I've already heard (and participated in) moaning and groaning about the coming winter and there's one question that comes up again and again: How am I going to stay fit when the weather gets cold?
The key to staying fit in the winter is to live somewhere warm. That means one of two things: Moving to a warmer, more exercise-friendly climate or creating your own personal exercise-friendly environment with what you have available.
If you can manage the first option, you have nothing to worry about. If you fall into the second category, you have a little work ahead of you.
Creating an exercise-friendly winter means planning ahead and dealing with the biggest winter exercise obstacles or, what I call The Big Three:
- Cold weather - How will you make it easier to exercise when it gets cold? Some ideas: Putting your workout clothes in the dryer before workouts, a winter wardrobe to keep you warm and dry so you can get outside sometimes or setting up a home gym for days when it's just too cold to go out.
- Lack of motivation - It's easy to lose sight of your long-term goals as you're snuggling into your warm bed on a frigid, dark morning. How could you stay motivated through the winter? Some ideas: Sign up for a spring 5K, enlist a workout buddy to meet you for regular workouts or set up a plan for monitoring yourself throughout the season to keep yourself on track.
- The crazy holidays - Look at your calendar and mark all the parties, holidays, travel days, etc. Now, think of how you can stay fit through all the craziness. For example, could you put together a series of body weight workouts to do on the road? Could you research some healthy holiday recipes to avoid too many calories?
What do you think? Are you already planning ahead for winter or do you prefer the head-in-sand approach? How do you keep exercising when it gets cold? Leave a comment and tell us about your winter exercise plans.
I live in Lexington, KY and the winters are horrible. I don’t belong to a gym, but about a month ago, I began walking outside.
Now that it’s cold and wet, I’ve started to use ALL of the exercise dvd’s that I’ve purchased over the years
Yes, I’m admitting it lol
At work, I use the second half of my lunch hour to walk up and down the hallways, then take the stairs up and down, over and over again.
So, I am not threatened by the snow.
I live in Arkansas and the winters are mostly mild here but I commute so it is dark both coming and going to work so I keep gym shoes at work and walk/jog the stairs 10 flights twice a day and add some standing wall push offs between the flights. I try to engage the abs while jogging the stairs that way I get a full body workout in less than 15 minutes twice a day. I also use the workout equipment I have accumulated over the years at home while I watch my favorite tv shows. When the weather is nice on the weekends I try to get outside and walk.