You have probably heard of holiday health and fitness challenges with the titles like “Maintain Don’t Gain” or “Holiday Survival”.  I used to like these programs. Heck I even used to help design these types of challenges when I worked in population health management.  Don’t get me wrong, I still like the general concept of these challenges where the objective is to help the participant engage in more healthy behaviours during the holidays than they maybe normally would.  For example many of them award credit of some sort to the participant to exercise a certain number of days per week, or avoid too many sweet treats, for example.  But I am beginning to wonder if there is an inherent problem with the mindset behind these.  It seems that there is an assumption of an excuse to fall off the wagon built in: “Well it’s the holidays, and you know it’s going to be crazy with the stress, excess drinking, travel, over-eating, and lack of exercise”.  The thought of “maintaining” or “surviving” could be viewed as an accomplishment I suppose, especially if you really struggle during this time of year.  But I would argue that this is the wrong attitude.  You might say that these are just catchy names of holiday challenges but I think there is more to it than that.  I think we have to rewire our thoughts around holiday health.  I have a different challenge for you this year.  Let’s not maintain our health during the holidays. Let’s not just survive during the holidays.  Let’s progress our health during the holidays! I know it may seem challenging, or even impossible,  but if you try my tips I am about to share I think you will have a great shot at coming out of the holidays healthier than you went in.  The name of the challenge is the Extra BOOST Holiday Wellness Challenge!  Let’s jump into the tips and how the challenge works.1. Strength TrainingThose who know me understand this one is non-negotiable.  Since you can do a full body strength workout anywhere, anytime, with little or no equipment, in less than 30 minutes, there is no excuse in not getting this in.  Full body training 3 times per week is preferred as you maximise recovery and volume. Full body training versus split muscle group training is still debated in the fitness industry.  My article on full body versus split group training is easily my most hit page on the myboosthealth.com website on a daily basis.  I included a few studies that show benefits of full body training over split group training include better hormone regulation, more calories burned, and more muscular hypertrophy.  Also if you are someone who misses workouts, this guarantees you hit all your major muscle groups each week.  Since we are making progress this holiday season, this is critical.2 . Merge Tradition with HealthI love tradition with the holidays. I have probably even over-romanticised them a bit ever since I was a kid.  I would remember favourite events from previous years and want everything to go the exact same way each season, which we all know is an impossible dream. For example, every year my dad and I would cook a turkey together at Thanksgiving.  We would grill it outside, and the temperature in Kansas that time of year is usually pretty chilly.  We would fight wind and even snow sometimes.  This would lead to something, that would normally take 3 hours in an oven, to an all day outdoor extravaganza.  As you might imagine this led to some pretty good adventures and stories.  My dad passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2006 but I continued the tradition as best I could since then.  Even after I switched to a plant-based diet 5 ...