How to combat the effects of festive feasting

It's that time of year again - festivities galore, rich food a plenty and free flowing alcohol. Throw in plenty of lazy days being couch potatoes and suddenly you have a recipe for disaster...in terms of fitness.

So what's the answer?

Well there are many alternatives to the above debauchery but one simple addition which would counteract some of the damage being done is to RUN!

But not the kind of running that you may be used to - the vast majority of people that think they are runners are actually not, in fact they are joggers. So what's the difference? Huge. Jogging is a hybrid form of locomotion and not at all natural. Apart from being very injurious due to the shock of landing on your heels, it is also metabolically very efficient.

What does that mean?

In simple terms, jogging is a speeded up version of walking - walking is a very efficient way of getting around in as much as it doesn't burn very many calories and doesn't increase your metabolism (i.e. the speed at which you burn calories). Thus jogging doesn't burn many calories!

Conversely running (with a biomechanically correct technique) will boost your metabolism and burn a shed load of calories even when you are crashed out on the sofa recovering from yet another day of Christmas dinner left-overs.

So your best option if you are planning to switch over to the dark side for a couple of weeks is to learn how run the barefoot way and practice all through the festive holidays.

If that's not gonna happen, at least you know that you have a plan to fall back on. If things go awry with the mince pies just get in touch with your nearest VivoBarefoot Certified Coach in the New Year and make 2012 the year you finally get lean and reveal your six pack!

For more details on boosting your metabolism through improving running technique, contact Jonno now!