Now that winter is fully upon us, it’s time to winter-proof your workout routine. Perhaps the changes that winter brings have already disrupted your training and you’re finding it hard to maintain the fitness you’ve worked hard to build. Or perhaps you’re only just keeping your routine going, feeling your motivation start to dip. Now’s the time to reignite your workout routine. Training in winter can still be fun, enjoyable and rewarding.
Read on for tips on how to keep getting those fitness gains throughout the winter.
Cross-Training: Winter as an Opportunity to Build All-Round Fitness
Winter provides a great chance to add variety to your fitness routine and target areas that might be missed during outdoor training. Consider using this time of year to establish a strength training routine at the gym, or to swap in lower-impact cardio options like rowing machines or stationary bikes. An indoor class could offer a chance to challenge different energy systems that your usual outdoor workouts could be missing. For instance, high-intensity interval training can target your anaerobic fitness, training the energy system that operates without oxygen. See the winter as an opportunity to rebalance your training and address fitness gaps.
Enter an Event: Winter Training Becomes a Non-Negotiable
Planning to compete in a winter or spring event turns your training from an occasional option to an essential. Draw up a training plan where each week and day has targets that will take you towards your larger goal. The event world offers a massive variety, ensuring you'll find a challenge that matches your ambition. Choose an event that will push you beyond your current limits – something that feels just beyond your reach right now. That event on the horizon becomes your motivation, driving you to put in the hard work throughout winter and to make progress towards your challenging fitness goal.
Need to Train Outdoors: Get the Best Kit You Can and Keep Yourself Safe
Sometimes, outdoor training is your best option. Perhaps you find gyms stuffy, treadmills monotonous, and the fresh air energising. Sometimes training outdoors isn't just a preference, it’s essential – it's preparation for your event, replicating the terrain and conditions you'll face, whether that's a hilly 10K race, or uneven trails, or a sports pitch. For some, it might be the only way to maintain training momentum. Training outdoors will help develop the fitness skills needed for the main event. For some, it might be the only way to keep training progressing.
The right kit is vital. It allows you to focus totally on your training, preventing the physical and mental energy drain from cold, wet, or slippery conditions. Your gear needs to protect you and keep you mentally and physically focused.
Here are some kit items to consider:
• Trail running shoes. Trail running shoes are good when venturing off the pavements and roads for most of your training runs. They offer better grip than road running shoes.
• A lightweight waterproof and windproof jacket to keep you dry and warm during long sessions.
• Gloves. Any long outdoor training session will test your ability to keep your fingers warm, especially if your hands are not moving much. Cold hands make equipment and clothing adjustments harder and frustrating.
• A base layer. For very cold days a thermal base will offer unbeatable protection. A good base layer should not only provide warmth but also take sweat away from your body, keeping you dry and warm for the duration of the training.
• Be visible. Wear lights on your front and back. It’s not just about seeing where you’re going but about alerting others to your presence. Fluorescent clothing will improve your visibility further.
In addition, if you have to go out on your own in the dark let someone know your route, the length of time it will take and when you expect to be back.
Preparation is key. You are protecting yourself from what winter can throw at you while remaining focused on your training performance.
Remember the ‘Why?’
When motivation falters and you can see no way beyond the cold and wet, take a pause and remember your reasons for training. Think about that longer-term event goal, the enjoyment of training with others, the satisfaction of improved fitness, and the benefits you get from exercise. Do you really want to lose all of that? The key is to reconnect with your training purpose – those reasons that have kept you on your fitness journey to this point.
Winter-Proofing Your Fitness: Your Fitness Journey Stays on Track
Winter doesn't need to be a barrier to building fitness. Embrace winter with the opportunities and challenges that it brings and you can continue to grow your fitness. When you need to revisit your winter training routine keep these four strategies in mind: cross-training, entering an event, perfecting your outdoor training preparation and reminding yourself why you exercise. Your fitness journey doesn't need to stall for winter. It can open up new exercise worlds.
