Tart Cherry Cider

This recipe for Tart Cherry Cider is sponsored by The Cherry Marketing Institute.

I look forward to fall every year. With the hint of briskness in the air, it gets me so excited for the holiday season. It’s a great chance to revamp your routine, tackle those remaining goals or resolutions, and get back in the swing of school routines.

With the impending busy season, it can make it trickier to stick to a healthy lifestyle. I thought I’d share some of my tips for getting the most out of your mornings and routines as the kiddos head back to school and things get a little more hectic.

How to Stick to Your Healthy Lifestyle This Holiday Season

Wake up earlier to work out.

I’ll have to admit, this one is tough for me. I used to be SO GOOD at waking up early to crush a morning workout, and now, I cling onto every last second of sleep that I can. I’m going to make a conscious effort this fall, because I’ve found that on the days I don’t teach, if I don’t get a morning workout, it doesn’t happen. A bonus for early workouts: I don’t realize what I’m doing until it’s almost over haha.

Get A more Effective Workout in Less Time

Even though I’m admittedly terrible at waking up early for fitness, I am pretty good at crushing my workout in the time I do have.

Get to the gym with a plan. Know exactly what you’re going to do when you walk in the doors, so you don’t waste precious sweat time by trying to devise a plan on the spot. If you’re looking for ideas, check out my fitness page or Summer Shape Up!

Circuit train. While I do enjoy traditional hypertrophy training (3-4 sets with rest in between), it’s not the most time-effective strategy. Work in circuits or superset exercises to keep your body moving and your heart rate elevated. Rest in between circuits or supersets.

Add in cardio blasts. If you don’t have time for a traditional strength + cardio workout, intersperse heart-pounding cardio moves with your strength exercises. I like to do quick bodyweight squats, plyometrics, sprints or row intervals for 30 seconds to 1 minute in between strength exercises. 

Do little bits at home. You can absolutely split up your training into smaller bits throughout the day if it works better for your schedule. My favorite method: 10 minutes cardio, 10 minutes strength, 10 minutes core and flexibility.

Here’s a workout that you can split up into pieces if you need to:

Maximize Your Recovery

If you recover properly in between training, it improves fitness gains, minimizes injury, and you’ll feel more energized for your next training session. Some of my favorite recovery tips:

Adopt a smart strength training split so you’re not working the same muscles on consecutive days.This will give the muscles enough time to recover and repair before you break them down again through strength training.

Alternate cardio intensities.Your heart is a muscle, and just like any other muscles in your body, you don’t want to work it to its max every day. Make sure that you have a balance of interval training, easy steady state, short cardio workouts, and longer endurance days in your weekly schedule.

Eat foods that will encourage recovery. One of my very favorites is Montmorency tart cherry juice.

Benefits of Montmorency Tart Cherry Juice

-Studies suggest that Montmorency tart cherry juice can reduce muscle soreness and weakness following intense strength training or a long distance run. A new study demonstrates the impact of Montmorency tart cherries on inflammation and oxidative stress after high-intensity cycling. Cyclists who drank Montmorency tart cherry juice concentrate before a three-day simulated race experienced less inflammation and oxidative stress compared to those who drank another beverage.

-Montmorency tart cherries have a high amount of anthocyanins, which are beautiful in color and have been demonstrated to protect the body against inflammation and various diseases. They can help the body fight inflammation linked to arthritis and gout.

You can check out more details about this power-packed fruit here.

I’ve got a fall-appropriate tart cherry cider recipe for a delicious way to help with your recovery this holiday season!

Tart Cherry Cider Recipe

The deep red hue has always reminded me of mulled wine, and I thought the tart cherry juice would be fantastic with some fall spices. Since tart cherry juice also helps with sleep, this autumn-esque drink is perfect to sip, snuggled up and winding down from the day. Olivia took one sip and said, “It tastes like Christmas.” It totally does.

 

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Let me know if you give it a try! 

How do you plan to stick with your healthy lifestyle this holiday season?

xoxo

Gina

This post is sponsored by my friends at the Cherry Marketing Institute. Thank you so much for your support of this blog. I truly appreciate it.