So here I sit at 3:38 PM starting to feel a little better. I went to a Christmas party last night and drank about 8 beers, then with impaired judgement I came home and ate some pizza and chocolate chip cookies. I have not drank in a long time and I’ve been dieting tighter than hell lately, so this is something I really needed. Before you go thinking that I’m like everyone else, let me just put this out there…
This is very uncommon for me, you're talking abut the type of person who can go many days and weeks at a time without a cheat meal or alcohol. So WTF is the purpose of this post? OK, I’m going to share with you the 20 minute hangover solution.
Working out is really more mental than it is physical. It’s even more mental when you're feeling like shit and hung over. Sometimes it helps me to think of things in small blocks. This can be blocks of a rep range, time blocks, or whatever you can come up with to get you through a cardio session or a workout. For example, one of my blocks I do is a 10 minute Stairmaster block.
Every 10 minutes I make it on the Stairmaster I back the intensity down and go really slow for 2 minutes, that 2 minute slow break is my reward for every 10 minutes I make it. After the 2 minutes, I ramp the intensity right back up and another 10 minutes I go. You’d be surprised at how much easier it seems and how much faster time goes by just by changing your mind frame.
The 20-Minute Hangover Cure
So anyways, that is one example of what I mean by a “block”. OK, so on to the 20 -INUTE HANGOVER SOLUTION! Well first off, you have to be motivated enough to get your fat ass out of bed, get in your car, and get to the gym. This I cannot help you with, I guess it's just called discipline?
Once at gym you will do 20 minutes straight in the sauna, 20 minutes of abs, and 20 minutes of cardio. Suck it up, its only 20 minutes of each. Usually after the sauna you’ll start coming around a little, you just sweat out a lot of liquor, beer, toxins, whatever.
Work Abs
As for abs, make it simple. Tell yourself that all you're going to do is 3 sets of decline sit-ups, 3 sets of hanging leg raises, and 3 sets on an ab machine of some sort. If 15 reps a set is all you have in you, then fuck it, just do 15 a set. The whole point of this is at least you're in the gym, and sweating! We are trying to cure a hangover here, not set any sort of benchmark workout records. But you may tomorrow or the next day!
Do Cardio
After the abs, go hit cardio. I prefer high intensity cardio, I’d rather kill it hard for 20 minutes than dick around wasting my time for an hour. Again, this is where “blocks” come into play for me. A great HIT cardio session I frequently do is 5 minutes on the Stairmaster, then a 5 minute jog, 5 minute Stairmaster, 5 minute jog. Going back and forth like this really helps keep motivation levels higher and makes the time go by quicker.
I find it to also help keep intensity higher since you're not necessarily lowering anything, you're just doing 2 different cardio exercises and burning more calories. Be sure to try to drink plenty of water, especially during the sauna. After your workout go get something light to eat such as beans and rice or a few eggs and oats or grits. Don't worry about hitting every meal on this day, eat when you're hungry and keep it lighter and just drink water.
The next day instead of further recovering from your night of drinking and lack of sleep you’ll be ready to crush it!
This is the 20-minute hangover solution (It's actually an hour, just broken down to 20-minute blocks). I hope it helps!
