The Great White North

International Terminal. 1.5 hour delay. Tired and Hungry. That pretty much summed up my Sunday night.

Traveling during the holidays is always stressful, but when things are out of your control sometimes you just need to let it go. So despite my less than enjoyable Sunday night, I am happily hanging out with my family (both immediate and extended) up here in Canada.

For the next four days I am faced with a dilemma: 3+ feet of snow, no gym access, and -10 deg weather (Celsius of course).

Creativity and adaptability are two characteristics that are a must when it comes to working out.

As a general warm up, I went on a 1 mile walk with the fam. Though this may not seem like much, walking on shifting snow in boots causes some of those stabilization muscles you aren't used to using to become active. After that I decided to pull a page out of Cory Gregory's book and lunge for a desired distance. In this case, I chose 400 meters which is no joke. 13 minutes later and my quads are pumping with blood along with some tired hamstrings and glutes.

Three rules to follow when lunging:

1. Make sure those knees are touching the ground so that each leg muscle is utilized.
2. Don't help yourself by pushing off your legs with your hands. Keep them elsewhere!
3. You can stop to catch your breath, but don't cheat by walking in order to shorten the distance you should be lunging.

Dripping sweat outside when the weather is well below freezing was a new feeling for me. So I hustled inside and hit an intense circuit to keep my heart rate up and ride the metabolic boost as long as I could. 

Circuit: 

30 push-ups

15 ab wheel extensions

20 body-weight skull crushers

20 body squats
Once you've completed all these exercises one time... go back and do them again... three more times

For those of you who can make it to a gym today, hit the chest workout posted in yesterday's blog and we will provide another workout for you tomorrow. If you're up for it, go ahead and try what I did today. 

Don't let the holidays squash the gains that you have begun to make. Enjoy the holiday cookies grandma makes, but overindulgence isn't the answer. 

Stay motivated and #GetFit