There are exercise routines to cover the 12 days of Christmas, and then there is the 12 Days of Fitness routines.
One of these things is not like the other and if you choose to take it on as your silly season training, you’ll be in for a serious workout.
What are 12 Days of Fitness?
Well, we all know the song: ‘On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree,’ and so on and so on. Well, this fitness version replaces ‘ladies dancing’ and ‘maids a milking’ with ‘exercisers a lunging.’
The exercises are as follows:
1 fifteen second plank, 2 clapping push-ups, 3 sit-ups, 4 squats, 5 knee raises, 6 lunges, 7 jumping jacks, 8 upper body twists, 9 push-ups, 10 burpees, 11 hip raises, 12 standing calf raises.
How does it work?
The general idea is this: You build your exercises layer by layer in the same way the song does.
On the first day of Fitness, a trainer gave to me, 1 fifteen second plank.
On the second day of Fitness, a trainer gave to me, 2 clapping push-ups and 1 fifteen second plank.
On the third day of Fitness, a trainer gave to me, 3 sit-ups, 2 clapping push-ups and 1 fifteen second plank.
Try as you might, it doesn’t quite work as well as the original lyrics. It does, however, work extremely well as a short, sharp Christmas cake remover.
The exercises – Check out our Instagram daily for complete demonstration!
We’ve deliberately given you fairly familiar ones to save a lot of Googling and messing around. But just in case there are any you’re not sure of, here are quick overviews of each.
Day 1: Plank
It’s basically a push-up stance, but on your elbows, with your shoulders stacked directly over the elbows, back straight, legs straight, toes pointed. Hold for 15 seconds.
Day 2: Clapping push-up
A round of applause if you’re still clapping them out on the 12th day of your routine, this is a normal push-up with one difference: push up as hard and possible and clap your hands fast before slapping them back in the original position and down again.
Day 3: Sit-ups
On your back, knees bent, arms across chest, raise your upper body until your elbows touch your thighs.
Day 4: Squats
Hips back, back straight, squat to a horizontal upper leg keeping your knees in line with your feet.
Day 5: Knee raises
Basically a high knee march. Raise your right knee to your left elbow, your left knee to your right elbow. That’s one.
Day 6: Lunges
Upper body straight, step/lunge forward until both knees are at around 90 degrees.
Day 7: Star jumps
Start feet together, arms at sides. Jump to a wide foot position, arms overhead. That’s one.
Day 8: Russian Twist
Sit with our torso leaning back at a 45-degree angle, knees bent, and your feet elevated off the ground. From this starting position rotate your shoulders to the left and right in a twisting motion.
Day 9: Push-ups
'Hands slightly wider than your shoulders, back straight, down you go and up you come.
Day 10: Burpees
From a stand, drop to a squat and place hands flat on the floor, kick feet back to a plank. Kick feet back in, hands still on floor and jump back to a stand, hands high. That’s one.
Day 11: Hip raises
On your back, arms wide for support, push your hips off the floor until your body is a straight line from shoulders to knees. Down again and that’s one.
Day 12: Standing calf raises
Standing on the edge of a step, raise your heels a few inches, hold a few seconds and back to horizontal.
Merry Christmas!
Don’t Forget to check out our Instagram daily for complete demonstration!
