The holiday season is now upon us. This is the time of the year when you gain extra weight and don't care because you have all of next year to "be healthy". Unfortunately, this is not always the case but as Vinnie Tortorich, a well-known podcast personality and celebrity fitness coach says, "It’s not what you eat between Christmas and New Year’s, it’s what you eat between New Year’s and Christmas." So feel free to pig out and indulge a little bit. To help you maintain your fitness levels year round, I wanted to give you 1 fitness tip you can use while you're hanging out at home to make sure you don't stay too stagnant and get some exercise in between lifting the beer can.

Pull Up Bars

Purchase a pull-up bar and hang it up by the bathroom or bedroom. You should make a habit of doing some pull-ups every time you pass by the bathroom or bedroom. If you can't do pull-ups, there are many simple exercises you can do to work your way up to a pull-up.

• Hanging on the bar. By hanging on the pull-up bar, you are increasing your grip strength as well as improving your shoulder mobility and range. Many people have corrected their shoulder problems by merely hanging on the bar regularly. Watch this youtube video to learn about more benefits of hanging on a pull-up bar.
• Knee-ups, knees-to-elbows and toes-to-bar. By hanging on the bar and raising your knees, you're strengthening your core muscles like your lower abs and obliques. If this sounds too easy, try raising your knees to your elbows. If this too sounds too easy for a beast like yourself, then try touching your toes to your elbows.
• Pull-ups and Chin-ups. In order to mix things up, you may want to try different variations of pull ups. This includes chin-ups, wide-arm pull-ups, close group pull-ups and chin-up holds. All of these exercises will get your blood pumping and the variation of exercises will keep you from getting bored.

For more exercises, you can do with the pull-up bar, check out this post on 12minuteathlete.com

Physical Benefits Of the Pull Up Bar

You can work almost every part of your upper body and core by owning a pull-up bar. Whether it's your back muscles, biceps, forearms or abs, using a pull-up bar and learning simple variations give you the option to work out many aspects of your upper body.

Stretching your shoulders and back by hanging on the bar will also give you benefits of improving your mobility and flexibility. There are those who say as primates, our natural arm movements should include hanging and swinging on bars. Playing and swinging on monkey bars was a norm as a child, but that has since been replaced with the 9-5 grind of cushioned chairs, keyboards, and monitors.

It's also cool to be able to knock out pull ups and chin ups with no problems whatsoever without even having to visit the gym or take time out of your already busy day.

Why the Pull-Up Bar?

If you're sitting at home watching TV, surfing the net or working on the computer, leaving the comfort of your own home can be a daunting task. Yes yes, it is always good to go for a walk, jog or run around the park outside with your dog or kids but we will save that for another post. The goal of this post is to give you merely one idea of something you can do at home without using up your decision-making energy storage.

How often do you have to grab something from your room or go to the restroom while relaxing at home? Pretty often I'm assuming. So spending another 30 seconds to 3 minutes doing some pull ups, knee-ups or hanging on the bar stretching won't be too much of a distraction for you.

Pull up bars are also very affordable and easy to set-up. Most of us can get by with just purchasing any top rated pull up system on amazon without drilling holes in your door frame.

Take Action!

This one is easy. Buy a pull-up bar and hang it on your bathroom or bedroom door frame and every time you pass by, do something. That something can be as simple as hanging on the bar for a minute or less. Do this first thing in the morning and throughout the day or evening when you are at home.