Thanksgiving dinner is over. You wander off to bed exhausted from the tryptophan heavy turkey and cranberry wine. You wake up the next morning, peek outside, and see your neighbors hoisting up Christmas decorations. Christmas already?! Meanwhile, you’re still working on digesting the last serving of sweet potatoes.
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Let’s face it, Fall barely exists as Winter’s dreary presence looms from the second the leaves start turning. The holiday season moves quickly, and however beautiful and memorable each year may be, it also comes with stressors. One of the more difficult, and less talked about stressor that plagues us all during the holiday season is our health habits or lack thereof.
Time changes causing sleep issues, excess treats around the home, holiday office parties, family visiting, traveling, and temperature drops that make hibernating oh so inviting…the odds are against us. That New Year’s health resolution looks like it’s going to be weight loss…again.
It’s that time of year again where we are all quietly dealing with the aforementioned chain of issues. While Aunt Sally is surely making her famous Minced Meat Pie, you can do your part to make the holidays a little less gluttonous. How? By giving others (or yourself) you care for some health & fitness related gifts! Show your thoughtfulness while simultaneously solving the problem of figuring out great Christmas gift ideas.
Fitness & Health Christmas Gifts shouldn’t be viewed as an affront or too personal, but rather a truly caring gesture. Let me run down 5 great options for health & fitness Christmas gifts.
- Personal Training, Massage, Registered Dietician – For the sake of ease, I will group these 3 together. A gift certificate for any of these is a fantastic health & christmas gift. Whether you are someone who already partakes in self-care and can add to it, or someone who would never think to, this is so thoughtful. Getting the chance to build a fitness routine and ask an expert questions, having the opportunity for total relaxation or strategizing a nutrition game-plan are all wonderful wellness holiday treats.
- Resistance Bands – My second favorite fitness toy. Resistance bands come in various weights and are very inexpensive. You can do ANY exercise imaginable; Standing Chest Press, Bicep Curls, Rows, Tricep Extensions, etc. They fold up into a nice neat small package for travel or even simply shifting from exercising outside to your house. You can wrap them around a bedpost, staircase column, or simply put up a small hook in the room of your choice. You can see the exact brand I recommend on my Skipwish Fitness Christmas List. I highly recommend avoiding bands that do not have an outside casing. This casing ensures an anti-snap system which prevents harm to the user in case of a break.
- TRX Suspension Trainer – My favorite fitness toy. I have 3 different TRX certifications. I have taught group fitness classes using only TRX suspension trainers that included a Professional Golfer and an 81 year old man in the same class.The range of exercises span as far as you can imagine. Using your bodyweight and angles, you can make the same exercise exponentially easier or more difficult. They have a great YouTube exercise tutorial. It also folds up into a small neat travel bag. You can purchase a version that has a special door mount that is very household friendly. The standard version works best with a ceiling mount which is a little more involved. However, you can get creative. I have even used the TRX in parks thrown over a tree branch. They have all sorts of guarantees when purchasing concerning the life of the product.
- Air Fryer – Ok, hear me out! We are all starting on different parts of our health & fitness journeys. Going from 0-60 is a bad idea in almost all cases. Baby steps will be the key to succeeding in building better health habits. We all know eating vegetables is a great way to start becoming healthier. Air Fryer can be the lesser of evils and a happy medium when it comes to how we cook our food. It’s a much faster way to cook vegetables than our ovens, and it helps keep nutrients far better than nuking.
- Thermos – A thermos can be your best friend when you develop the habit of drinking water regularly. Everyone knows drinking water is good for you. Hydration is great for the skin, overall energy, and losing weight. Calorically, there is a subtraction by addition feature wherein filling up on water means you won’t fill up on something else. Then why don’t we all do it?! The key to successfully conquering health habits is making the process as easy as possible. That ensures we are more likely to stick to it, clinically it’s called adherence. Easy is a relative term, and what is easy for me could be difficult for you. I have found 3 great ways to get my clients to drink more water regardless of their personalities or barriers:
- The Bro Gallon Jug: Yes. I am THAT guy. I drink an entire gallon of water that I lug around with me all day. I need the visual of seeing the amount I started with and where I am at during the day. It’s a game, and it works for me…maybe it will for you.
- Mini Bottles: For those who find it difficult to remember to drink or drink a lot in one sitting, I recommend buying the 4oz smaller bottles of water. You can set a timer every 2 hours on a watch or phone and down an entire mini on each alarm.
- Thermos: This seems to be the clear favorite for most regular water drinkers. Buying an expensive thermos means you’ll want to make use of it. You can personalize it and it becomes an accessory of sorts, maybe even your friend! You look for it when you wake up, it drives with you to work, sits on your desk reminding you to drink, and it’s the last thing you see before bed as you take a swig and leave it on your nightstand.
Here you can find the list of Fitness & Health Christmas gifts above. You can design your own Christmas lists or lists for any occasion using the Skipwish registry for FREE.
Looking for more Christmas gift ideas for him? Make sure to check out this post.
Steve Washuta, Author of Fitness Business 101, Host of The TrulyFit Podcast, and Co-Owner of Skipwish Registry.
Listen to Camille’s episode here on balancing motherhood and business:
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Hello! I am Camille, a wife, mother of four, Disney obsessed, certified teacher, and believer in creating your best momlife the way you see fit. Motherhood comes with its ups and downs, my hope is you’ll find something here to make your life a little better/easier. Let’s be friends on social!
