Thanksgiving and the holiday season are fast approaching. Many traditions take place this time of year where we celebrate the last month and enter in to next 12 months. 2021, here we come. Along with holiday festivities of reuniting with friends and family, eating copious amount of decadent holiday food, and traveling, comes a critical component to our holiday traditions, decorating.
Lights border our windows, gutter guards, and roof tops. Inflatable snowmen, reindeers, and elves can be seen on front lawns as we peruse down the streets of our neighborhoods. Let’s not forget one of the most popular holiday decorations of all found in many living rooms, the Christmas tree. These decorations offer quite a spectacle signifying a time to reflect our previous year’s success and be thankful for what we have and the people around us. However, in order to see these decorations, work needs to be accomplished to unveil this final product to appreciate the end of the year.
If most people are like me when it comes to holiday decoration, lights, tinsel, and sometimes artificial Christmas trees are stored in the catacombs of the garage or high atop the archives in an attic. In order to acquire these coveted items, heavy boxes covered in dust must be moved aside, ladders need to be ascended, and we may need to contort our bodies in unique shapes to acquire stashed away items. Perhaps you’re missing the star to put on top the tree hidden in the depths of a years’ worth of stored boxes. Sound familiar? In order to successfully prepare for the holidays, we need a mobile, injury free, and strong body. Setting up and taking down holiday decoration should be fun and rewarding.
The ability to set up decorations competently and efficiently for the holidays is important. However, this is just an example of the everyday activities requiring strength, coordination, balance, and overall fitness. Envision the activities around the house and in our usual activities that require a certain amount of strength and athleticism. I’m sure you can find a few.
To help you prepare for a fun, healthy, and strong holiday, here a are a few introductory exercises we teach our personal training clients in Napa to master for a foundational level of fitness:
- Improve your hand grip strength with finger flexion and extension:
With elbows fully extended and palms facing downward, elevate elbows upward until hands are perpendicular armpits and hands are in front of the body. Extend the fingers out toward the front of the body as if “putting on a glove” until a muscle contraction in the forearms and fingers can be sensed and “flex and hold” for 1 second. Reverse the movement by flexing the fingers in toward the body to “make a fist” as if “ringing out a wet towel” until a muscle contraction in the forearms and fingers can be sensed and “flex and hold” for 1 second. Repeat for 5-10 repetitions.
- Improve your core, low back, and upper extremity strength with the simple and effective straight arm plank:
Facing the ground, position yourself in a “push up” position. Extend legs to where your body is straight and elevated off the ground. Spend special attention on ensuring the lower back does not sag and that the knees are extended. Hold this position anywhere form 10-30 seconds.
- Improve spine mobility and decrease back pain with the “cat and cow” exercise:
Position your body in a prone quadruped position kneeling on your knees and hands are positioned underneath the arm pits. Breath in and drop the belly down toward the ground to make a “u” shape in your back, stretching and holding that position to stimulate stretch of the abdominals and ventral portion of the spine for 1-2 seconds. Reverse the motion by bowing your back up to the ceiling in an inverted “u” shape to stretch out the paraspinal muscles surrounding the spine and separating the shoulder blades. Hold this position of 1-2 seconds. Repeat each movement for 5-10 repetitions.
Make the end of this year an enjoyable one. Invest some time into your body before and throughout the holiday season to endure the various physical stresses of decorating. More importantly, as the new year’s approaches, get a head start on the popular new year resolution by focusing on your lifetime fitness today.
Sean McCawley, the founder and owner of Napa Tenacious Fitness in Napa, CA, welcomes questions and comments. Reach him at 707-287-2727, napatenacious@gmail.com or visit the website napatenaciousfitness.com.
