November 20, 2023
Download a full week of travel-friendly holiday workouts — complete with warm-ups, workouts, and cool-downs you can do with little or no equipment while on the road.
Or click the button below to find a gym you can visit. (Don’t forget to reach out ahead of time to reserve your spot!)
The holiday season is here, which is joyous and wonderful. But it’s also the time of year when it’s easy to ditch the hard-won fitness gains and nutrition habits we’ve been honing all year and go hog wild. It’s the holidays, right? And we can’t disappoint grandma by not having a slice of her chocolate pie.
The season — which kicked off with Halloween in October — means for three months, we’re surrounded by added sugar, processed carbohydrates, and alcohol. And it’s all sugar coated (literally) and wrapped in an air of celebration and that warm feeling that occurs when we’re spending time with friends and family, making it even easier to overdo it.
While a few deviations from your usual nutrition regimen won’t have a long-term impact, three months of eating pie and peppermint bark will mean starting your new year feeling less than amazing — or even in pain given the relationship between these types of foods and inflammation and chronic disease.
Meanwhile, hours watching holiday movies or road-tripping to the relatives can increase the amount of time we spend sedentary, and holiday travel can make it challenging to stick to your usual workout routine.
Not to worry. It is possible to get your workouts in on the road, and to enjoy your favorite holiday foods and stay on track with your health and fitness goals.
We’ve got some tips for how to keep the holiday eating under control, make better food choices, get your workouts in, and even encourage your friends and family to do the same.
Whether it’s a full-blown workout or a walk around your neighborhood, starting your day with movement will set you up for success with your nutrition later. Studies show we’re more likely to make good food choices throughout the day when we’ve exercised early. Regular exercise can help manage hunger by regulating hunger hormones, which can help prevent overeating and excess snacking.
Many of us are short on time during the holidays — traveling, hosting, cooking — but one of the great things about CrossFit is that there is always time to squeeze in a simple and effective workout to jump-start your day. Print or pull our holiday travel workout guide up on your phone to access a full week of travel-friendly holiday workouts — complete with warm-ups, workout variations, and cool-downs you can do with little or no equipment.
Or try one of these quick but effective, equipment-free workouts:
For 10 minutes, as many rounds as possible of:
10 air squats
10 push-ups
10 sit-ups
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4 rounds for time of:
Run 1 minute
20 burpees
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Every minute on the minute for 12 minutes, complete:
20 lateral jumps over a line
There are more than 13,000 CrossFit gyms around the world and many offer a holiday schedule and enjoy welcoming guests throughout the season. Check out our gym finder to see if there’s one in your area.
Similar to strategizing before a workout in your CrossFit gym, making a plan before the holiday festivities begin is a great idea. It’s important that your plan be realistic — remember, we want to enjoy our favorite holiday foods and traditions while not completely derailing our good habits. If dessert is your kryptonite, for example, decide what you’ll have and how much and stick to that plan. If you’re a sucker for sweet potato casserole, decide that you’ll limit yourself to just one serving.
Load up your plate with nutritious food first. If your holiday festivities include lean meats (turkey, chicken) and fresh veggies, fill up your plate with these healthier options before you add your holiday favorites. This will ensure you get a good serving of the food that serves you nutritionally while also experiencing joy with the foods you may only eat once a year.
Bring a dish to share. Sharing your healthy habits with others at your table is a great way to ensure you’ll be able to load up on nutrient-dense foods and share some with family. See the recipes below for inspiration.
Roasted Turkey and Brussels Sprouts Casserole
Beef and Shrimp Tampiqueña With Christmas Pico
As a bonus, plan to rally your friends and family for a nice walk after your meal.
Excessive consumption of high-glycemic carbohydrates (mashed potatoes and pie are in this category) raise blood sugar rapidly and instigate an inordinate insulin response. Chronically high levels of blood sugar and insulin can lead to weight gain and other conditions such as Type 2 diabetes. Taking a walk immediately after your meal can help curb that insulin response and bring your blood sugar back down.
A lot of people “save their appetite” for the big holiday meal of the day. While CrossFit is an advocate for intermittent fasting when appropriate, fasting with the intention to gorge yourself later is not only ineffective, it’s in fact a fast track to overeating unfavorable foods, which can be detrimental to your blood sugar and overall metabolic health.
A good rule of thumb is to stick to your usual protocol — if you normally fast until 11 a.m., do that. If you’re a person who eats breakfast at 8 a.m. and has another snack before lunch, stay on track.
Try these simple first-meal recipes to start your day off right.
Turkey, Ham, and Cheese Egg Cups
Baked Eggs With Spinach and Ham
Fried Egg Stack With Bacon, Baby Spinach, and Tomato
If you go into the holidays planning to eat 100% clean with no cheats, you could be setting yourself up for failure. The holidays are a time to enjoy yourself, and if that means having that favorite treat you eat once a year, go for it. Avoid the slippery slope and get back on track tomorrow.
In CrossFit, nutrition is the foundation of fitness. All elements of health, wellness, and fitness start with and are determined by our nutrition habits. If for the rest of the year you use this as a guiding tenet, enjoying your favorite holiday foods on a couple special occasions will not derail all your hard work and dedication.
Wishing you a happy and healthy holiday season!