Try This Trick to Stick to Your Workout Routine During the Holidays

You might find it addicting.

If you’re looking for an excuse not to exercise, the holiday season provides plenty. And most of the time, the reasons sound pretty good even though you know deep down it’s all BS.

Top three terrible reasons to skip the gym during the holidays:

1. It’s too late and dark already. Damn, daylight’s saving. I’ll go early tomorrow.
2. I need my strength to eat more turkey.
3. I’ll have a weight loss goal next year if I gain weight now.

If your excuses are as bad as these, I tip my cap to you. It takes a creative mind and a heightened willingness to believe one’s own BS.

Still, year after year, many workout routines and diets crumble under the weight of festivities.

An epiphany smacked me in the face like a wet rag at the end of last year. My company hosted a fitness contest and used prizes to incentivize the employees to partake for 6 weeks.

You could join a team or compete alone for individual prizes during the competition. For the most part, I learned two things.

1. People will cheat at anything if given the chance.
2. I freaking love competition.

The cheating element of the workplace fitness challenge was annoying. My co-worker Barry gamed the system.

Still, the idea of beating my co-workers in a competition lit a fire in my heart.

I didn’t want to casually beat the people I worked with; my goal was to break their spirits and diminish their hopes of ever defeating me. Muahahaha!

Yeah, I know.

I can be a little intense when it comes to competing. But I keep my smack talk locked away in internal dialogue, or else folks would stop inviting me to participate.

Still, during the six weeks of competition, I hit 10,000 steps daily and increased my gym attendance.

My fitness didn’t decline at the end of the year. It surged.

With this in mind, I created my own fitness challenge for this holiday season to fix the shortcomings of the one my company organized last year.

I’ve invited co-workers, friends, and family to engage in an 8-week endurance challenge with a cash prize at the end for the winner.

So far, sign-up has been better than the beta test competition I hosted last spring. This has much to do with people needing a boost to end the year strong.

If you’re looking for a swift kick in the ass to finish the year with purpose, join or host a fitness challenge.

Many websites, apps, and local social groups are hosting fitness contests this time of year.

I recommend creating a challenge for your family and friends. The healthy competition will push you harder than attempting to go after an individual challenge.

If you don’t have friends or family interested in fitness, Garmin and Strava have in-app contests for their communities.

“Be thankful for quality competitors who push you to your limit.” — Michael Josephson

Even if you’re not a competitive-driven person, doing something challenging with those you know and care about is the trick to keeping you engaged.

The most rewarding part of hosting competitions for my small circle is seeing the gratitude from people who’ve lost weight, hit personal bests, or proven themselves wrong.

So, leave the terrible excuses for ditching your workout routine behind this holiday season and accept the challenge of competing.

I’m telling you, once you start, it can be hard to stop.