St. Patrick’s Day is March 17th each year, and was originally a religious holiday celebrated on the death date of St. Patrick (a patron saint of Ireland).  Typically, it is celebrated in the United States with Irish culture/traditions often including a parade, wearing green, music, dancing, and consuming green foods and drinks (especially green beer).  This year, let’s use St. Patrick’s Day to make fitness a focus and make 2024 our healthiest year yet (while still celebrating and having fun)!

80/20 Rule

Everything in moderation is a great motto to live by!  St. Patrick’s Day is known to be a day to overindulge in both food and drink.  Doing that very occasionally is okay.  I like to follow the 80/20 rule (80% of the time eat/drink healthfully and 20% eat/drink what you love — and DON’T stress over it).  With that being said, it can be beneficial to eat healthfully prior to the St. Patrick’s Day Celebration and cleanse after.  In addition, exercising more often than normal that week can prevent weight gain/bloating from overindulging.

Exercise Before You Celebrate 

Healthy St. Patrick's Day 2024

Healthy St. Patrick’s Day 2024

If you are currently working out regularly, we encourage you to challenge some friends to our Fit N Fun Bootcamp Edition on St. Patrick’s Day prior to your festivities.  It is a GREAT way to socialize, and will also challenge you to workout at your highest fitness level.  Our “Challenge Cards” naturally encourage friendly competition, and I typically get a much better workout when I play our bootcamp edition with friends than when I play solo.

Start Slow

If you are new to working out, you can simply do a few exercises from each group of exercises demonstrated on our website.  We show “Balance”, “Core”, “Cardio”, “Upper Body Strength”, and “Lower Body Strength” exercises.  You could begin by doing 1-3 of each exercise in a category and gradually increase the number of reps to build up endurance/strength to workout to the board game.  This is also a GREAT way to learn proper form for each exercise.

St. Patrick’s Day Celebration

St. Patrick’s Day falls on a Sunday in 2024.  Where we celebrate, in Crosslake, Minnesota, they feature the parade/bands/beer tents on Saturday. There is a 5k run at 8:30 am that morning to encourage exercise and community.  We also plan to bring our Fit N Fun Bootcamp Board game and invite our friends and neighbors to play our bootcamp edition after the 5k fun.  This will be a fun, festive and social way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day before heading into the parade.  While I’m sure we will indulge in a few adult beverages and less-than-healthy treats, eating a healthy breakfast and getting in a good workout prior keep us on track for our goal of a healthy 2024!

 

Cheers – Michelle

**Disclaimer:  Please always consult your physician before beginning this or any exercise program.