No matter how committed you are, the jam-packed festive Halloween season might throw your fitness routine off its gear. Starting in early September, many Halloween enthusiasts spend their nights and weekends decorating, picking apples, solving corn mazes, watching horror movies, and snacking on fun decorative desserts. This means we don’t always have time to complete our Halloween workouts with the same year-round discipline as we might be used to.
In spite of perhaps missing a workout or eating a pastry, try to remember not to feel guilty about it. The holiday season is the time of the year when we can live somewhat carefree. You get to spend time with your family and friends and gorge on festive treats.
Halloween is the one time of the year when you actually get to justify eating that candy bar. So, you shouldn’t hesitate to eat it. Rather, you should make sure you limit your portion size and choose healthy, protein-rich snacks over calorie and guilt-laden junk food. Check out Project Swole’s “healthy” Halloween recipes for some fun protein-laced holiday treats.
Another thing that you should do is not let the Halloween spirit take complete control over your health. We all know that festive season weight gains are common across the globe but what we don’t realize is that most people fail to get rid of this extra baggage and then, the next festive season kicks in.
Don’t let this happen to you. No matter how caught up you are baking cookies or buying gifts, make sure you take at least some time out for yourself.
Utilize Whatever Time and Equipment You Have
Let’s be practical; you won’t always get ample time to complete all your sets and reps. Some days you’ll finish your workout and some days you’ll barely get through the first half of it. If you manage to find some time for exercise but still skip it, you will probably feel tired and lazy. So make the most of your free moments to get energized.
Don’t worry. You don’t always have to stick to your rigorous workout routine. Anything that keeps you moving is great, even if it is as simple as taking upstairs instead of the elevator. Plus, lifting 150lbs when having a hangover is not a good idea, so if you’ve spent the night at a Halloween party with family or friends, it may make sense to dial the intensity down a bit the following day.
Home Gym Equipment You Can Use While Baking Cookies or Watching Your Favorite Halloween Movie
When your whole family is playing UNO or poker or maybe watching a movie, the last thing you would want to do is to go to your garage and do some squats.
Don’t worry, you can do some basic workouts right there and still remain involved in all the holiday activities. You can have a mini elliptical or an under-desk treadmill under your sofa. While watching a movie or playing UNO, you can just slide it out and let your legs do their work. How about doing a quick spinning session while waiting for your food to heat up? It isn’t that difficult to slide up a loop band and do a quick leg workout. You can certainly have a spin bike or an elliptical machine around so everyone can use them whenever they feel like it.
What we want to say is that instead of waiting for a ‘free hour’ when you can exercise, you should rather focus on the ‘free minutes’. That’s how festive season workouts are!
Find a Workout Buddy
If you have a health-conscious partner, a family member, or a friend, you can partner with him/her to work out together. Having a company will help you stay motivated. You don’t necessarily have to exercise in the same place. During the pandemic, we have got used to virtual meetings. So, why not exercise together over a zoom call?
Why not let your kids exercise with you? When you are doing goblet squats with your kettlebell, they can do the same holding a pumpkin. Just like us, our kids too gain some weight during the festival season. So, we must encourage them to stay active.
Here are some more exercises that you and your kids can do together holding pumpkins instead of free weights.
Pumpkin Workout – Carve Some Muscles on Halloween!
Don’t want them to be in your home gym? We can understand. Having them around the dumbbells and barbells isn’t a good idea. So, how about Yoga in your living room?
Halloween-inspired Yoga Poses for the Whole Family
There aren’t any specific Halloween yoga poses. So, you need to unleash your creativity and rename them to make them sound spooky. That’s how you will be able to bring the kids to the mats
For example; you can call the chair pose ‘witch on the broom pose’ 🙂
Similarly, the downward dog can be called a ‘haunted house pose’, the cat pose can be called a ‘black cat’, and the three-legged dog can be your scorpion’s sting!
By the way, you can keep your kids busy by asking them to come up with these spooky names. They will be busy thinking about these names, giving you free time to pump up some weights.
Quick Halloween-inspired Workout Videos Can Get You Sweaty When You’re Short on Time
This 30-minute spooky HIIT dance workout will be a lot of fun when you do it together with your buddy or kids. It is a cardio-based exercise, so it can help you burn more calories in less time. The dance moves are pretty simple and yet they will make you sweat even in November.
Don’t have 30 minutes? This 15 minutes dance sequence will get your family excited and sweaty too! It is so easy that almost everyone in your family will happily do it. Make sure you wear your spookiest costumes to add fun to your workout.
Looking for a low-impact cardio workout? This video is suitable for people of all ages, especially those who cannot go with conventional cardio moves such as jumping.
Can’t do any of the above? Just go for a walk. That may not be enough but it is still better than being a couch potato from November to January.
Set Inactivity Alerts
Despite having that elliptical machine and treadmill in your living room, you could still end up not doing anything. That’s not uncommon during holidays.
Thankfully, most of us have smartwatches that come with inactivity alerts. You can set up an alert for say 30 minutes. If you remain seated for 30 minutes at a stretch, the watch will remind you, and, believe us, this reminder makes you feel guilty.
If you are even a bit serious about your health, you will try your best not to trigger that reminder. And, that’s what you want!
Play Fun Outdoor Games in the Evening
That would be fun, wouldn’t it? Plus, it will help you burn some calories and stay in shape.
Dress up in your spookiest costume and do a round of spider crawls on your lawn. Whoever wins will get a treat!
Hold a pumpkin in your hands and play the ‘pouncing werewolf’ game in which people have to reach the other side of the lawn by jumping or maybe squat jumping with the pumpkin.
These games can be played with your whole family, even friends, and neighbors. So, why squat when you can do spider walks and enjoy a full hour of laughter?
Take Up a Halloween Challenge
A lot of fitness trainers host online challenges and workout programs. Usually, they are of 4 weeks in duration and the workouts are short and highly targeted ones. These events are hosted online. They are designed to induce a festive plus competitive spirit among people. A few of them are hosted for free. They often also carry a reward.
So, if you are struggling with motivation, you should take up one of these.
Wrapping It Up
Let’s be realistic, the festive season is not a time for improvement. And, you shouldn’t even try that. Instead of focusing on maximizing your reps, you should enjoy the festivity and focus only on the ‘maintenance’ of your body. Your new killer workout plan can wait until January.
Also, as we said above, practice mindful eating instead of going with the ‘all or none’ approach, which is quite harsh and practically impossible. Through moderation, thoughtful snacking, and somewhat regular exercise, you will be able to come out of the holiday season around the same body weight, fully recovered, and ready to smash your new year fitness goals.
Tags: exercise, halloween, halloween workout, holiday, holiday season, holidays, Motivation
