Enjoy the festive season, but let's try not to regress to a similar shape as our merry friend here!

Don’t let your fitness wither like an unwatered Christmas tree this festive season!

Christmas is an important time of the year for most of us. It’s a chance to relax and spend time with the family, meet up with friends and generally have a great time.

But there can also be a bit of a mixed blessing about this time of year. Exercise tends to grind to a juddering halt, overeating and overindulging becomes the norm, and our health tends to sink through the floor. This inevitably leads to the  yearly, oft-repeated New Year Resolutions of ‘need to lose weight’, ‘going to get fit’ etc.

Why not break out of that cycle this year, and beat everyone else to the punch by making a pre-resolution to get fit… and stay fit over the holidays?

Just imagine:

• no need to make up for all that damage caused by overdoing it
• start 2012 on a real positive note
• achieve even more in January by having a solid base to work from

Sounds attractive huh? Now I’m aware some of you may be sitting reading this and saying to yourselves: “But Alasdair, I don’t want to cut back on having a good time at Christmas, it’s one of the only things that I enjoy about winter!”  

That’s fair enough, I’m not asking you to be a saint, I’m not actually asking you to do anything – I’m merely suggesting a strategy you might like to try, in order to feel healthier come January 1st (or maybe 2nd, realistically!). To help you along the way, I’ve included some words of wisdom below:

TO INSPIRE: You drown not by falling into the river, but by staying submerged in it. – Paolo Coelho (it’s never too late to make that change)

ENJOY, DON’T ABUSE: One bad day is not going to ruin your whole plan. If you decide to indulge, don’t feel guilty – enjoy it. Just make sure that the next day, you get back on track with a workout or healthy meal. Life is all about balance.

FOCUS: When you’re interested in something, you do it when it’s convenient. When you’re committed, you accept no excuses; only results.

PLAN FOR SUCCESS: Resolutions shouldn’t only be for New Year. Start making weekly or monthly goals and work towards them. Be accountable to yourself and your own motivation will rise as you accomplish that which is important to you.

DON’T BE A FAIR WEATHER GOLFER: Think on your feet when planning your exercise sessions. Scottish winters are not known for their easy-going nature and this time of year can lead to lots of easy excuses being trotted out. Always have a fall-back in case your 3 mile run looks like turning into a short skate around the cul-de-sac.

FACE UP TO YOUR DEMONS: In our lives, we have two or three opportunities to be a hero, but almost every day, we have the opportunity not to be a coward.