has a pretty
Speaker 1: free Friday afternoon and is generally up for meeting. You
Speaker 1: will be able to continue with these discoveries well into
Speaker 1: the new year. So consider trying an exercise streak from
Speaker 1: Thanksgiving to New Years. The energy and mood boost just
Speaker 1: might make the holidays feel better than ever. In the meantime,
Speaker 1: this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making
Speaker 1: the most of our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.
Speaker 1: If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach
Speaker 1: me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia,
Speaker 1: please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.