Stay Active with Your Loved Ones This Holiday Season: Here’s How

Pam, Team Copper Fit

Most of us need help staying on track with our health and fitness over the holidays. The holidays are a great time to enjoy good food, yummy snacks and extra sweets with friends and family! As we all know, the holidays can be stressful so, it's important to move our bodies for the right reasons and take care of our mental and physical health.

Colder weather and shorter days make us want to get cozy and curl up on the couch at night - not hit the gym. This holiday, make sure you take the time to move too!

We’ve got some great ideas for staying active and connecting with your loved ones while you do. You will also reduce stress and increase your energy levels while strengthening connections. Check out our favorite activities to ramp up the fun and keep you moving during the holidays.

Here are Ten Ways to Stay Active This Holiday Season, Together:

Walk and enjoy! The holidays are the perfect time to take a family stroll. In the fall, the leaves change, and the air is crisp and cool. It’s the ideal after-turkey activity on Thanksgiving! Make it a nightly routine to stroll and look at the lights when your neighborhood's holiday decorations go up. Pick different neighborhoods each evening. Walking has a significant impact, too! Walks are a great way to keep the pounds away and keep your mind clear, 10,000 steps a day can be just as effective as completing five 30-minute workouts each week. Don’t let discomfort keep you sidelined from the family stroll. Copper Fit Energy Compression Socks help reduce swelling, improve foot and leg comfort, and make movement more manageable.

Family games are the way to go. A friendly game of touch football is a turkey day activity that creates memories with lots of laughs along the way. The best way to work out is to have fun doing it! Is football not your thing? There are so many outdoor games that all ages can enjoy together - try volleyball, capture the flag or even hide and seek. Check out some other outdoor family games here.

Take advantage of season-specific activities. Fall weather is perfect for hiking. The weather is cool, the crowds have subsided, and nature is at its most glorious, bursting with color. When the weather turns to winter, make sure to enjoy the family fun of ice skating and sledding. Both are great cardio, and ice skating works just about every muscle group in the body and works on joint flexibility.

Ready, Set, Run (or walk)! Turkey trot, anyone? Holiday fun runs are the perfect way to work out together - everyone can choose their level of intensity. They are usually 5Ks (3.1 miles), and walking is just fine. From babies in strollers to older adults, fun runs bring everyone together, so invite the extended family and the neighbors and make it a tradition. Don’t let aches and pains keep you off the course. Copper Fit’s ICE Compression Knee Sleeve is infused with micro-encapsulated menthol and designed to provide more support and help temporarily relieve muscle and joint aches and pains. It helps with relief AND recovery.

Get organized. Extra time off from work around the holidays is perfect for getting your house in order before the new year. Clean out a few closets, get into the attic - maybe even paint a room! Big jobs around the house mean the bonus of being on the move all day - sometimes using muscles you haven't used for a while. Make sure to protect your body while you’re at it. Copper Fit Advanced Back Pro offers compression and support while you lift, move, and reach all day long, allowing for a full range of motion while helping to support lower back muscles. The four built-in stabilizing rods are designed to reduce stress and strains in the lumbar region. So plan on taking on that big project; you’ll be glad you did!

Shop (and walk) til you drop! Are you heading to the mall? Wear your comfortable shoes and turn on your step tracker; you’ll be amazed at how much you end up walking. Take a few laps before buying anything to hit your fitness goals. Being indoors on a cold day will ensure you exercise with no excuses. Plus - there’s festive music and decor all around!

Happy grooving! Dance it out. A family dance party puts everyone in a good mood. Create a playlist that you can’t help but get up and move to. Or maybe a list of upbeat holiday hits is what you need so you feel motivated to get up and clean the house. Here are a few classics to get you started: Mariah Carey’s “All I want for Christmas (Is You)” and “Santa Claus is coming to Town” by the Jackson 5.

Host a family game tournament. Whether it’s cornhole, badminton, or volleyball - pick a day, create brackets and decide on fun prizes—a perfect way to bring neighbors together or for large family gatherings.

Yard work with a reward! Get the whole family involved, and make outside chores fun. Rake the leaves into a giant pie - then jump in! Shovel the snow off the driveway and promise the kids that you can build a snowman when the job's done. Hang the holiday lights together, and finish with a big cup of hot chocolate. If everyday tasks create painful joint stiffness in your wrists, palms, and fingers, wear Copper Fit Hand Relief Compression Gloves. They provide support, relief, and recovery from pain.

Pay it forward. Sign up for a community service project, the more active, the better. Clean up a local park, dish out a holiday meal, or help a food pantry organize and distribute food. Helping others helps your family, too - research shows that people who consistently help others experience less depression, greater calm, fewer pains, and better health.

Decide to have an active holiday season this year. Focus on activities you enjoy- and a healthy holiday season will be easy! Turn to Copper Fit for the support you need to stay active.