{"id":336144,"date":"2025-12-10T05:30:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T05:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/336144\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T05:30:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T05:30:10","slug":"just-two-runs-a-week-is-enough-to-maintain-fitness-over-the-festive-period-says-study-but-intensity-is-key","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/336144\/","title":{"rendered":"Just two runs a week is enough to maintain fitness over the festive period, says study \u2013 but intensity is key"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the fridge full, figgy pudding everywhere, the cake tin bursting with festive fare and treats and sweets lying in ambush around every tinselled corner, temptation is never so hot on your heels as it is around Christmas time. Combine that with low motivation during wet weather and cold conditions<\/a> \u2013 not to mention mulled-wine sipping sessions with friends and family \u2013 and it can soon feel like your fitness is sliding downhill quicker than Santa\u2019s sledge on black ice at the tail end of the year. But what if there was a simple way to keep in reasonable shape over the holidays, without having to do anything too horrendous (like saying no to helpings of brandy butter)? <\/p>\n

According to a recent study<\/a>, there is. It found that \u2018endurance performance can be maintained for up to 15 weeks when training frequency is reduced to as little as two sessions per week or when exercise volume is reduced by 33-66% (as low as 13-26 minutes per session) as long as intensity is maintained\u2019. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s even better news for strength. The study determined that \u2018strength and muscle size (at least in younger populations) can be maintained for up to 32 weeks with as little as one session of strength training per week, as long as exercise intensity is maintained\u2019. If you\u2019re an older runner, the research suggests that you may need to do two strength sessions a week to maintain muscle. <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the takeaway for runners: exercise intensity seems to be the key variable for maintaining physical performance over time, even if you significantly reduce the frequency and volume. <\/p>\n

The science of detraining<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t stress if family commitments, festive travel plans, social occasions or old-fashioned over-indulgence occasionally \u2018force\u2019 you into an otherwise unplanned break from your running routine. You really don\u2019t need to worry about muscle atrophy or any loss of fitness whatsoever if you\u2019re just taking a few days off over Christmas. <\/p>\n

As Tom Craggs<\/a>, running coach and National Endurance Manager with England Athletics, expertly explains<\/a>, three to five days without a single run might leave you feeling a little stodgy, but it\u2019s mostly in your mind. Such micro breaks don\u2019t result in any negative impact to your cardiovascular or muscular fitness \u2013 your VO\u2082 max<\/a> and cardiac output will remain the same. In fact, you might even get a bit stronger, especially if you have been training hard in the build-up to the festive period, because your body will see the recovery time as a Christmas gift. <\/p>\n

Following five or more days of zero exercise, some small physiological changes do start happening, including a drop in blood plasma volume and a decrease in your cardiac output, which means less oxygenated blood will be reaching your muscles. After 10 to 14 days of inactivity, some effects of detraining<\/a> do kick in: your VO\u2082 max might dip by as much as 5%, your cardiac muscle may even shrink a bit and your body will become slightly less efficient in several ways, including how it uses glycogen. <\/p>\n

Still, don\u2019t panic. All these alarming-sounding changes are quickly reversible once you start running again \u2013 it just means that you will feel slightly sluggish during the first few outings. But if you don\u2019t want to start 2026 on the back foot, it\u2019s not hard to avoid this happening \u2013 the trick is simple: just keep those legs turning every few days.<\/p>\n

Make it social, make it fun <\/p>\n

The words \u2018planning\u2019 and \u2018commitment\u2019 do a lot of heavy lifting here. You are not alone in worrying about your waistline and fitness levels over Christmas, so the best way to tackle the problem is to do it together. Make some firm promises with running buddies that will get you out and about on the trails or tarmac in the days immediately prior to Christmas Eve, then again on those easy-to-lose days in between Boxing Day and New Year\u2019s Day. <\/p>\n

Commit to meeting on certain days \u2013 twice a week, at an agreed time \u2013 and stick to those plans no matter what the weather is doing. Then, make it fun. Stick on a hat or a pair of reindeer antlers and plan routes that take you around the streets with the best Christmas lights, or along paths that pass the most berry-laden holly trees. Pause for selfies or even stop for a hot chocolate or other refreshments mid-run. <\/p>\n

Running clubs are excellent at organising such things, but you can simply pair up with a partner and do it, or go solo if you prefer. If you don\u2019t have anyone to go with, it can really help to simply designate two running days per week over the Christmas period and mark them on your event calendar (to counterbalance the advent calendar). <\/p>\n

Punctuate these two days of running with a strength and condition session<\/a>, either at the gym or at home. As runners, it\u2019s tempting to concentrate on conditioning the lower body to keep leg muscles in shape, but core and upper body strength training<\/a> is excellent for maintaining fitness and form when you\u2019re not running as regularly as normal. Mixed routines are easy to do in DIY fashion at home, by combining exercises such as squats, hip hinges, lunges, steps training, push up and pull ups. Again, don\u2019t rely on doing such sessions if and when you feel like it (which might be never) \u2013 mark them on your calendar and be strict with yourself. <\/p>\n

Related Story<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the fridge full, figgy pudding everywhere, the cake tin bursting with festive fare and treats and sweets…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":336145,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[49,48,4671,147616,784,407,84,783,147615,147614],"class_list":{"0":"post-336144","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-content-type-default","11":"tag-contentid-4b60a673-386a-481b-9e6f-21166560e90a","12":"tag-displaytype-standard-article","13":"tag-fitness","14":"tag-health","15":"tag-locale-gb","16":"tag-says-study-but-intensity-is-key","17":"tag-shorttitle-just-two-runs-a-week-is-enough-to-maintain-fitness-over-the-festive-period"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/336145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}