Are you ready for some holiday fun?
There is nothing more motivating than a fitness challenge, and there’s no better time start one than during the holiday season.
A good workout can help us feel on track, and while I’m sure we’ll all enjoy a delicious treat or two, a good workout can help us feel virtuous and on track towards those health and weight loss goals. Don’t you think?
You can start this 12 Days of Fitmas Challenge any day you like.
Yet, if you’re looking for extra support and motivation, then join us inside of the Get Back to Fit Over Fifty Facebook group where participants will be sharing their workout success together starting December 21st 2020
For the 12 Days of Fitmas Challenge, here’s what you’ll do:
- Each day for the next 12 days you’ll do 2 exercises back to back.
- Perform 1 repetition of the first exercise, then 1 repetition of the 2nd exercise, then 2 repetitions of the first exercise, and 2 repetitions of the second exercise, and so on.
- Repeat until you get to 12 repetitions of exercise one and 12 repetitions of exercise two.
Watch the video for the demonstrations of your daily workout moves.
Inside the video, I’ll be showing the low options, and my fabulous client, friend and assistant Judy will be demonstrating the advanced/high options.
The low options are both low impact and beginner workout moves, as well as moves that show special consideration for those with sore backs, knees and wrists.
The advanced options are high impact and hard (no sugar coating it… we’ll leave that for the holiday bon-bons).
If you decide to join the Get Back to Fit Over Fifty Facebook Group December 21st 2020 you’ll get another layer of motivation:
- Comment each day during the 12 Day Challenge to share when you’ve completed the daily workout, or when you need more modifications
- Comment on all 12 days and win two 1-1 online VIP coaching sessions with me (Alicia)
Winner of the two 1-1 online VIP Coaching sessions will be announced January 4th 2021!
Are you ready!? Let’s do this!
To Help you Find Each Day’s demonstration Easily, Below shows the exact minute in the video where your daily workout demonstration begins:
Day 1: 0:24
- Exercise 1: Squats OR Deadlifts
- Exercise 2: Mountain Climbers
Mountain climber modification: The higher you elevate your body, the easier the exercise becomes. Grab a chair, or use the back of your sofa or a steady table to elevate your body.
Not only will this change the level of difficulty, but it will change the amount of pressure you feel in the low back, or shoulders.
Wrist issues: If your wrists hurt during the mountain climbers, go on your forearms instead.
Day 2 0:58
- Exercise 1: Plank with shoulder tap
- Exercise 2: Glute Bridges
Plank with shoulder tap Modifications: Just like the mountain climbers, you’ll use a chair, sofa or table to change the difficulty. You can also go on your forearms to relieve wrist pain.
Glute Bridges Modification: If you find it hard to go from standing to the floor to standing once again, perform the bridges in bed. The elevation of the bed should make it easier to get up again.
Day 3: 1:29
- Exercise 1: Lunges OR Back Leg Extension
- Exercise 2: Push-ups
Lunge Modifications: Have you ever performed a lunge and thought “Ouch, it hurts the knees”
That is because the lunge is difficult. The form includes both flexibility and strength in the legs, otherwise your knee tracks improperly and you create knee pain and knee issues.
If you haven’t been exercising for a while, I strongly recommend perfecting the back leg extension first. The exercise may look deceptively easy, but it’s still doing its job of lifting the bottom, on both the leg planted on the ground and the leg you pull back.
It also creates a neuromuscular signal (a mind to muscle connection) to teach the body and brain to work together with proper lunge form, so once you’re ready, you’ll take on the lunge exercise and remain injury-free.
Push-Ups: Notice how Judy is on her knees. While you can do the push-up on your toes for advanced option, the goal is to reach your nose to the floor to achieve full range of motion.
A muscle only becomes strong in the range of motion you work it, so if you try it on the toes but barely move, you’re barely creating strength in the body.
Go on the knees and aim for depth first.
If you can’t go low, then elevate your body high using a chair or a sofa.
Day 4: 2:11
- Exercise 1: Side Plank with Knee OR side plank
- Exercise 2: Jumping Jacks
The Jumping Jacks aren’t your average jumping jack:
Standard jumping jacks get your heart pumping and your whole body moving, but did you know they also momentarily weaken you once you’re done?
No, it’s not because you’re exhausted after the workout, it’s because the movement goes against our natural cross crawl tendencies (or contralateral movement patterns. If you want to learn more about the effects of the Cross Crawl, visit my blog Walking Workout With Weights: Fitness for Women over 50)
The fix is simple, change the exercise to reinforce coordination.
Day 5: 2:47
- Exercise 1: Inch worm
- Exercise 2: Knee highs
Modifications for Inch worm: Turn the movement into a great low back stretch while you strengthen. To do this grab a chair to elevate the body, then push back into a standing bend (see video above for a demonstration)
Day 6: 3:12
- Exercise 1: Flutter Kicks
- Exercise 2: Burpees
Just like the exercises above, use a chair to modify the burpee.
Do the flutter kicks on the bed if getting up and down from the floor is difficult.
Day 7: 3:38
- Exercise 1: Step-ups OR Step Backs
- Exercise 2: Tricep Dips
Modification for tricep Dips: The more you elevate your body, the easier the exercise is on the wrists. Also, the closer your legs are to your body, the easier the exercise becomes.
Day 8: 3:57
- Exercise 1: Glute Bridges
- Exercise 2: V-Jumps OR V-highs
Day 9: 4:24
- Exercise 1: Walking Lunges OR Walking Knee highs
- Exercise 2: Tricep push ups
Walking Lunges Modification: Walking knee highs are a great alternative to walking lunges.
The challenge is in lifting the knee as high as you can, working the low abs and maintaining balance while propelling yourself forward. It’s an excellent full body exercise that gets the blood flowing.
Day 10: 4:56
- Exercise 1: Russian Twists OR standing twists
- Exercise 2: Mountain Climbers
Russian Twist Modification: If you’ve got low back issues, stay away from the advanced Russian Twist! The compression on the low spine coupled with the twisting motion is back pain waiting to happen.
The standing version is just as effective at toning the obliques (your hourglass abs) while increasing your heart rate and challenging your balance. It’s a win all around!
Day 11: 5:25
- Exercise 1: Squat Jumps OR knee highs
- Exercise 2: Knee highs
Modification for squat jumps: Get ready! Your heart will be pounding after 2 back to back knee high exercises.
Just like every other day, you’ll perform 1 repetition of the first exercise, then 1 repetition of the 2nd exercise, then 2 repetitions of the first exercise, and 2 repetitions of the second exercise, and so on.
This means you won’t stop doing knee highs for every rep! Good luck!
Day 12: 5:45
- Exercise 1: 20 meter shuffle
- Exercise 2: Burpees
Modification to the 20 meter shuffle: You don’t need 20 meters in order to do this exercise. If you’ve got a small exercise area count 1 repetition as the length of your space there and back.