Active winter: how to keep fit

What do you want for yourself in the future? Most likely, in your imaginary ideal picture there is a place for health, well-being, creativity, achievement. Research evidence shows that a lot can be achieved through physical activity.

Regular exercise is associated with a general sense of well-being and improves mood. When it’s dark and damp outside and it’s virus season, even minimal but systematic physical activity, such as walking in the fresh air, can positively affect your health. In addition, consistency in exercise reduces the risk of developing clinical depression, aerobic exercise and weight-bearing exercise reduce the symptoms of this disease.

Decrease in the amount of sunlight and daylight leads to apathy, loss of energy and affects our mood. This is due to the synthesis of vitamin D and the activity of the serotonin transporter. Both substances play a prominent role in the functioning of the central nervous system and are associated with mood. But even in cloudy weather, you will get more light outside than indoors.

Yes, winter training is more difficult, the conditions around are much less favorable. How to help yourself not to lose motivation in difficult off-season conditions?

1. Set a measurable goal

This is a great tool to keep you motivated to workout. Answer the question for yourself: why do you want to continue to practice outdoors in winter? Try to formulate a specific measurable goal that you want to achieve as a result of these workouts.

It can be “run so many kilometers from December to February” or “run 5 km in such and such a time at such and such a race.” Depending on this, you will be able to designate tasks for each individual workout.

Having a long-term goal and understanding the role of each planned workout in achieving it makes it much easier to go to training not only in winter, but also in summer.

2. Get professional advice

Before you start exercising, check out the expert advice on how to get the health benefits from your workouts. If the task of exercising in the winter seems overwhelming, we recommend taking advantage of Steven Geis’ discovery of the principle of mini-habits.

The first workout should be so light that it doesn’t cause any resistance. Then you need to repeat it regularly, bring it to automatism. Small victories will give strength and energy for the next steps, just as small and more than feasible.

3. Keep a workout diary

Connect to one of the programs for tracking your training parameters (time, distance, heart rate). So you will always have information about progress. For example:

• how many kilometers did you run in a week, a month, all winter;
• how much time did you spend in training during all this time;
• the distance you can run in one workout.

Looking at the stats after a while is likely to evoke feelings of pride and joy, and thereby add motivation.

4. Find a group of like-minded people

An equally powerful technique that will help you go out in sportswear is a meeting with a company of like-minded people, a team, a club, friends. Especially if you like communication, playing sports together, this is a great opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.

And if you don’t have such a company yet, then in social networks you can find associations of amateurs who train in a particular city park, join their training. Then the matter is small: do not hesitate to communicate and gradually join the company.

Belonging to a friendly team is a very important factor in successful training not only at the amateur level, but also at the professional level. So do not neglect it at other times of the year.

5. Pick clothes, shoes, music

Give yourself pleasure by choosing clothes and shoes for classes. A beautiful jacket, cool running shoes, a playlist on your phone specifically for training will cheer you up. To enhance the effect, put your favorite things in a prominent place so that they remind you of your sports goals.

There’s another trick: Plan a run route through the places you love: instead of a dull sidewalk along a busy street, choose a park or a route through memorable places, sights that you would be glad to see.

6. Thank yourself for your efforts.

Reward yourself for your workout. For this technique to work, it is necessary, firstly, to come up with a really desired reward, and secondly, one that you usually do not allow yourself. That is, to get this pleasure, it will be necessary to literally sweat, and nothing else.

It is better that it be some kind of pleasant process that will bring pleasure from time to time. Because just buying things will eventually cease to please you.

7. Don’t Quit Even If You Missed

In the end, give yourself permission not to be a superman every day and don’t push yourself outside in bitter cold or dank weather, or after a busy day at work and a half-sleepless night.

Don’t be afraid to skip or not finish your workout. Even a few “truancy” does not mean that you have completely given up! This is better than accumulating the experience of unpleasant, joyless runs, stepping over yourself, because the regular repetition of such episodes is highly likely to lead to burnout.

If you feel good and you know that training will please you, but for some reason you are too lazy, try the following technique: go through all the stages of preparing for training and tell yourself that you will just warm up and immediately go home, nothing more. Most likely, after warming up, you will want to continue.

Those who care about competitions and the celebration of sports can take part in winter competitions for amateurs. And winter is a good reason to try something new, be it skiing or figure skating.

Train regularly, get stronger and don’t let the cold ruin your mood!