The holiday season is here with Christmas and New Year’s approaching. It is the most exciting period of the year as people celebrate with joy and happiness. However, the reality for many bodybuilders and athletes is that this period can be challenging. The reality is that many of us tend to forget about our fitness goals. Moreover, this period is always the time when many skip the training sessions. Also, the festive period is the time when most of us tend to gain extra weight. And while this may seem normal, for the dedicated person, it is imperative to maintain top form during the holiday period. However, with some proper strategy and planning ahead of time, the potential negative impact of the holidays can be prevented or significantly reduced.

1. Plan and Prepare
The first action that needs to be taken is to get ready. On that note, it is important to emphasize that holiday time can create a very tight agenda for many people. Plan your bodybuilding training sessions a couple of weeks in advance. This is based on the fact that due to the holidays, the gym may be closed or the work hours may be changed. Moreover, your schedule will probably be filled so it is imperative to plan ahead your time for exercise. This way you can minimize the possibility of missing your workout days which can be beneficial in the process of maintaining form during the festive period. Creating a specific schedule ahead of time can have a great impact on your time management thus finding time for exercise during the holidays.

2. Modify Your Diet Plan
The second notable idea is to analyze your diet and nutrition plan. To be more specific, it is wise to plan your meals ahead and consume healthy food as much as possible during the holidays. Combined with you will also have to consider the fact that at certain days for meals might not be as healthy as usual. That is why it is imperative to plan ahead a proper cheat day strategy. In other words, it is wise to look at the dates of the holidays. For example, Christmas on the 25th and New Year’s on the 31 and these dates can be your cheat days. The general recommendation is to have those so-called cheat days after five or six days on the normal diet. Marking the holiday dates as your cheat days can significantly decrease the potential negative impact of the holidays on your diet plan. Also, according to a new research study, the cheat meals can actually help in the process of weight loss.

3. Workout before the Holiday
Another strategy that works for many bodybuilders is to exercise on holiday days. This is based on the fact that having a tough and intense workout before the cheat days or the celebration days can minimize the possibility of fat gain combined with maximizing the overall muscle growth. Combined with this is the fact that the body tends to utilize most of the food nutrients after an intense workout. In simple words, this strategy is based on working out on the holidays followed by cheat meals. The human body tends to absorb nutrients such as proteins and carbohydrates right after an intense training session. And the cheat meal afterwards will ensure that most of the essential nutrients are used for recovery and for re-building muscle cells.

4. Supplements
Another element that is an indivisible part of the fitness mosaic is the proper dietary supplements plan. By taking some of the essential supplements like Redcon1 Grunt (link), bodybuilders can fuel their body with the essential nutrition components. This can have a galvanizing effect on the muscles and it can optimize the overall health and wellbeing during this festive period. With all the activities during the holiday period, many of us will suffer from a lack of certain essential nutrients and that is where the various supplements come into the frame.

Also, the Christmas period can be complicated and possibly stressful for many bodybuilders and athletes. To be more specific, holidays bring a challenging agenda for many and may result with some stress and anxiety. Combined with the prospect of maintaining your diet and exercise plan can be quite a complex task even for the professional athletes. A potential solution can be adaptogenic herbs. These compounds can improve your overall resilience to the pressure of planning the holidays or your tight schedule or agenda. Moreover, it can balance the way the body adapts and responds, and this can help to optimize your energy, fitness levels and immune system in the short term.          

Selenium is one of the supplements that contain healthy nutrients and minerals. This compound and can be a crucial antioxidant that has the ultimate role to protect the immune system. To be more specific, this element can optimize the body in order to tackle the potential formation of free radicals that can implicate oxidative stress and other body damaging issues.

All in all, the Holiday period has the potential to disrupt the overall form of many bodybuilders and athletes. That is why, it is imperative to take these protective steps in order to maintain top form during the holidays.

Chris Hazen | @thechrishazen | thechrishazen@gmail.com