How To Stay Active During The Winter Months

 As January comes to a close, you may be thinking of those New Year’s Resolutions you set at the beginning of the year and how sustainable they are. For many, trying to be more active in your day-to-day life is on the list of things to do this year. A big obstacle to overcome while staying active is finding motivation during the winter season. Those snowy and chilly days make it hard to want to go outside at all, let alone go outside to exercise, so here are three ways to help make staying active in the winter a bit easier: 

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Make Goals With A Partner

Enlisting the help of a workout buddy can help make staying active more exciting. It is easy to skip out on reaching your daily goals if you are on this journey alone, but having another person you are reaching these goals with will add a layer of accountability. Find someone that motivates you and makes going out in the snow worthwhile. It could be your work-best-friend and you go to the gym every day after work together, or it could be your neighbor and you take a long walk together in the mornings. Whoever it is and whatever you do, finding someone to make these activity goals with will have you looking forward to your workout plans. 

If you can’t meet up for every workout, use an app to connect with your fitness partner. Logging your workouts and stats can keep both of you motivated to continue exercising together and apart. If you are both competitive people, having a routine together can help keep you eager to reach your goals, especially on those solo days when you want to reach them first. A healthy competition with a workout partner is a great way to push you to reach your goals and keep each other accountable.

Create An At-Home Space

Not only does the snowy season impact your motivation to stay active, but the ongoing pandemic also takes a toll on your comfortability with working out in communal spaces. Creating a space at home for you to exercise safely and conveniently can help retain your motivation for working out all year long. Having a dedicated area, like a spare room, garage, or a place in your basement, can help you stay focused on your fitness goals regardless of the weather.

Dedicating an area to your own workout space can get pricey depending on what you want to do for exercise. Focusing on cardio or building muscle means having equipment like a treadmill or a set of weights, all of which can be expensive. Consider selling the furniture in the room you are transforming into your gym. That money you earn can buy the equipment you need. Selling that furniture will also help increase your motivation for working out in the room you specifically designed for your gym. Declutter any other dust collectors and items you no longer use to make some extra cash. If you are a homeowner, you may consider looking into how to refinance a mortgage to help put some money towards equipment for your fitness space. Finding ways to save gives you the opportunity to purchase the gym equipment that will help you stay excited about working out from home. However, not all plans work out perfectly. 

Have a Backup Plan

When creating a home gym is not an option for you, it’s time to get creative. If the roads are too snowy to hit your local gym, or your workout buddy isn’t available for your daily routine, getting inventive on how you can stay active can help you keep your momentum going. You can also find workout routines online that you can do from your home, with or without a home gym setup. By searching through thousands of home workouts, there is a good chance you will find some you like. 

Another way you can facilitate a workout without leaving your home is by making your chores an opportunity to exercise. In the winter, that can be especially easy to do on those snowy days you need to shovel. Shoveling is a great source of a cardio workout. You can even make doing your laundry a time for exercise by leaving a trail of the clothes you need to wash and making yourself go up and down the stairs to retrieve them until your washing machine is full. Adding extra steps to each of your chores that requires you to use your stairs or just gets you moving, in general, can be your workout on those lighter days. 

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There are many ways you can stay focused on your fitness goals even in the iciest of weather conditions. Finding what motivates you best will be the start to making exercise habits that can last a lifetime. 

4 Things You Must Do Before Starting Any Workout Plan

 You’ve decided to start a new workout plan, and it’s like nothing you’ve ever experienced before. Some of you are starting your very first workout plan, which is a big step for you. Others are switching up workouts and going for something different. Either way, there are four essential things you need to do before you begin this journey:

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Get A Physical Examination From Your Doctor

This is one of those things that’s always recommended, yet most people avoid it for one reason or another. A lot of the time, you avoid it because you can’t be bothered and don’t think you need one. However, it is important to get a physical examination because you will learn of any underlying health conditions that might cause problems while you exercise. Also, if you have a physical and are given the all-clear, then suffer from a health problem and are later diagnosed with an issue that should’ve been picked up in your physical exam, you can use a medical malpractice attorney to gain compensation. So, it’s a good thing to do just in case the worst happens as you can take action to recover money for any medical bills. 

Set Your Personal Goals

What do you want to achieve from your fitness plan? Are you trying to lose weight, or do you want to gain muscle? Is there a more specific goal you have in mind, like being able to run a marathon? Do you want to get physically stronger, in which case you need to set strength goals? Having goals will help you feel motivated to carry on your workout routine and keep at it until you reach your goals. It can also help you plan your workout routine - if you want to lose weight, your workouts will look a lot different from someone that wants to get stronger. 

Make Sure You Know What You’re Doing

If you’re a complete fitness beginner, you need to ensure that you know what you’re doing when you work out. This might mean getting an induction in the gym, so you’re shown all the equipment, weights, and how to use everything. As a result, you can exercise with proper form, avoiding injuries. The same goes for anyone, no matter how experienced you are, you need to be sure that you know what you’re doing. If you have new exercises to do, practice them first, watch tutorial videos, and get comfortable doing them. It’s all about feeling safe and in control when you exercise, so take the time to get to know what you’re doing. 

Set A Healthy Eating Plan

Before you start your workout plan, you need to set a healthy eating plan as well. There’s no point working out if you have a terrible diet as the two will cancel each other out. Eating healthily will help you fuel your ambitions and see better results from your plan, keeping you as fit and healthy as can be. 

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Preparation is key when working out and getting fit. You need to prepare for your new workout plan to get the most out of it. Ensure you’re physically capable of handling the plan, be sure you know how to do all the exercises, set goals, and keep your diet healthy. From here, you can see the best results!