North Pole Fitness
Every Christmas season, I check in with Mr. and Mrs. Claus to see what’s new or different with their health and fitness activity over the last year. Well, I certainly got an earful from Mrs. Claus regarding a few changes with fitness trends that both she and Santa have been doing this year.
Both Santa and Mrs. Claus have been increasing their free weight regimen lately. With so many studies showing the importance of maintaining muscle mass as we age, Mrs. Claus has become a diligent personal trainer for Santa. Mrs. Claus and I did discuss how imperative it is for older adults to keep their bone density in good condition to avoid osteoporosis. With that in mind, Mrs. Claus is up at 4:00 AM to get her weight training in at least three days a week. Early morning training can make for a tight schedule during the busy holiday season, but she is a very determined person.
Mrs. Claus has been keeping Santa on task to keep up with 10,000 plus steps a day. Santa has been walking and jogging the reindeer five days a week at least five miles each day. Even though the reindeer can fly, they still need exercise and Santa needs to keep his weight down and endurance up for his big trip around the world to deliver all the toys to good girls and boys.
Mrs. Claus started an essential new wellness program at the North Pole this year that is available for all the helpers and elves working in Santas workshop. First thing each morning, the workshop foreman gathers his team together for a 45-minute session of Qigong which means in Chinese “Life Energy Cultivation.” These intense workouts help the elves stay in the very best shape and strengthen their movements, posture and reinforcing the chi energy so they can get the high volume of work done safely and on time for Christmas.
At lunch, Mrs. Claus offers all the workers 30 minutes of quiet time for meditation and mindfulness. Quiet time helps keep everyone’s mind clear and focused on the enormous task at hand. Santa is quick to point out that the overall attitude among all the workshop staff has been cheery and bright during this stressful time of the year.
Santa and Mrs. Claus feel so strongly about health and wellness that in the last two years, they have expanded their after work programs at the North Pole to include healthy nutrition classes. The nutrition classes include vegan, vegetarian, primal and organic whole food cooking courses. These have been very popular with everyone at the North Pole.
I am happy to report that Santa and Mrs. Claus are planning an after Christmas 2018 North Pole marathon and has encouraged all the staff that enjoys running in a competitive way to jump-start their competitive fitness in the new year. Mrs. Claus will also be including a half marathon and 5K race for those at the North Pole that find 26.2 miles a bit much in the snow. Now it will come as no surprise that the full Ironman North Pole has been dropped and will soon only be a half Ironman but with lower attendance, I guess that makes sense.
Since Christmas is this Wednesday, Santa wanted to share a few things on his list this year. Santa tells me it will be another big year for wearable fitness gadgets that will track all your healthy activity. He was a bit surprised with the number of larger fitness items like weight sets, bikes and home gyms he will be delivering. I did ask him about the naughty and nice list and for the most part, the naughty list was pretty short this year. Of course, the usual suspects did make the naughty list and yes, you know who you are.
Overall, it looks to be a great wrap up to 2019 health and wellness at the North Pole and Mrs. Claus is very optimistic that 2020 may be the healthiest year yet at the North Pole. Santa did mention he hopes there will be more fruit and fewer cookies sitting next to the Christmas tree, but he does love those sugar cookies.
Merry Christmas to all!!!