Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s – the holiday season is quickly approaching! While the holiday season brings times of joy and celebration, it is often tainted with juggling holiday parties, kids events, family gatherings, and travel. While all fun activities, they can contribute to a stressful experience.
As athletes, we all know that there is only an infinite amount of stress the body can handle. Holiday stresses of staying up too late, eating tempting treats, and overall training fatigue can create a loss of training motivation or just plain not riding. Not fun, given exercise can aid in reducing stress. So, what is the balance during the holidays to reduce stress, maintain fitness, and still hit all the holiday parties and complete those endless shopping lists? Have a strategy! No different than approaching a race or ride with a strategy, it’s best to have some “go to” plans to navigate the holiday season.
Avoid stress. First and foremost, address holiday shopping stress! Can holiday shopping really be stress free? Yes -shop online! At BikeParts.com, we offer a huge selection of road bikes, mountain bikes, bike parts, BMX bike parts and more – all at your fingertips. So, sit back, relax, and enjoy stress free holiday shopping for your self, riding buddies, and friends. The only time you will find your heart rate rising in on the killer deals you will find at BikeParts.com.
Manage Expectations. Are your expectations for the holidays realistic? Asking yourself this question is the first step to managing holiday stress. Make a list of what you expect from yourself and your family during the holidays. Hidden within these expectations you might find your potential holiday stressors — the things specific to you that can cause stress. Once identified, you can then write down what changes you can make to prevent or defuse stress.
Eat well. The holidays offer irresistible food temptations adding extra pounds to our waist lines and robbing us of precious energy. Instead of reaching for the holiday goodies, opt for nutritious snacks. Focus on good nutrition and choose your bike nutrition when you need it most- on the bike. Being mindful of your food choices can positively affect your energy levels and help maintain your ability to ride and perform better. You might enjoy reading our post Battle of the Bulge – How to Fight the End of Season Weight Gain for more ideas on developing a plan to keep you on track during your most tempting moments.
Schedule your rides. The flurry of holiday activities makes time precious. You may not have time for a lengthy ride, so schedule your ride time and make the most of the time you have. Shift your focus to what you can control and let go of things beyond your control. What can you control? The intensity, duration, and consistencies of your workouts. You can also control the elements surrounding your training, as in, your bike parts, bike functioning, and being well prepared nutritionally to get the best out of your workouts.
Avoid guilt. If you just can’t find the time or motivation to ride during the holiday season, avoid beating yourself up with guilt. The strategy for dealing with guilt is just to accept it and move on. Give yourself a break mentally and physically knowing the holiday season doesn’t last forever. If you just can’t find the time or motivation to ride during the holiday season, at least feed your velo passion with pictures of new road bikes , new mountain bikes, and cool bike parts. This will feed your spirit and breathe life into next year’s bike season.
There you have it! Strategies to survive the holidays. Maintaining a holiday fitness plan doesn’t have be hard. Be flexible, mix it up, and enjoy!
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