It’s this time of the year again: cold, wet, dark, miserable outdoors (at least where I spend most of the time). As someone who loves to be outside and chase sportive activities in the outdoors, I feel a little less motivated when the weather is crap.
In order not to lose focus, I put together seven top winter fitness tips to help you boost your performance and achieve your goals.
Focus on Consistent Indoor Workouts
Winter and what comes with it may benefit people who don’t mind or even enjoy exercising indoors without interruption. Winter brings lower temperatures and fewer daylight hours; therefore, workouts, meetings, or other outdoor physical activities can conflict with the weather. Weather changes, however, should not be an excuse to stop improving your fitness level or achieving set targets.
Thankfully all aspects of fitness such as strength, endurance, mobility, coordination or balance, can also be worked on indoors. There are plenty of indoor classes that are offered. Or sometimes you just need to be a little creative. If money is an issue, you can find plenty of free online courses or videos on Youtube that only use bodyweight exercises. So, you can follow the same principles as you would for your outdoor training, simply moved inside.
Set New Seasonal Goals
You can also flip the story and turn the enemy (=winter) to your friend. You can try to adjust your goals to work on things that you can only do during winter conditions. An obvious example would be to try or improve in winter sports like ice skating, skiing, or ice climbing.
In addition we can use the often harsh winter conditions to toughen up and work on our mental toughness. It requires toughness and discipline to get up in the morning to go for a run when it’s dark and cold. Cold exposure generally has a lot of health benefits but doing this in winter like getting into a frozen lake separates the boys from the men.
Invest in Quality Cold-Weather Gear
This one is a little controversial as I personally like to live and spend in a frugal way. But I admit that sometimes buying new gear can have a motivational effect. When I buy something I usually do a lot of research and buy the stuff that really works rather than chasing trendy brands, which are usually hopelessly overhyped. Often simple, inexpensive things do the job equally well, or better.
Having said that, some stuff is truly key in chasing outdoor activities in winter, like a good jacket and water-resistant, warm gloves. Some activities would simply be impossible without it. Generally speaking, winter clothing should be multi-layered: thermal, moisture management and windproof clothes will allow you flexibility and adapt to conditions and movement types. And really, let’s not underestimate the motivational effect of new toys, at least initially.
Prioritize Flexibility and Mobility Training
During colder months, muscles tend to become stiffer and less responsive, making flexibility and mobility exercises crucial for maintaining physical performance and preventing injuries. Winter's reduced activity levels and lower temperatures can significantly impact our body's range of motion and overall muscular health.
The key benefits of winter mobility training include injury prevention, improved circulation, and mental wellbeing. Essential mobility techniques can include dynamic stretching, yoga and pilates, foam rolling, or joint mobility drills.
Try Winter Sports for Cross-Training
Cross-training refers to athletic training in sports or exercises other than your primary sport. The main goal is to improve overall performance by utilizing the strengths of various training methods while addressing their weaknesses. This approach helps in developing a well-rounded set of skills and physical capabilities.
By trying new and different things, we give our bodies new stimulus that it needs to adapt to. So, we never stop growing and become more well-rounded in many aspects such as strength, endurance, agility, speed, coordination, balance, and skill.
For many of us, winter sports can be quite alien and super unknown. That is a good thing. We need to try harder to become better at a new sport like snowboarding. What we learn there are abilities that can be transferred to our main sport. This is related to the Principles of Generality and Specificity. Having a good general level of fitness will help us to take up the new (winter) sport faster. The new winter sport is specific and will help us push boundaries with beneficial side effects for other specific sports.
Adjust your Nutrition for Winter Needs
Winter conditions can increase energy expenditure, particularly for athletes training in cold environments or at high altitudes. Take this with a grain of salt because this should not be an easy excuse to eat more -- especially not junk. Keep it clean.
But generally speaking, in winter our energy needs can increase by up to 25%. Resting metabolic rate is typically higher. During these times it’s also ok to slightly increase the carbohydrate portion of your macro split. Hydration is equally important as in summer but in winter we may not notice it that easily. Make a conscious effort to stay hydrated. Obviously we will get less sun in winter. It is recommended to supplement with vitamin D during these months.
Cold days can be annoying but can also be exploited for recovery and energy gain. Focus your nutritional intake more on complex carbohydrates, healthy fats, and seasonal vegetables. If you wanna go a step further, you can also look for alternatives such as red thai kratom online that can serve as a beneficial supplement.
As always with nutrition and diet, in case of doubt please consult with a health care specialist or your nutritionist. Diet is always individual and can be critical. I am only giving ideas, you need to make your decision based on your goals, requirements, preferences, and potential intolerance.
Track Progress and Celebrate Small Wins
Believe it or not: winter is not just a season for quiet and introspection, it is also a good season for progress. It’s good to pause sometimes and evaluate where you are and where you want to go. Also appreciate your little achievements, take energy from them, and keep pushing your performance to the next level.
The key to all this is tracking progress. This can be done in many ways. Whether in a workout journal, workout app, spreadsheet or calendar, only tracking enables positive growth. You can only manage what you measure. So, track it to crack it.
If you struggle doing this alone, you can hire a personal trainer, which is extremely effective. Or you choose the cheaper or free version of joining a club or sharing your progress with a friend or family member. This external accountability of being worried to lose face is also a very effective trick.
Why Is It Crucial to Boost Your Performance and Achieve Your Goals? My Top Winter Fitness Tips
Dark, cold, miserable is not fun. To see this in a more positive light, I summarized my top 7 winter fitness tips to boost your performance and achieve your goals. This offers practical advice for staying active and motivated during the winter months. I emphasize the importance of consistent indoor workouts, setting new seasonal goals, and investing in quality cold-weather gear to enhance motivation.
I also highlight the significance of flexibility and mobility training to prevent injuries, encourage trying winter sports for cross-training benefits, suggest adjusting nutrition to meet increased energy needs during winter, and stress the value of tracking progress and celebrating small achievements to keep up the focus throughout the season.
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