Surviving winter training
Here are some tips and pointers that can help you survive the tribulations of winter training. Change your cardio to long runs:
The last thing you want to do is head out into the cold and go sprinting with an insufficient warmup. When temperatures drop, it takes that much longer for working muscles to heat up, and for the joints to release fluid for lubrication. It’s best to play it safe and take things slow and steady.
Go old-school and structure your workouts with cardio runs on off days, and treadmill incline walks following your workouts themselves.
Do more squats:
Not only will this help with additional weekly calorie burn, but it’ll also make you both bigger and stronger. You can train the squat pattern twice weekly by doing two full legs workouts per week, or you can make more of a strength focus by squatting heavy for less volume each day.
Carb up and drink up:
Logic would tell us that it would take longer than normal to warm up the body during cold weather. Have plenty of carbs before a tough workout. Cold weather can also have an effect on our thirst, it may not be as evident that we need to drink and are dehydrated. Be aware of this and make it a point to keep yourself hydrated during your session. Try having 250ml of water every 15 minutes of your workout.
Take up an indoor sport:
Join basketball or get into a volleyball club. The added activity, calorie burn, and cardio training will help to keep you conditioned and athletic during the winter season. Plus it’ll serve as a great interim to your weight training workouts, which could begin to feel redundant when there are few other options for exercise. Plus, you get to sharpen your game.