Your Holiday Health Plan (& a quick workout!)

I was looking at the calendar this morning totally surprised at the date. When did it advance this far into December?! I am totally behind on shopping but I figure it will all get done, right? (If you are in need of some Christmas inspiration, check out my Christmas shopping guide filled with a few of my favorite things which may give you some inspiration!)

I wanted to get this post up earlier this week, but had a number of other things come up so praying that this post will still be timely and encouraging for you. I did a live video a couple weeks ago about “your holiday health plan” and some things I want you to remember. Yes, we may be in the middle of December, but these all still apply and your mindset around this will be what differentiates you from what you’ve done every other Christmas season!

In short, here are the highlights:

1) Your health plan starts today. Not 3 days before Christmas! All these days count

2) Make small hits to first base. No home runs. Win small

3) Think ahead. How many holiday gatherings do you have this weekend and next week? Will you indulge at all of them or try and balance it out?

4) Keep a steady pace over the next few weeks. No great adds or takeaways in your weight or performance

5) Think outside the box. What may have worked for you leading up to the holidays may not work for the next few weeks. Don’t be afraid to change as needed.

6) Believe you can change and then act. This holiday season can be different from the others! You can change as you zero in on one or two small things. You sure can.

7) Keep the bigger pic in view. Why are you taking care of your health? It’s got to be more thank your waistline and a faster 5K time. As people of faith, we do it so we can be better prepared to show love and be the hands and feet of Jesus.

Click here if you can’t see the video!

Here is a quick video combo you can add to your workouts this week. (If you can’t see it, click the link here)

I love adding in power combos to my workouts. Sometimes they are a part of the larger workout and sometimes the power combo is all I can get in for the day. This one will target your legs, core and a little cardio. Also, because you don’t have both feet in the ground, we are training that balance! That’s a very important piece to my workouts. . Find an elevated surface to put your back foot on (I prefer a little higher than the bench pictures, but do what is comfy for you) and then progress through. Here are the 4 moves: 1) decline push-up (this isn’t a super big decline so you can see how this can be modified to fit your level) 2) single-leg hop (land gently!) 3) elevated “stomp” (oh heyyy pilates class! Your fav!) 4) single-leg hinge & release Start from the top and do the other leg. The push-up is your transition move. For video demo, I did 4 reps each exercise but I would consider increasing that to 6-8 or more! . The combo can be used alone, added in a full body routine, or at the end of leg day to really fire up and toast the legs. Make sure to adjust the front leg as needed. You’ll see that I kind of kick it out more depending on the move. The back leg may also need to change depending on the exercise. . Let me know what you think! song: Jumped out the whip by @tedashii (Thanks Maria for the video help!)

A post shared by Clare Smith (@claresmithofficial) on Dec 15, 2017 at 9:28am PST

Here is another one of my favorites! You can get all the details for it on the post here.

Keep going, friends! Don’t let the insanity of the season (both emotionally and schedule-wise) derail you. Protect your peace by spending time with the Lord every single morning and add small sticks to the fire throughout the day by listening to worship music, podcasts, and prayer to keep that fire going!

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