Wintertime Fitness: Stay Social, Stay Active!

It’s easy to want to snuggle in during the winter, but it’s the best time of the year to push your fitness. Not only is the body resting at a higher basal metabolic rate to stay warm, which is ideal for fat loss, there are seasonal benefits to exercising through the cold weather.

If the temperature is reasonable (30-40 F), staying active during the winter can help:

1.       Improve Endurance

Exercise in the winter is a little more taxing on the body, but it’s also easier to go full steam. The cold weather helps the body sweat less, which means that your body is working less to keep cool, allowing you to exercise more efficiently.

For the same reason, many people also find it easier to keep pushing themselves during the winter. During cold weather, the body is heating up at top efficiency, so training at cold temperatures can help improve the body grow to be more efficient, increasing your overall endurance.

2.       Improve Respiration

The winter cold has an added benefit: low humidity. This also helps the body stay cool, which can be a refreshing energizer when your body’s warmed up and producing heat. It feels rougher on the lungs, but staying hydrated is all you need to feel the benefits of purer breaths of air, pumping your body with clean O2. The lungs grow stronger and more efficient from the strain as well, which also helps your endurance.

3.       Increase Rate of Fat Loss

Since the body naturally stores fat for wintertime, it seems that it’s also prepared to use fat during the winter. Studies show that the body converts more white fat into energy-producing brown fat, which the body burns for fuel, during the winter. It’s difficult to push white fat into this state, and it’s good to keep your energy costs down this winter, so keep warm with a little routine exercise and bundle up!

Wintertime exercise is one of those natural balances to the body—beginning your health journey in the Fall is definitely a pleasure, as you can take advantage of this fat-burning phenomenon right at the beginning. To help you stay accountable, join a fitness club or group to regularly go jogging or cycling. Being social can help incentivize going outside, and it’s easier to stay accountable to health goals as a group. Exercise is usually a good way to bond with family or friends, and you’ll feel it easier to push your body when you have a well-suited workout partner.

It’s also a good idea to stretch for longer times to sufficiently warm up and avoid injury, which means it’s a good way to chat and stay close to people several times a week!