Fitness & Exercise Community

Hi Everyone.

Last January, right after Christmas, one of Santa's elves went on WebMD and found the Fitness and Exercise Community. Santa has connections and so the elf got my contact information and called to tell me that Santa was very sore and complained of lack of strength while delivering toys last Christmas. The elf told me that this is the first Christmas that Santa had a hard time. I was asked if I would set the big guy up with a training program so that this coming Christmas he'd have a better time of it. Of course I agreed to help. I mean really, how can you say no to Santa? So here's the plan I developed.

I used the specificity of training principle. That is, I analyzed the movements that Santa performs on Christmas Eve. Basically, I looked at his long night as a sporting event and developed a sport-specific training plan.

Here's the plan:
Aerobic exercise (with oxygen). He needs endurance since he has to be in tip-top shape to stay up all night, plus all that ho-ho-hoeing can be draining on the diaphragm and the other breathing muscles (i.e., intercostal muscles between the ribs). I set up a gradual aerobic exercise plan (cardio) that included walking and rowing. Walking for weight-bearing exercise to keep his legs toned and to keep his general energy and his mood up (can't have an unhappy Santa); rowing because he sits in the sleigh and he needs back and arm muscles to control the reins and keep Rudolph on track. I started him with 15-20 minutes (since he'd been sedentary most of the year), 4-5 days a week, alternating walking and rowing (he could walk and row on the same day if he liked). The progression was adding 2-3 minutes every week until he got to 40 minutes (5 minute warm-up, 30 minute workout, 5 minute cool-down), and he was to keep his heart rate between 130 and 140 beats per minute. I wanted to calculate his target heart rate using his age, but given his age you could see the problems with that. So 130-140 bpm seemed reasonable. He had a heart rate monitor left over from gifts that weren't delivered the previous year, so he used that.

Anaerobic Exercise (without oxygen). Anaerobic training is activity like sprinting. It means you get out of breath within a couple minutes. It's important for Santa to be anaerobically fit for those moments of adrenaline rush when he has to avoid a flying comet or he has to hustle back up the chimney because a child is coming downstairs early to look for gifts. I chose intervals on the bike for this training. I didn't want weight-bearing exercise such as jogging because Santa's BMI is kind of high and I didn't want to risk injury from the pounding (you hit the ground with 3-4 times your body weight when you jog). I figured the bike would give him the best anaerobic workout and it would be easy on his joints.

Resistance Exercise. For all the resistance exercises, I started him out with weight that he could lift 12-15 reps to fatigue, 2-3 sets, 3 days a week, with a day of rest in between. I had the elves spot him to make sure his form was good, and I asked Mrs. Claus to make sure he got out of bed for his morning workout.

Here are the sport-specific resistance exercises I selected.

Dead-lift. Nothing mimics Santa bending over to put toys beneath the tree than the motion of a dead-lift. Bicycles and wagons can be heavy, so Santa needs to be ready. Thus dead-lifts are a must.

Side Bends and Torso Rotations. He needs these exercises because he has to carry the toy bag and throw it over his shoulder. We got him a cable cross-over machine (for Xmas) and I suggested he set it up with the pulley about half way up and stand perpendicular to the machine, and then with one handle in his hand, reach over his head and bend sideways. Then for the rotations he keeps the handle chest high and rotates his torso across his body. He repeats for each arm.