Well it’s that time of the college year again. Time for me to leave my apartment filled with supplements, high-protein foods, and my nearby gym. Off to my brownie-filled parent’s home, my sweets-cooking mother, and my 20-minute drive to the gym, if it’s open at all within 5 days from Christmas, and again when we approach New Year.
Obviously, this is a problem for me. But I can’t figure out how to fix it. So I need some tips.
How do you force yourself to stay away from sugary foods? I’m usually solid as a rock for a week or two, but after a while, temptation sinks in.
How do you work out when your gym closes for the holidays? I recall an article floating around here a while back, but I can’t find it. T-Nation (as usual) will probably post another one sometime soon, but given the number of readers, it’s meant for the general populous (which they’ve admitted a few times, and it’s understandable; no hard feelings there).
Any tips? Any other tips you’d like to throw at me while we’re on the subject of Christmas dining/exercising?
I am going to avoid any sugary stuff/general excess and prepare shakes/high protein meals/supps so they are easy to take when I have to go away for a couple of days to parties. In terms of training, I was planning on smashing it up on the days I can train, so that if I have to take 3 days off it will just be recovery.
Maybe look into 2 a days when you know your gym is open, and if you do have a long stint at home, bodyweight circuits can be effective for general conditing/feeling you’ve done something.
All depends on your goals. I like to keep lean, year round, so if I were in your situation and had no access to heavy weights for 5 days I would fit in some HIIT and press-up/ pull-up / dip / burpee / jump variations.
It’s okay to take a break. Even if it’s not healthy, you can still maintain pretty easily.
Secret: Stop eating when full and get off your ass.
I know it sounds crazy, but these things along will get you by. Sure you won’t become the next olympia, but if you’re just trying to not shoot yourself in the foot come 2009…
Most holiday weight gain coming from weeks of bingeing and sitting on your ass watching tv.
You can do body weight movements (ie push ups, planks, chair dips, squats) There should be heavy things aroung your parents house I mean you could do sofa squats. Use your imagination.
Other than that, we can’t tell you how to resist the sweets, but instead of sitting around playing video games or watching TV – Walk, jog, play foot ball with your friends, bike, any movement will do.
You’re still in college so you’re young which means you need to eat up while you can during the holidays. Then all that extra good food will fuel some extra good training sessions during the break, so let’s say it all together now:
UNless you’re cutting, my advice would be that as long as you’re getting enough protein, and getting to the gym with some regularity, to just eat the crap. If you’re honestly trying to cut during winter, then at least try to fill yourself up on ‘good’ stuff first, so you’d be less inclined to devour a whole pie (as I’ve been known to do at my folks’ house -lol)
I’m with ghost on this one. My gym at college blows, no squat rack / very little open space to deadlift. Being home means good food and smolov front squat cycle! No gyms open around you during the holidays?
nah, sadly there aren’t. the city weight hall is closed the week of Christmas, and again at New Year give AND take 2-3 days. my college weight room is nice; I’m at a college where the majority don’t lift, so I’m the one of few there most days, and it has everything I need in terms of weights and equipment.
I’m not asking for a miracle answer, just personal tips. and it normally is easy to ignore, when I lived in the dorms I never had cookies, cake, or ice cream. it was easy to ignore it. but my parents’ house has little to nothing that is truly healthy, and enough sugars to start their own candy shop.
and I’ll be there for almost an entire month. if I eat entirely clean, I’ll run out of food to eat after 3 days. I wish I was exaggerating.
Xmas break is a BAD time of year for me. I can stay away from the sweets, but the biggest problem is simply lack of cals on most days except family dinners. I also don’t have gym access for 3 weeks. Probably down 10% in all lifts in the new year
It’s the opposite for me… I welcome the extra calories (up to a certain point), extra sleep, zero stress, flexibility with gym schedule. In theory it would be the perfect time to do some heavy and intense lifting.
[quote]Xander89 wrote:
nah, sadly there aren’t. the city weight hall is closed the week of Christmas, and again at New Year give AND take 2-3 days. my college weight room is nice; I’m at a college where the majority don’t lift, so I’m the one of few there most days, and it has everything I need in terms of weights and equipment.[/quote]
City weight Hall? Dude where in Michigan are you? One of those tiny weird Finnish towns in the U.P.? If there truly is nowhere you can find to train, try scouring the classifieds for used equipment. I scored 600 lbs of olympic plates last year for $50. All you REALLY need is a bar & plates man.
