Year after year Santa trains for and dominates his 24 hour Christmas Eve marathon! Yet, it hasn’t always been easy for Santa and over the years he too has encountered his fair share of aches and pains. So how then does Santa keep himself fit and prepare himself for the silly season?
It’s all in the preparation
Firstly, Santa has a great understanding of training principles and how to prepare himself come Christmas Eve. Throughout the year he practices delivering presents (often reported as UFO’s sightings) over shorter distances in preparation. He uses the 10% principle in that he doesn’t increase his exercise load by more than 10% each week. By doing so he significantly lowers the risk of developing injuries.
The same goes for you! Christmas and New Years is a time when a lot of people start exercising more as a part of their new year resolutions. This is a fantastic step towards improving your health! But remember to gradually reintroduce exercise to reduce the likelihood of sustaining injuries. Initially, it is better to do too little than too much as your body adapts.
Keep Moving
Similarly, for those who are already training it is important to keep active over the Christmas and New Year period. This doesn’t necessarily have to take the form of structured exercise and can include activities such as swimming, surfing or walking.
Keep the body moving so that when you return to your training regime your body hasn’t completely deconditioned. This will greatly reduce your chances of injury once you start training again!
Be careful lifting!
Unfortunately, despite the most stringent training programs accidents and injuries still do happen (even to Santa)! A few years ago Santa injured his back a week before Christmas Eve. With some hands-on physiotherapy and some exercises Santa was able to get himself ready for the big day. The assessment by the Physiotherapist revealed that his poor lifting technique may have been the culprit! With some practice using the correct technique his back has never felt better!
The same applies to you. Did you know that over 54,000 individuals in the United States sustained injuries in the 2010 festive season as a result of carrying luggage! Avoid twisting as you are carrying heavy loads. If something is too heavy it is okay to ask someone to help you out. Many hands make light work!
Hopefully this article has given you some tips on staying fit and injury free over the festive season. On behalf of the team at Foundation Clinic we would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
