Tips to Stay Fit and Active Indoors During Winter

Staying active during the winter is always more challenging. While there are many ways to exercise outdoors in the cold weather, we understand that some people simply find this unpleasant. If you prefer not to brave the cold for a workout, that’s OK. What’s not OK is using that as an excuse to become a couch potato until the weather gets warmer.

Regular exercise is critical to your health, and the winter months are no exception. Staying active and fit will help you maintain a healthy weight, build muscle tone and cardiovascular endurance, and improve your mental outlook. But most importantly, staying active and fit during the winter is an important way to protect your body from injury.

The good news is you don’t have to exercise outdoors to stay fit in the winter. Various indoor fitness options will keep your body in optimal shape until the weather gets warm enough to resume your favorite outdoor activities. The following tips will help you get into an excellent indoor exercise groove in cold weather.

Staying Motivated Will Help You Follow Through

One of the most significant challenges people experience when exercising indoors is staying motivated. It’s much easier to stay active when participating in your favorite activities. If you love taking long hikes in the mountains, going on bike rides, or running through your neighborhood, you’ll have no trouble finding the motivation to do these activities when the weather is more accommodating during spring, summer, and fall. But if you’re not a gym rat, you may find it harder to stick with your winter indoor workout routine.

The following tips will help you maintain motivation even when you’re not excited about your indoor exercise options.

Build Your Workouts into Your Weekly Plan

It’s easy to bail on workouts when they are just aspirational items on your list of things to do. You’re much more likely to follow through if you carve out specific times for exercise. Look at your calendar and determine which days each week have the most time for exercise, and place your workouts on your calendar for each day. Keep the following tips in mind to help plan your workouts:

• Set a goal for the number of days a week you plan to exercise – Life can get busy, and you don’t want to find yourself only blocking off one day for exercise when your schedule fills up. If you have a target number of days to shoot for, you’re more likely to get creative in finding the time to hit that goal.
• Be realistic about your optimal exercise times – Some people prefer to work out first thing in the morning. Others are lunchtime exercisers. Some people like to be active at the end of the workday. Figure out the optimal exercise time for your body rhythm and try to stick to that time as much as possible. Planning a 6 am workout when you know you will hit the snooze button 5 times before getting out of bed isn’t a formula for success.
• Maintain enough flexibility to be successful – When your schedule gets busy on a particular week, you may have to deviate from your regular exercise routine once or twice to hit your target number of days. If you’re willing to shift the time of day you exercise occasionally, you’ll find it much easier to carve out time.

Keep It Fun

Exercise shouldn’t be a chore. If it is, you will most likely find excuses for why you can’t fit it into your day. You’re much more likely to stick with your routine if you choose activities you enjoy. If you don’t like lifting weights, then don’t. There are plenty of other ways to get exercise indoors. Keep trying different activities until you find a few you enjoy.

Set Achievable Goals

Having fitness goals is a great way to stay motivated. As you see yourself reaching these goals, you’ll feel good about your work and are more likely to stick with it.

Remember that for your goals to be practical, they must be achievable. The best way to do this is to set short-term goals that are realistic and easy to measure. For example, you may aim to increase your exercise time by five minutes weekly or add a few more reps each time you work out. Over time, these small goals can add up to significant gains.

Find a Workout Buddy

Working out with a friend can increase your motivation in a few important ways:

• It turns exercise into a social activity that you look forward to
• It can make your workouts more fun
• You have someone to hold you accountable on days when you aren’t feeling motivated to follow through with your workout plans

Set Up a Dedicated Exercise Space

You’ll need a dedicated exercise space if you prefer to work out at home during the winter. When you don’t have an area ideally suited for exercising, it will make your fitness routine much less appealing, increasing the likelihood that you won’t stick with your workouts.

If your house has a room that can be converted into a dedicated exercise room, that is the best option. However, you can also get creative and use a multipurpose space like a laundry room or a basement. If you have to use a multipurpose space, just make sure to put effort into making it an appealing workout space. This can involve putting up motivational posters or clearing out a section of the room for your exercise equipment. Do whatever it takes to make your space feel like a functional workout area, and you’re much more likely to enjoy exercising there.

Take a Class

Exercising outdoors is ideally suited to certain activities, such as running, biking, hiking, or outdoor team sports. If these options aren’t available to you when the weather gets cold, it may be a good time to try taking a class that doesn’t fit into your warm-weather outdoor fitness routine.

Winter might be a great time to give yoga or Pilates a try. If you like riding your bike outdoors in the summer, consider taking a spin class in the winter. Dance classes can be a great source of exercise as well. Boxing classes can be a great workout and help you build new skills. There are so many options available to you – do a little research, and you’re likely to find a class that piques your interest.

Bring Your Outdoor Activities Indoors

Many of your favorite outdoor activities can be done indoors once the weather gets cold:

• Runners can use a treadmill
• Cyclists can ride a Peloton
• Swimmers can find an indoor pool
• Climbers can go to a climbing gym
• Tennis players can find indoor courts
• Basketball players can shift their park pickup game to an indoor court

This list is by no means exhaustive. Many other outdoor activities lend themselves to being done indoors.

Join a Gym

This is an obvious option, but still worth mentioning. Joining a gym is one of the easiest ways to stay active and fit indoors all winter. Most gyms will provide many of the solutions discussed above in one location. Exercise bikes, treadmills, and other gear allow you to simulate many of your favorite outdoor activities. Most gyms also offer a variety of classes that can provide you with a more structured workout. You may even find a gym with a basketball court or tennis courts.

Gyms also provide an excellent opportunity to start a weight training program that will help you build muscle strength. This can pay huge dividends when you resume your favorite outdoor activities in the spring. You’re likely to find that you can perform these activities at a much higher level when you’re stronger.

Colorado Advanced Orthopedics Can Help After a Sports Injury

Even when you put in the time to stay active and fit, there’s always a risk that you’ll get injured participating in your favorite activities. If you suffer a sports injury, Colorado Advanced Orthopedics can help. Our team is equipped to treat just about any orthopedic or sports injury you develop.

When you come for treatment at CAO, you’ll benefit from working with a team of board-certified and fellowship-trained orthopedic surgeons and sports medicine doctors. Our surgeons have experience performing the most advanced procedures, and we use state-of-the-art technology to deliver the best possible outcome. At Colorado Advanced Orthopedics, our team is committed to helping you restore a pain-free life so you can get back to enjoying your favorite activities as soon as possible.

Contact us today to schedule an appointment. Colorado Advanced Orthopedics serves patients in Meeker and throughout the White River Valley.