Keep Up The Winter Physical Activity

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Physical activity in winter may feel like a chore. The sun is down before you leave work, and your whole energy is changed due to hormonal shifts that naturally occur with the seasons. If you’re used to doing aerobic exercise outdoors, now you need to replace it with something effective to keep up your muscle tissue. You want to stay close to your target heart rate as well.

Stretching exercises are vital to keep up as well. It is natural to “hibernate”, not literally, of course. But those short winter days and dark evenings often make you feel like settling in with a hot cup of something and a good book. Or curled up with your cat or dog, (or human!) in front of the television. While those windy snowstorms howl outside.

Yet, there is a big pay off to enduring with your physical activity over the winter. Exercising, and stretching exercises, reduce aches and pains.

A non aerobic exercise and stretching exercises will:

increase circulation to your joints, muscles and brain

get you to your target heart rate and remove waste products from your cells

build muscle tissue (if you do high intensity physical activity)

stop bone loss and build bone (if you do high intensity physical activity)

stimulate your endorphins, the “feel good” hormones, especially valuable in the shorter, darker winter days

decrease insulin resistance and leptin resistance, promoting healthy weight control

burn fat (if you do high intensity exercise)

reduce aches and pains!

The Pace 12 Minute Fitness Revolution

Cardio, or aerobic exercise has been busted. After recent studies, it is shown that cardio does nothing to strengthen the heart and lung capacity. Natural strength is built on sudden high intense bursts of exertion. Not the prolonged, ever increasing cardio programs. Yet the good news is, you can choose any exercise style you like, and format it for high intensity exertion, followed by a some active rest, and then repeat the intense bursts for as many repetitions as you can tolerate. This will reach your target rate.

You start where you are. Even if this means walking for five minutes. And then more tomorrow. And more, and more.
You can do any indoor exercise in the cold weather, and create your own winter workouts, with rest periods and repetitions, that will increase your heart and lung capacity and improve your target heart rate.