Training In December

​In this episode I explore some valuable strategies to help a hiker manage and adjust their training over the silly season.

Chapters:

0:11 December Training Strategies
3:45 Importance of Training in December
4:31 Poll Insights from the Community
5:49 Advice for Maintaining a Routine
9:09 Adjusting Expectations for December
11:20 Fitting in What You Can
13:47 Starting a New Routine
17:08 Building Momentum and Setting Goals

Episode Transcript: 

[0:00] All right, hello, hello, ladies and gentlemen. So in today's episode, we are talking through some different training strategies on how you can maintain and keep up your training and exercise through December.

[0:12] Now, at the time of recording this, it's a couple of days before December and the silly season is almost here, if it's not here already. You know, we all know at this time of year, there's just flood of social events, holidays, family visit, changes of weather, getting really hot or really cold, or a bunch of other things that, you know, will always make December the trickiest month out there to keep up your training. And today I want to talk you through, you know, a few strategies which can kind of help navigate this time in regards to your training and exercise. And I'll say off the bat that, you know, I'm not expecting you to keep a full training routine and dedicate so many hours over December. Some people can do that and we will talk about people in that situation. But for the majority of us, we kind of need to work around December a little bit nicer for ourselves. So we're going to dive into that a little bit. Now, before we get into all of that, first of all, I do want to highlight why we are talking about this and why keeping up some type of training through December is so important. Because it's so, so, so easy for us to be like, oh my gosh, we're just so busy. I'm just going to let it be, not really do anything.

[1:22] And I'll tell you what, that is a mistake. We all know that's a mistake. We all regret it when we end up doing that. But I want to really, really highlight why this is important. Now, number one, the most obvious one is if you do have a big trip coming up in the new year. If it's in the first half of the year or the start of the year, you don't want to be losing training momentum now. You don't want to be losing your fitness. You don't want to be losing your strength because maybe you're on a bit of a timeline to get where you need to be. If it's in the second half of the year or towards the middle of the year, as with all of these things, A longer term approach is always going to be better. If you can just do the bare minimum over this month, it's going to make January, February, March so much easier. It's going to help you get so much more during that time. So the obvious thing, if you have a big trip coming up in the new year, training this month is going to be important. Now, the other thing is if you have been training pretty well this year, if you've been building up a good routine, if you've been developing your strength, developing your fitness or whatever it may be, the worst thing that can happen is just to completely fall out of routine in this month and just have a really significant drop of strength and fitness that you've been developing. We've all gone through this cycle before. We've all done it before, and we've all regretted it in the future. And the worst thing we want is all your hard work, just taking a step or two back. A month of reduced training or a couple of weeks of reduced training, it isn't the end of the world in the grand scheme of things. You're not going to go back to zero, but it's a shame if you are dropping.

[2:49] And then number three, and one thing that a lot of people, you know, maybe don't talk about a huge amount, but, you know, during this time, a lot of people have a huge amount of stress and a huge amount of, you know, difficulty navigating emotions, you know, and exercise can be a great manager for this. And, you know, if you've got family visiting or maybe you're missing family, if you're super busy with work, or maybe the weather's stressing you out, or something's going on, you know, exercise can be a great manager for this. And it can allow you to turn up to these social events maybe you don't want to go to in your best self. Or maybe if you're spending time with your family, it'll help you not be grumpy and be in the moment and enjoy it a little bit more. It'll help you navigate the end of year work stress. And for many, you know, potentially reduce the holiday blues a little bit. You know, exercise is just so important in amongst all of that. So ultimately, safe to say, you know, putting a little bit of attention into your training during December is really, really valuable.

[3:46] Now, we also do want to balance this out with the fact that for some people, you know, some people out there may be able to keep up their just normal routine in December. Some people have more time, more energy, more inclination to train, and that's great. But for others, you know, sticking to a normal routine or sticking to your normal workload, it just may not be realistic, which is fair enough.

[4:06] So ultimately, when I was planning this episode and I was thinking, okay, how am I going to direct this? Who am I actually going to be talking to? Like what sort of advice are we going to give? I put up a poll in our new training for hiking community group. And if you haven't joined that group, check the show notes below. Come join up the new group. It's absolutely awesome. It's going to be a really cool community group moving forward. And essentially, I put up a poll in this group, just asking people, you know, how were they planning on approaching things?

[4:31] You know, what was their sort of intention for December at this stage? And I thought, you know what, I'd take probably the one or two top answers from that poll and, you know, do some education, base this episode around it. But surprisingly enough, in all honesty, there seemed to be a pretty even split between four different categories. It wasn't just one or two that really took the stage, but it was a nice, pretty even split. The first one was just people just saying, hey, I'm going to keep my normal training routine. I don't really care. It's December. My normal training routine's good to go. The second category were people like, you know what, I'm going to reduce my routine a little bit, like reduce what I'm doing, but I'm still going to have a regular routine. And what that means is basically. I'm not just, you know, I'm still going to go in the plan. I'm going to still be consistent over the weeks. I'm just going to reduce down things a little bit than I've been doing previously.

[5:16] The third category were people like, you know what, I'm just going to fit in what I can. You know, I'm not going to go in with a plan. I'm not going in with intentions, but I'm just do bits and pieces here and just fit in what I can. And the fourth category were people like, you know what, actually, I'm going to use December now to start a routine. Maybe they've been out of routine for a while. Maybe they've been, you know, had so much going on and now's actually a bit of a better time for them to start getting a good routine, and then so they can hit the ground running in the new year. And there was about a pretty even split between those four categories. So with that being said, I'm going to talk through a few simple words of advice for each one.

[5:50] These strategies, they're not crazy. They're not completely out of this world. They may be stuff you've heard before, but I think right now, leading into this busy period, it's really, really, really important just to remind people of these things, highlight these facts, and just give them a few little words of advice to increase your chance of success during this time. So that being said, let's talk through this. Now, category number one, we're going to talk through. So the people who are intending to keep a normal routine over December. If you're leading into December, you're already in a training routine, you're like, you know what, business as usual, I'm just going to keep on norming. That's absolutely fine. And if you can do this, this is great. And honestly, some people do find a bit more time during December, which is awesome. So the main thing that I recommend here is if you are going in with this intention, is just have a few backup plans in place. So go in with the intention that you'll keep your normal routine. And that'll be the perfect world. And if you can do that every single week, fantastic.

[6:45] But just put yourself in the position. What if last minute you got asked to go out on a social event, maybe go on a quick holiday, or maybe go out and do some drinks or whatever it may be? Or what if a family member drops by just randomly on their way to visit other family members? Or maybe they decide to stay the night or something like that? Or what if you get sick? Or what if there's a crazy heat wave or a crazy snowstorm or whatever it may be? You know, all of these things are very, very easy to get in the way. And if we go in with the intention of keeping up the normal routine and something like this comes up, you know, can get in the way of things. And sometimes if we go in that intention to stick with things and something gets in the way, the second there's just something out of whack, the second we drop one or two sessions, then it kind of all falls apart. It all spirals. And I've seen this all the time. I've done it myself. And the second you miss a session, you're like, oh, what's the point?

[7:35] You lose all your momentum or whatever it may be. And we don't want that. So ultimately, my best word of advice in this situation is just have some backup plans. Ask yourself, if you end up being super busy, how are you going to adjust your routine? If you end up having a couple more drinks one night than you expect, and there's a training session you usually do on the next day, how are you going to adjust things? If you have someone who ends up staying over or you come out from a family event and you're like, oh my gosh, that sucked. I'm super stressed or something like that. What is something you can fall back on? If you just have something you can fall back on, it can really, really keep the right mindset. So take some time to think about this. Now for myself, my simple backup plans as I'm coming in December, if I'm super busy, if I have things going up, my backup plans are, okay, for a strength session at the gym, I might just reduce that to a 15-minute strength session at home just with some equipment I've got home. Instead of doing 30, 45 minutes of actually going to the gym, I might just do a quick 15-minute session at home. Or for a cardio session, if I don't quite have time to hop on the bike and do a long session, maybe I'll just go out and do a 15-minute run.

[8:37] Or if I'm wanting to get down to the gym and do sessions in the gym, like actual group classes or whatever it may be, and I don't really feel like it, maybe I have had a couple of drinks, I'm like, oh, you know what, in the morning it's not going to happen. Maybe instead, I'll just use some equipment at home and just do a little bit of a workout routine there. So I've got some backup plans loaded and just things that are going to be a little bit easier, a little bit more manageable if things do come up. So that's number one. If you are planning on keeping your normal routine, definitely make sure you have some backup plans in place. You may not use them, but put them in place.

[9:10] Now, the second category let's talk about is the people who are looking at reducing their routine in December, but still keeping up a planned routine, a set routine, a regular routine, even if it's reduced expectations down a little bit. Now, many, many people are aware when it comes down to their training that maintaining routine is just important. And just being in that consistent rhythm of going through sessions and doing something and knowing what you're doing is really, really important. And people thrive of that. I thrive with that. And it's so, so, so valuable in a training journey. But they're also aware that, you know what, during this time, keeping their normal routine is just not realistic. So they reduce expectations. They may reduce the time downspent on the sessions. They may reduce, you know, what they're doing or whatever it may be, reduce the amount of days they're planning or whatever it may be. And I think this is a great idea.

[9:53] But one thing I want to be clear on is if you are doing this, if you are reducing your expectations, you want to be crystal clear about what you're aiming for. Because sometimes I see when people take this approach and they're like, all right, December is going to be busy. So I'm not going to put pressure on myself. I'm going to take it a little bit easier. But they just fall into this trap of just deciding what they're going to do each day. And they're like, oh, you know what? I'll go for a run. Or maybe I'll go for a cycle. Or maybe I'll go for a swim or whatever it may be. And they end up just losing focus. And yes, they may still say, I want to train three days a week or I want to train four days a week. But because they don't have a set plan, they end up in just this like faffing around uncertainty, they lose focus, they lose direction, and they end up just faffing around doing nothing or the very, very minimum, which is a shame. So if you are planning on reducing your routine, just take five minutes, sit down with a pen and paper and write out what that routine is going to be like. If you usually do three 60-minute sessions in a week, write down what you're going to do. Are you going to do three 30-minute sessions? That's what you're going to aim for in December. And write down what it's going to involve. Be crystal clear. It's really, really, really valuable now to layer on top of that i'd really recommend also doing exactly what i talked about before and number one is just come up with backup plans as well so not only do you have a reduced expectation routine which you've written down you know what you're doing but also come up with those backup plans as well again if something does come up really really really valuable now category number three are the people who are like well you know what i'm just going to fit in what i can.

[11:20] And they're like, you know, I'm not going to try to stick to a routine. I know I've got loads going on. So I'm just going to fit things in between family visits, between, you know, social events or whatever it may be. And this approach can definitely work. And something during this time is way, way, way, way better than nothing. And sometimes reducing the expectations of actually having to do a set routine can be actually really good for people who are already stressed enough during this time. Instead of having to like beat yourself up because you're missing sessions or whatever it may be, it's more of a case of like, hey, I'm just going to grab time where I can when I feel like it and fit it in. And that works pretty well for a lot of people. But again, when taking this approach, we want to go in with some certainty. Because just like what we said above, if you don't have clarity on what you end up doing, you may end up just faffing around and you may end up not actually doing anything. You may end up spending those valuable minutes when you're actually like, hey, I'm going to do something. But you spend that time just deciding what you're going to do and end up doing nothing. I've seen people do it all the time.

[12:13] So my best recommendation here is if you are in the situation of fitting in what you can, What I want you to do is get out a pen and paper, write down headings for five minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, and 60 minutes. So write down headings or columns or whatever you ought to do. Then essentially under each heading, under each category, write down two to three options of things that you might do if you had that time available for you. So for example, five minutes. It could be, if I have five minutes, I'm just gonna do five minutes of stretching and I'm gonna choose two stretches for five minutes. Or it might be like, you know what, for five minutes, I'm going to do a bunch of squats and a bunch of push-ups or whatever it may be. It could be anything. But write down two to three options for four to five minutes.

[12:55] Then look at 10 minutes. Write down two to three options of what exercise may look like. A 10-minute routine there might be doing 15 squats, 15 half raises and stretches, and that'll get you through 10 minutes and just repeat that. Or it might be, hey, I'm going to go out and do some step-ups for 10 minutes, or whatever it may be. But write down a few options. Do the same thing for 15 minutes. Do the same thing for 30 minutes. Do the same thing for 60 minutes. Just put a few options underneath. And ultimately, when you do get to that mindset where you're like, hey, I've got time, I'm going to fit something in. You'll have that list. Just grab something from the list and away you go. Some people will literally have that list there and they'll look at it and they'll be like, yep, I'm going to grab something. Some other people, they may not actually have the list with them, but the pure act that they've sat down and done it and thought about it and put a bit of intention into it, that in itself, they just know in their head, actually, this is kind of what I want to do. So this simple, simple thing, it goes a long, long, long, long way and I highly recommend it.

[13:48] And then the final category I want to talk about is if people are using December to start a routine. Because for many people, December can be the perfect place to get in the rhythm of training. Maybe they have more time, maybe work's quieter down, maybe they've actually got a lot of motivation or whatever it may be. And to start a routine right now is the perfect thing, which is great. And I fully encourage you if that is possible for you. And if you are doing this, this is what I'd recommend. And this is typically what I recommend when you are looking at just starting a routine at any stage. You want to be clear about what you're doing and you want to give yourself the best chance possible of getting into this routine and building the momentum. So leading into December, ask yourself, if I'm starting a new routine, how many times per week am I wanting to train? And how long per session am I going to aim to train? So I'll say that again, ask yourself, how many times per week do I want to train? And how long per session are you going to aim for? What is this going to be? What's this consistent thing going to be? In this example, let's say I've asked myself that question and I'm like, I want to start a new routine. I'm going to aim for three 60-minute sessions in a week that's my first thought I'm like yeah that sounds good now once you've got that first answer then ask yourself in percentage how confident are you that you can fit this in every single week this month no matter what goes on.

[15:08] So ask yourself how confident are you that you can fit this in every single week this month no matter what's going on so it's not just your best weeks it's not just the weeks you're feeling really good, really energetic, but also on the busy weeks. Put yourself in the mind saying, oh, you know what? Actually, I've got a couple of social events this week. How confident am I? I can fit in those three 60-minute sessions in that week. Or what if you get sick? Or what if you're not sleeping well? Or whatever it may be. Just put yourself in those positions and ask yourself, how confident am I?

[15:38] Ideally, we want to find a level of exercise, which we are about 90% certain that we can fit in every single week. And if you're less than 90% certain, you may want to reduce the expectations. So I'll use this example. I'll say three 60-minute sessions was what I was thinking at first. I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's really good. But then I think about it, I'm like, well, actually, there is one week in December where I've got to do Boxing Day, Christmas Day. I've got to do the day before Christmas. What's that? Christmas Eve. I've got to do social events on each of those. And that's going to make it really hard for me to fit in three 60-minute sessions. So I'm like, oh, it might happen. but in all honesty, I'm only like 50% certain I could fit it in that week. So if I'm not quite certain, then I want to reduce expectations. So in this example, I might say, well, you know what? Maybe I'll aim for three 45-minute sessions instead. And I'll ask myself that question. How certain am I that I can do it?

[16:31] And essentially, we want to just keep on asking ourselves this question and keep on reducing expectations until we're about 90% certain that we can fit it in whatever's going on. This is a really really good way of just getting a good idea of realistic commitment and one that you can kind of keep on ticking off each week each week each week gathering momentum and all of that but also the 90% as opposed to 100% certain it does give you a little bit of a stretch so it does challenge you to fit it in to a degree and then if you sort of you know you plan yourself you set a nice baseline if you end up having more time and more inclination one week you can do more but set yourself a nice baseline.

[17:08] It goes a long, long, long way. And then on top of that, just like with the others, once you put together that, come up with those backup plans I talked through in number one. It goes a long, long, long way.

[17:19] So there we go. That's kind of probably enough on this subject. And I really do hope it helps a few people. And whether you're aiming to keep a normal routine, reduce your routine, fit in what you can, or start a new routine during this time, hopefully this has given you a few insights, a few little bits and pieces to work on. As I said, this stuff is simple. As I said, this stuff you may have heard before, but I promise you, if you do it, if you put into action, if you just spend five or 10 minutes doing this, it'll go such a long way. Now, last thing I will sort of say on this episode before I wrap things up, as I mentioned before, we have started a new community group for our hikers. And essentially, it's a training for hiking community on a brand new platform, which is a great place where we're going to be connecting with other hikers, sharing great extra advice on top of this podcast, sharing different courses that we put together and a whole bunch of different things. So it's a really, really, really cool community group, completely free. And I would love to see a lot more of the podcast listeners in there. So if you were interested in checking it out, basically just go down the show notes below. I'll pop a link in there, come join up completely free. And we're going to be sharing some awesome content in there over the months and years ahead. So check it out and I'll pop a link in the show notes below. But with that being said, thank you so much for listening today. I hope you've enjoyed it. I hope it helps a few people out and we'll talk to you very, very soon. Bye.

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