Don’t let the winter chill stop your exercise urge. Photo by Clint Heyer

Waning desire for winter PT equals hibernation

By Sgt Rob Orr
Once again winter is upon us, and with it comes the cold and the desire to hibernate and stay indoors in front of the heater.

Traditionally winter is a period where gymnasium attendances drop, as do the amount of outdoor activities.

Lunch time sees only the hardcore fitness enthusiasts outdoors braving the cold, with bright red faces and runny noses.

The indoors gym junkies, dressed in several layers of clothing depending on how far into their training program they are, methodically grind through their program.

The cold and impending darkness of winter creates several fairly major hurdles to a health and fitness lifestyle.

Increased logistics

The first is the increased logistics. There are more clothes to change into, out of, and wash after training.

There is a preference to train indoors – hence the requirement to travel to the gymnasium and then share equipment.

Combine these logistical increases with the body’s preservation instincts, such as decreasing energy demanding activities and consuming more energy in order to:

• Provide energy for the increased metabolic cost of staying warm.
• Increase fat stores (as fat is the body’s natural form of insulation).

The desire to partake in physical activity wanes rather dramatically.

So how do you fight nature? In two ways. The first is to concentrate on your dietary lifestyle.

Remember the energy in vs energy out equation; less physical activity means less energy out, therefore less energy should go in.

This does not necessarily mean less food, (and definitely does not mean missing meals) but rather make your meals value for money.

For the foods that go in, you should ensure that they provide the body with nutrition rather than just energy.

A rather effective plan of attack is to use the body’s instincts against itself.

Remember the decreased desire to make the effort to put on bundles of clothes and go out of the warm house into the cold?

Well if you only have healthy foods in the house, the chance that you will make the effort at 8pm to get dressed and drive/walk through the cold and dark to get some junk food will certainly decrease and you would resign yourself to the piece of fruit instead.

Decrease in activity

If you are not going to the mountain, make the mountain come to you.

Increase your activity during the day. Deliver internal mail by hand, walk stairs, get out of your chair every thirty minutes and just walk for a few minutes.

At home get rid of the remote control, get off your glutes and change the channels yourself, wash and dry the dishes rather than use the dishwasher.

Rather than a lock-in on the weekends go window shopping and walk around for hours.

Get active, every little bit helps (eg doing the dishes) over a six month period.

So in a nutshell, fight off the drowsy affect and win the food and activity battle.

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