There are a couple of key points to consider.  Portion control, proper food choices, and exercise are the keys to getting through this holiday season without gaining any fat.  So I wanted to share with you some of my Healthy Holiday Tips to help you get through this time of year.

1. Exercise! Seems pretty simple but it’s true.  One of the reasons why people gain weight after these food filled holidays is because they skip their workout.  You must making your workout and exercise a priority during this time of year.  For example, Thank Giving morning you should get up and workout!  That way you know that have you burned enough calories to enjoy some of your favorite foods.  Pop in that P90X, Insanity, TurboFire or Asylum dvd and get to it!  You can even do your workout close to your event so you can indulge and use the meal as a recovery meal after your intense workout.

2.  Focus on protein. If you are currently doing P90X and want to keep your results coming then you can get through these holidays by focusing on protein first.  Those of you who are currently in your 90 days will want to base your plates around the protein.  Turkey on Thanksgiving is a great protein source.  You can eat the veggies and protein and get a healthy meal.

3.  Choose your carbs wisely. If you are looking to indulge, then pick and choose your carbs based on what you really want to consume and what you can do without.  I am not a huge Mashed Potato fan so I will go after the dessert instead.  Portion control is key.  Make sure you aren’t having double portions of potatoes then having 3 slices of pie on top of your 3 holiday drinks.  Watch those carbs and use portion control.

4.  Watch out for those Liquid Calories. Alcoholic holiday drinks are notorious for being extremely high in calories…so watch out!  Think of your beverages as part of your daily carb allotment. Again, if your going to indulge in drinks then cool it on the bread, potatoes and dessert.  Are you seeing a trend here?

5.  Drink your water people! We often tend to think we are hungry when we are actually just dehydrated.  Drinking plenty of water will help you with the sodium laden foods and will also keep you feeling fairly full during the day so you don’t go crazy when you eat.

6.  Get back to it! Just because it’s the holidays doesn’t mean that you can skip your workouts, healthy eating and fitness program.  After you go to a holiday part or have a Thanksgiving meal then get right back to your program the next day.  Healthy food choices, exercise and consistency will take you extremely far, even if you do happen to indulge a little too much the day before.  So get right back on the horse and use those extra calories for a great workout the next day as well!

Those are a few healthy holiday tips for ya.  I hope that helps you get through this holiday season without losing your health and fitness goals.  But I also want to hear from you!  Do you have any healthy holiday tips to share?  Please comment and let me know and I will update this post with more tips!

Pullups

So how do you increase your pullup strength?  Below are a few easy tips to think about when going through P90X, Asylum, P90X2 or any other fitness program.  Pullups are one of my favorite exercises, and easily my favorite back exercise.  If you want to get stronger, have those ripped lats and back then use these tips below.

How To Improve Pullups

1.  Don’t Avoid Them! I can’t tell you how many times I hear people say that they can’t do pullups so they don’t do them at all.  You only get good at things you do often.  You can’t expect to go play a sport without practice…the same goes for pullups.  Some people also think that you can use a lat pull down machine instead as well.  But again, you can only progress so far that way.   In order to get better at pullups you must practice.  Even if it means only doing a couple. Each time you do them you will improve a little bit.  Make it a goal to try to do 1 more pullup than last time.

For the advanced: Every time you walk past your pullup bar during the day try to do as many as you can.  This allows you to do more than just your max.  For example, if you can do 8 pullups then try to do 6-7 each time you walk by your bar.  If you do this 5x during that day then you have done 30-35 extra pullups!

But what if you can’t do any?  Well try your best and forget the rest.  “Don’t say you can’t, say I presently struggle with”, and move onto number 2.

2.  Do Assisted Pullups! There is a great new tool in the P90X arsenal that you can use to increase your pullups that is MUCH better than a chair.  The Chin Up Max Band Assist! I have been talking about this thing a lot lately and it’s for good reason.  I was first introduced to it during the rehearsals for P90X2.  I was amazed how well it worked, and how simple of a concept it was.  The Chin Up Max is a resistance band that is only made to help you with pull ups.  It has a hook on one end and a food stirrup on the other.  All you have to do is hook it on your pull up bar, put your foot into the stirrup and pull away!  The beauty about this thing is it forces you to use good form and engages all the correct muscle groups, assisting your pullups enough to where you are still gaining strength.  I like this better than the chair because with the chair you tend to use your legs way to much to assist.  The Chin Up Max is a great tool for anyone who wants to get more pullup reps.

For the advanced: I have been using it to do some pullup drop sets.  So I go for my max on my pullup reps without any assistance, and I then use the Chin Up Max to help get another few reps.  This has helped me use proper form and really get the most out of my pullup endurance without having to kip and lose my tempo.

3.  Use Proper Form and Tempo! As I have gone through my P90X journey these last couple years I have found that form is king and tempo is queen.  You need to use proper form and tempo to get the most out of all body weight exercises.  Pullups are no exception.  The the longest time I thought that adding weight was number one when in actuality I was hindering my pullup strength by not following the number one rule, to use good form.  I started upping my weight via a weighted vest and my ego got in the way.  I wanted my rep count to go up so I started to kip more and more.  It wasn’t until this last round of P90X that I decided to drop the weighted vest completely and take my ego out of it.  I used perfect form on each pullup exercise and my reps dropped significantly.  As I continued to use proper form and controlled tempo, my reps started to increase and so did my strength.  I was able to break through plateaus at the beach workout because of this key element.

Proper Form and Tempo:  Proper from is going all the way down so your using full range of motion and all the way up so your chin is over the bar.  Don’t sell yourself short here.  I see a ton of guys only going half way down and going back up.  Full range of motion is key.  Your tempo should be a explosive movement to get your chin over the bar, pause for a split second at the top then a controlled “2 count” on the way back down.  That is 1 rep.  Do this and watch your pullup strength improve over time! Here is a video taken of me at the beach workout with Tony Horton and crew, during our warm up round for a reference.

4.  Add Variation! This is what is great about P90X and P90X2.  Your not just doing pullups and chin ups.  Your doing switch grip pullups and closed grip pullups, corn cobs and towel pullups.  Adding variation is crucial.  P90X2 takes this to a whole new level.  You will see some awesome pullup variations that aren’t in P90X.  Again, you have to use good form.  You can’t do these moves sloppy…if you can’t do them with good form then go to tip number 2 and buy the Chin Up Max so you can! Below is a pic of me doing a Lever Pull Up.

5.  If you follow 1-4 then you can now Add Weight! This is for the advanced fitness guru who wants to continue to break plateaus.  Adding weight is great for any body weight exercise.  You can do this very easily with a weighted vest or by holding a medicine ball between your legs.  The one thing you MUST do is use proper form and tempo.  My biggest mistake was not following proper form when I added weight.  I started Kipping way to much to get more reps.  This forced me to plateau.  If you can follow tips 1-4 then you can add weight and continue to get strong!

Do you currently struggle with Pullups?  Are these Tips Helpful?  Comment and let us know!