Too cold? No Excuse! Awesome Exercises You Can Do This Winter

Do you fall into a semi-hibernation? 

As the winter gets colder and we fall deeper into the abyss that is dark nights, dark mornings and freezing cold temperatures, we fall into a semi-hibernation - a state of being where we avoid the outdoors as much as possible, and often take advantage of the hearty food and healthy amounts of drink on offer as the festive period takes it’s toll as one of the most important - and unhealthy - times of the year. While we’re encouraged to eat, drink and be merry, it’s worth remembering one thing. 

Yet, as sure as the regret will set in, until spring comes along, we’ve still got the dark, muggy outdoors to tackle and the low temperatures too. Doing exercise becomes a chore, a real pain and not something we want to do. And when we don’t want to do something, we usually make time not to do it.

Motivation is often one of the biggest problems when we’re trying to fight fit

We all have the desire when we’re tucked up in bed, or far from the gym, but once work is done or college is over, we will always find 101 other things we can do so we can avoid working out. It’s a natural reaction to not wanting to put ourselves through the paces and pain of trying to become fitter. But maybe we need to change the way we think about fitness before we go hell-bent on becoming an Olympic marathon runner in a week.

Fitness Plan: Find What Works for You

It is only natural to want to kick off a fitness regime quickly and with all the force and might you can muster, but unless it’s something you enjoy (the form of exercise, not the exercise itself) you will no doubt find it very tough to continue through the long-term. This is why fitness plans produced by other people for a wide-range of audiences are often a waste of time. You need to devise a plan yourself, something you are going to want to participate in each week.

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This could be a large range of things, from sport to personal training to your own eating plan. If you can figure out what you want to get out of your fitness plan, you will encourage yourself to continue with it, to push on and reach your targets. The only problem is, that during the winter you will often find it tough to stick to it, because most ways to keep you active involve going outdoors, whether that be outside or heading to the gym/sports hall. And as we have already discovered - one of the toughest things about winter is how hard it is to motivate yourself to leave the house.

5 Exercises That You Can Easily Do During Winter

Step Workout

This is something you really don’t need to leave the house for. Unless you live in a one-story apartment block, you can do this simply and easily with no problems at all. Use the steps in your home to form a kind of routine, stepping up and down, left and right, holding your balance and squatting too. It’s one of the most simple forms of exercise because all you need to be able to do is step. Once you’ve figured out how to do that (hopefully it won’t take long..) you can be as aggressive and as inventive with the steps as you like. And once you’ve finished, you’re home anyway. Feel free to fall on the floor through tiredness.

Sit Ups/Push Ups

One of the classic exercise routines and again, something you can do from indoors. Make sure you’re on a soft, flat surface and maybe even put on a motivational song or two. Push yourself to your limits whilst you push yourself up from the ground. The higher the heating is on in your home, too, means the more you will sweat. And the more you sweat the more beneficial your workout becomes. It’s a win-win!

Mind Exercises

A little out of left-field, but you should also keep an eye on your mental health during the winter months. We as humans are build to spend a lot of our time outdoors and seeing friends. This doesn’t happen as often during winter, so you need to be able to flex your mind in other ways. Meditation is a great way to calm, de-stress and work those mental muscles.

Yoga

Along a similar line to meditation, yoga is a great way to exercise in a unique, different way. There are plenty of yoga workout DVD’s available and plenty of routines online, but if you want to meet new people and surround yourself with similar-minded folks, you could always take up a class. They are commonplace in most towns and cities and often reasonably priced.

Jogging

Look, I know I’ve spent the whole of this article bemoaning leaving the house during the winter, but there is no better way to dust off the winter cobwebs than taking in a deep breath of fresh, frost-bitten air and working those muscles outdoors. You’ll come back freezing cold, but the matter of getting out of the confines of your own home and seeing somewhere new is what you could really do with after months of sitting by the fire watching reruns of shows.

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There really are plenty of things you could be doing with your time, but working out, experimenting with what fitness plan works for you will help you in the long run. Not only that, but it gives you the motivation to continue this new-found hobby into the summer months when the weather is warm. Figure out what works for you and dedicate yourself to some winter working out.