Three Top Tips For Staying Active Through The Winter Months

With the clocks turned back and dark evenings stretching ahead for the next four months, here are three top tips that should help you in your quest to stay active through those cold, dark and often stormy months of November, December, January and February.

Taking exercise in the summer is relatively easy and relaxed. You can be busy all through the evening and still go out for a walk after 9.00 p.m. and arrive home in daylight. If cycling is your activity of choice, then you don’t need to worry about lights when it’s still light well into the evening. Just finish your work and family or household tasks, then pop out for a ride at 7.00, 8.00 or 9.00 p.m.

However, as soon as we hit the end of October and the clocks go back, it all becomes a very different ball game. For those who have been active, even if only moderately active, during the summer months, staying active over winter requires a bit more thought and determination. This article will hopefully help you with that thinking process and maybe motivate you to develop the necessary determination.

So, here goes:

Tip Number 1.   Get out early

Now the clocks have gone back and the evenings are darker sooner, the counter balance is that the mornings have just got lighter. Rather than going out for a walk or run after work, you might wish to consider taking that walk or run first thing in the morning.

I quite often get out for a walk or bike ride straight after breakfast. As well as getting a valuable hit of early morning natural light into my eyes, it’s amazing how many times I also get to enjoy the best spell of weather in the day. Given that we have variable weather in this country, there is a special feeling to be savoured when you manage to get out to take your exercise at some point in the day, and when you look back over your day at bedtime, you realise that you were outside when the weather was at its best.

I know there are occasional days when the weather is awful from morning to night, but the majority of days either start good then go off or start bad and get better. From my experience, there are lots of those good to bad days, and whenever I see one of them coming along in the forecast, I aim to be out there early in the morning and by 9.00 a.m. I’ve enjoyed my main piece of exercise for the day. When it’s chucking it down outside at 11.00 a.m., there’s a special kind of feeling that you were out there enjoying some early morning sunshine two or three hours ago.

On certain days, getting out early might mean going out for that run, walk or cycle at lunchtime instead of an evening. Taking some outdoor exercise at lunchtime is another great way to soak in some natural light and enjoy a spot of physical activity in the short hours of winter daylight.

Tip Number 2.   Outdoor safety

As much as it feels good to get outdoors in some natural daylight in winter, there are days, many of them, when the only time you have for taking some much-needed exercise is after dark. Walking, running and cycling in the dark is just part of living through a British winter. With a bit of forethought and preparation, it is possible to enjoy getting out into that darkness, so here are my tips for looking after your outdoor safety.

See and be seen. Have good torches, keep batteries topped up with good charge and wear reflective clothing. If you’re going to be cycling in the dark, make sure you have front and rear lights. Two or three rear lights is one way of making sure you are highly visible, and a mixture of flashing and constant lights is my preferred way of setting up my rear-facing light show.

Give some thought to your preferred routes for going out after dark. From a personal safety point of view, you may have areas you would rather not go to in the hours of darkness, so look around your local area and make your own decisions about where you feel safe and where you would prefer to avoid.

Be aware of the temperature. After a few days of mild winter weather, a sudden frost can catch you off guard. Look out for TV and online weather forecasts, and when you go outdoors look for tell-tale signs of frost, like ice on car windscreens, then be extra careful. If you’re running and hit a patch of ice, you can easily injure yourself, so try to avoid smooth surfaces like roads and pavements. Running on grass is one way to avoid slippery surfaces. If you’re out cycling, then be extra careful when you touch your brakes or go round a bend.

Also on the subject of temperatures, don’t overdress when we get into a spell of mild weather. It’s easy to think, it’s dark, it’s cold, it’s winter, it must be cold outside. If it’s close to freezing, you’ll want to wrap up warm, even for a run, but if the temperature is around +10C you’re not going to need your full winter kit. Try to be aware of what the temperature is doing and lose a layer or two when the temperature goes up.

Tip Number 3.   Indoor exercises

There are many times over the course of a winter when we don’t want to go outside, but once we get out there, we find it’s not as bad as we thought, and we end up enjoying ourselves and generally feeling glad that we made the effort to drag our backsides out of the door.

Nevertheless, there are occasions when it is really unpleasant outside, or we feel it is too late at night to go outside for a run or walk. Rather than just resigning ourselves to not taking any exercise until tomorrow, there is the option of taking some indoor exercise. You don’t have to turn your house into a mini-gymnasium and buy loads of expensive equipment. With a bit of imagination, you could devise a five- or ten-minute workout that would provide you with similar benefits to a short walk or run. Remember that hashtag: #EveryMoveCounts.

Here are a few ideas you could try:

·         Walk up and down the stairs ten times.

·         Step up and down on the first step or two of your stairs for a couple of minutes.

·         Fill a shopping bag with items such as tins of tomatoes and bags of rice, then use the bag as a weight for lifting, one arm at a time.

·         Develop a routine based on stretching exercises. The British Heart Foundation has produced a couple of good videos with suggested exercises. “Strength and flexibility exercises”, and “10 minute living room workout”.

Enjoy the winter

Thank you for reading this article. I hope these tips will be of some value to you. Whatever you do, I hope you enjoy the winter ahead and that you manage to stay active and healthy. If you keep your activity levels up through the winter, you should go into next spring and summer with a strong determination to maintain your momentum and develop a habit of taking regular, daily exercise.

For further tips on challenging yourself and enjoying the benefits of regular exercise, my book – Find Time for Exercise – is available from my website and online retailers.

Heading into winter. Stay active and stay safe.