By: Jared Vinoverski, Regional Personal Training Manager

We know the Holiday Season can be a tough time to stay fit because of family commitments, travel, year-end demands at work, and challenging weather. Thankfully, retaining the fitness you already have is easier and less time consuming than you may think. In this guide we’ll show you how to avoid losing your hard-earned fitness between Thanksgiving and New Years Eve, how to manage your nutrition through the Holiday Season, and how to work out efficiently so you get the most out of your gym visits.

The Good News: You Don’t Lose Fitness As Fast As You Think

People who exercise regularly understand that it takes time, consistency, and repetition to gradually improve fitness and performance, and to make positive changes in health markers like lowering blood pressure and improving blood sugar management. You’re also aware that positive adaptations are reversible. “Use or lose it” is a real phenomenon when it comes to fitness!

However, there’s a common misconception about how quickly fitness fades. That stale or stiff feeling you have after a few days or a week off doesn’t reflect an actual reduction in physical capacity. In fact, markers like VO2 max, lactate threshold, and muscle size or strength don’t diminish by measurable amounts within 1-2 weeks of zero activity. In some cases, a week off can be positive because the time provides opportunities for extra rest and recovery.

Retaining Fitness Is Easier Than You Think

Another factor working in your favor is that you can retain the fitness you already have if you follow a simple formula. There are three basic variables that govern the affects exercise has on fitness: volume (cumulative time spent exercising), frequency (how often you exercise, sessions/week), and intensity (how hard you push yourself).

According to sports science researchers, to retain 80-100% of your current fitness, both volume and frequency can be cut in half as long as you maintain your training intensity! So, if your holiday schedule heats up and you have to alter your exercise habits, your fitness won’t dip if you train fewer times per week or if your individual training sessions are shorter, as long as you commit to high-quality efforts when you do exercise.

Why is it important to avoid detraining?

Progress from physical training is not linear. Sometimes you’re making great steps forward, other times you’re working through plateaus, and sometimes you have to give up some fitness to provide your body with time for more rest and recovery. The Holiday Season can be stressful, and all stress affects your body. Continuing to exercise is great stress relief, and even if you have to cut back on your days per week or the duration of individual sessions, you can train enough to retain your fitness level.

A good goal to set is to reach January 1 with roughly the same fitness you had on Thanksgiving Day. Keep everything you’ve earned, then move into the New Year with the opportunity to keep building. Fitness lost during the Holiday Season is fitness that may take 2-3 months to regain, meaning it could be Spring Break before you’re back to where you were on Thanksgiving Day.

Practical Tips for Staying Fit Through the Holidays

Let’s be real, the Holiday Season is a tough time to stay focused on fitness and weight management goals. You’re being pulled in a million directions, it’s cold outside, the sun sets early, and every gathering features mountains of delicious holiday foods. You don’t have to be perfect and you don’t have to live like a monk to stay true to your goals. Here are some realistic tips to have an enjoyable, low-stress, and successful Holiday Season:

• Each day, just move: Consistent physical activity is key, but don’t get too hung up on the specifics of what you’re doing. You want to move your body daily, whether that’s a brisk walk, bodyweight exercises on the floor (e.g., pushups, planks, air squats, lunges, etc.), a bike ride, yoga, or strength training in the hotel gym.
• Incorporate vigorous activity at least twice per week: This is where the intensity mentioned earlier comes into play. Move daily, but ramp up the intensity on two days, preferably separated by a few days (e.g., Tuesday and Friday vs. Tuesday and Wednesday) so you have the energy for high-quality efforts on both days. What should you do on your harder days? Those can be your heavier weight training sessions, your cardio interval workouts, your strenuous exercise classes, or your faster runs.
• Prioritize restorative activities: It is important to prioritize rest, recovery, and restoration during the Holiday Season. Book a series of weekly or biweekly massages so the appointments are in your calendar. Find a yoga class that fits your schedule and provides a consistent opportunity to slow down, breathe, and find quiet.
• Practice great sleep hygiene: Your ability to handle daytime stresses is directly related to the quality of your nighttime sleep. Sleep hygiene is the collection of ways you prepare for and support the quality of your sleep. When thinking about sleep hygiene, remember: Cool, Calm, and Dark. Sleep researchers recommend room temperatures between 64-68 degrees Fahrenheit, minimal noise (or white noise if nearby noise is unavoidable), and minimal light. Eliminating light can include blackout shades, covering indicator lights on chargers and power strips, and darkening or covering digital clocks on your nightstand.
• Something is better than nothing: It can be tempting to drop your fitness routine altogether until January 1, then start with a clean slate and go full steam ahead. However, even a few workouts per week can be enough to minimize detraining, which means starting 2026 at a much higher level than if you do nothing from November to January.

Food and Nutrition Tips for the Holiday Season

It is normal for body weight to fluctuate throughout the year and your exercise habits can generally sustain your fitness and health even as you gain or lose weight. At the same time, the Holiday Season can be a challenging time for people looking to maintain or lose weight, or people trying to adhere to specific nutrition habits. Here are some practical food and nutrition tips for the season:

• Moderation works better than deprivation: Completely avoiding all your favorite sweet and fatty and savory treats is a recipe for a miserable Holiday Season. And there’s also the risk that depriving yourself in one area (e.g., sugary dessert) will lead to excess in another (e.g., alcohol). Rather, enjoy reasonable helpings of the foods and drinks that are special for the season and remind you of great memories.
• Emphasize protein and hydration: Holiday treats are typically high in sugar, fat, and sodium. Focusing on consuming protein-rich foods that are popular during this time (think turkey, ham, fish, nuts) will satisfy your hunger quickly and keep you satisfied longer. Protein also supports that lean muscle mass you worked so hard to build. In addition, make sure you are consuming enough water throughout the day, even when you are enjoying other beverages.
• Socialize away from the food: Great laughs and conversations are the best parts of Holiday gatherings, and you can have them at the kitchen island or a quiet corner of the living room. If you’re trying to eat a little less, position yourself where you can stay fully engaged in the conversation and not mindlessly reaching for snacks.
• Don’t arrive at parties hungry: You know what happens when you go grocery shopping when you’re hungry. The same thing happens at Holiday gatherings. You don’t need to have to feel full before going to a party, but you also don’t want to be famished.
• Excuse yourself early: Obviously you want to stay at the party long enough to have a great time, but there’s a sweet spot for not departing that helps you avoid overconsuming alcohol and food and gets you into bed early enough to get a good night’s sleep.
• Do not treat calories and exercise transactionally: Do not fall into the trap of trying to “exercise enough to burn X calories”. You are neither exercising to “earn” food nor exercising as punishment for eating. Exercise for health and fitness, eat for fuel, and enjoy both. Fitness, body weight, and body composition all change gradually and your long-term habits are what matter most.
• Enjoy the Holiday Season: The Holidays are meant to be celebrated with family and friends. Have the pumpkin pie and try the Christmas cookies! The Holidays don’t last very long and some delicious meals that include desserts are not going to be detrimental to your health. The key is to understand that health and fitness are long-term pursuits. Enjoy yourself in moderation, try to keep yourself moving and exercising each week, and you can realign your focus on fitness and nutrition in the New Year.

Ideally, healthy exercise can help you manage the stress of the Holiday Season rather than add to it, and healthy eating habits can provide the energy to enjoy activities with family and friends. The Holiday Season can demand a lot of attention and energy, and that’s exactly what your year-round commitment to exercise and fitness prepares you for!

References:

Barbieri, A., Fuk, A., Gallo, G., Gotti, D., Meloni, A., La Torre, A., Filipas, L., & Codella, R. (2024). Cardiorespiratory and metabolic consequences of detraining in endurance athletes. Frontiers in physiology, 14, 1334766. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2023.1334766

Lepers, R., Mater, A., Assadi, H., Zanou, N., Gremeaux, V., & Place, N. (2024). Effect of 12 weeks of detraining and retraining on the cardiorespiratory fitness in a competitive master athlete: a case study. Frontiers in physiology, 15, 1508642. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2024.1508642

Liu, Y., Zhou, A., Li, F., Yue, T., Xia, Y., Yao, Y., Zhou, X., Zhang, Y., & Wang, Y. (2023). Aerobic capacity and V˙O2 kinetics adaptive responses to short-term high-intensity interval training and detraining in untrained females. European journal of applied physiology, 123(8), 1685–1699. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-023-05182-8

Mujika, I., & Padilla, S. (2000). Detraining: loss of training-induced physiological and performance adaptations. Part I: short term insufficient training stimulus. Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 30(2), 79–87. https://doi.org/10.2165/00007256-200030020-00002

Mujika, I., & Padilla, S. (2000). Detraining: loss of training-induced physiological and performance adaptations. Part II: Long term insufficient training stimulus. Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 30(3), 145–154. https://doi.org/10.2165/00007256-200030030-00001