Remember when the government closed gyms while encouraging people to eat takeaways and called it a public health measure?
It is as ridiculous as it sounds.
Almost as ridiculous as getting everyone to wear those creepy masks while indoors under pain of a fine (unless you were eating in a restaurant because viruses only infect people who are standing up, apparently).
Or government ministers arguing over whether or not a scotch egg counts as a “substantial meal” (the immunoprotective qualities of pork and egg remain unknown to this day).
Anyway.
What is not ridiculous is how a lot of people gained a lot of weight, got a lot weaker, and lost a lot of muscle between 2020 and 2022.
That was a travesty, in my humbly correct opinion.
The worst part is, those affected were utterly blameless.
But.
It wouldn’t necessarily have been that way, had they the tools to train efficiently and effectively when access to the gym was sporadic at best (you had to pre-book 45-minute slots at the place I was training at).
Significant progress under such circumstances is unlikely, of course.
That said, you can almost certainly maintain what you have to a large degree and, maybe, build a little confidence and competence in aspects of training that’s hitherto taken a backseat (e.g. bodyweight work, sprinting, etc.).
Why am I telling you this?
While only two weeks long, the period between Christmas and New Year is likely to cause a great deal of disruption to your training schedule.
Potentially to the point that you undo some or even a lot of the hard work you’ve put in this year.
I have known people to jack training in all together over Christmas and not pick things up again until February or beyond, and an unplanned break like that will certainly set you back a Very Long Way.
To mitigate this existential risk, I recommend:
“The Christmas Survival Guide”
This is a 14-day email course backed by my (in)famous “Virtually Unlimited Support” (which entitles you to ask me anything about training and get a swift, specific answer).
It’s £60.
All the info is on the below-linked page.
Please read the whole thing before committing to ensure your decision is a properly informed one.
If you can’t or don’t want to do that, give it a miss.
https://philtyreman.co.uk/xmas/
Thank you,
Phil Tyreman