Workout and Fitness Tips for the Winter

Winter is the best time to snooze your alarm, slide deeper into the quilt and ditch your fitness regimen. But once the season of long sweaters is over and there are no layers to hide your bulges, you won’t even have your quilt to dig into. It might be tempting to hit the bed but it’s better to ditch the bed instead and pledge to stay fit this winter so you can welcome spring with open arms and a wide smile. Here’s how to make it happen:

First up, a little shopping 🙂

For a successful workout, you need to be rightly dressed. Protect yourself from cold, from losing moisture from the body and getting dehydrated, yet not soaking in sweat. Invest in trail-running shoes for better grip on ice or frozen path and provide warmth on chilly winter mornings. Also buy something like PUMA Men Black Jacket, Wildcraft Men Black Wind Cheater Hooded Jacket or ASICS Thermopolis Full Zip Blue Track Jacket to keep you warm. Also get a suitable winter cap or ear covers. Once you are fully equipped to fight the chill, you are winter ready to face it.

1. Workout options

If hitting the gym doesn’t interest you much in winter, take up a winter sport. Whether you’re enough lucky to be living in the hills or not, you can always join a skiing, ice skating or snowshoeing camp in winters. Not only do you enjoy your vacation in extreme climates, you also find an interesting and competitive way to stay fit in winter. Even if you choose to play pool or billiards in a cozy hall, it isn’t too bad to make your butt move.

2. Turn your home into a workout zone

Pop in a workout DVD, watch a fast fat burn Cardio Workout video on YouTube, or engage in squats, crunches, and push-ups for a killing workout that lets you maintain yourself in the most evil season too. You can do it in clothes you are comfortable with, in a room with a heater you want and without exposing yourself to the dry, arid or freezing weather. If it’s too hard to leave the home, let’s bring the gym home.

3. Chemical Manipulation

Winters make you binge on food more. Fried food and sweet delicacies like samosa, jabeli, chocolate cakes and muffins, Gajar ka Halwa and Gulab Jamun, and if your mother pops into your mouth a pinni loaded with ghee and dry fruits, there’s simply no escape route, except one. Your body craves for serotonin and you can replace it by soaking in sun instead of digging into sweet carbs. Chomp healthy carbs in the afternoon, and after the sun goes down, eat protein rich food and vegetables for lunch and dinner. Grilled chicken, vegetables, soups, and stews work great!

4. Don’t ditch your TV, co-ordinate with it

During every oh-so-hated commercial break, do not clutch your remote to switch channels, rather use those free few minutes for squats, pushups, crunches and high knees. 15 each would be good enough to keep you in a great shape. Is that too much to ask for?

5. Go swimming

If you’re blessed to have an indoor swimming pool in your housing community or fitness centre nearby, do what it takes to add swimming to your daily routine. Swim for an hour or half, but certainly do it to ensure you stay in shape; you give your lungs a good exercise and cheer up your mood in the dull and dreary season. Swimming is the best low impact exercise that won’t strain your muscles and make you sore in winter.