During the festive period there is often a lot of competition for your time and energy, and more often than not getting to the gym or doing some exercise is substitiuted for other more desirable activities involving mulled wine and minced pies.

However all is not lost, here are a few tips to keep a healthy balance during this period.

1. Get the family involved – Christmas is a great time to spend with family and friends so why not meet up at the park and throw a ball around or go for a workout or swim. Catching up for a coffee after a few lengths in the pool kills two birds with one stone.

2. Dump the kids with family – when family are about make the most of it and sneak a bit of me time. I’m sure grandparents, aunts and uncles will love to have the little ones for an hour. In my experience its best not to overuse this one.

3. Get outside – use your holiday time to get out and run/jog or walk. Just be sure to warm up properly and build up slowly. No-one wants to spend Christmas day injured because you decided on a half marathon after months of inactivity.

4. Clear the head – a lot of gyms are open early in the morning and there is no better way to clear the Christmas party hangover than an hour in the gym. It takes some motivation but once it’s done you’ll feel much better.

5. Schedule cleverly – This ones the boring one, book yourself some time to train. Work it into your day and put it on the calendar. It’s amazing how easy it is to find an hour if you plan in advance, and similarly how easy it is to get to the end of a week off and find you haven’t found time to exercise.

6. Sack it all off and start again in January – If all else fails and you really can’t train over the festive period then don’t panic. It is only a week or so and you won’t get that out of shape…….surely. However make a plan, set a date or make an appointment with a personal trainer for your return. Don’t let a week off turn into 2 or 3.

Most of all enjoy yourself – life’s short and Christmas doesn’t happen everyday.

Check out these 3 blog posts on short fun workout ideas

Too Busy For Fitness! Really?

5 Fun finishers for your next workout

Four Minute Fitness.....