FITNESS: HOW TO GET IN SHAPE FOR THE NEW YEAR

Maintaining your fitness during the holiday season can be challenging, especially if you don’t have access to a gym and your time is limited. The Christmas and New Year Holidays can bring in a lot of ‘wanted’ and ‘unwanted’ calories. How best to use this excess fuel is always the conundrum.

If you have the option, choose resistance training. This can be as simple as bodyweight and affecting reps and tempo, or adding external resistance. Building lean muscle is vital to curbing any excess body fat, so using the extra calories and putting them to some good use will always benefit us. Any extra time you have, sprinkle in some cardio, preferably some short and sharp HIIT (high intensity interval training) style intervals (depending on your fitness levels, change the rest accordingly. For a starting point use a 2:1 ratio of rest to work. Eg 2 min rest, 1 work)

The premise of this workout below is to use something called Peripheral Heart Action (PHA) to shift blood around the body to create a challenging programme and help keep you lean. It alternates a lower body exercise with an upper body exercise, and also front of body to back.

a1. Split Squat: Step forward into a split stance position. Aiming to touch the back knee on the ground, drive the front knee over the front foot keeping the front heel on the ground in a lunge like position. Once the back knee touches the ground, we can return to the start position. If using body weight remember, slow down and slow up. Do 4 sets of 15 reps alternating with exercise a2..

a2. Barbell Row: Use a wide grip; grab a Barbell outside body width. Sending the hips back with a slight bend in the knees, keep a flat back whilst trying to maintain the chest as parallel to the floor as possible. Row the Barbell up to the chest and pause slightly at the top position, maintaining the good back position. Complete 4 sets of 12 reps, rest 60 seconds before returning to exercise a1.

b1. Barbell Deadlift: Setting a barbell on the floor, the ultimate aim is to pick it up into a standing position. Walk up to the bar as close as possible. Send the hips back as far as possible, loading the hamstrings. Slide your hands down in front of your knees, maintaining a neutral back position as much as possible. Grab hold of the bar, and keeping the shoulder blades locked together, send the hips forward until you are at your tallest position, squeezing your glutes at the top. Reverse the movement to the floor, and that will be 1 rep. Complete for 4 sets of 10 reps alternating with exercise b2.

b2. Spiderman Pushup: Starting in a normal pushup position. Begin descent into a push up and as you do touch left knee to left elbow, returning it to the start as you return to the top. Then complete on the other side. Repeat for 12 reps and 4 sets Rest 45-60 sec after performing both exercises

c1. Walkouts/Inchworms: Starting in a standing position. Reach down and touch your toes. When hands are on the ground, walk hands out as far as possible and then return to start position of standing. That is one rep. Repeat for 15 reps. Complete 4 sets as part of a circuit with exercises c2 and c3.

c2. Side plank with rotation: Assume a side plank position, with top hand facing ceiling. Bring the top hand down, across and underneath the body and reach behind. Rotate back to return to the top for 1 rep. Repeat 4 sets of 12 reps

c3. Reverse Crunch: Lying on your back on the floor with legs straight out. Curl legs in and bring knees towards your chest. As they get closer, try and drive the feet as high up towards the ceiling as possible. Your bottom should come off of the floor. Then return to the start. Do 4 sets of 15 reps. Rest 45-60 sec after completion of all 3 exercises.

By Carl Martin, Personal Training Manager atEquinox Kensington