by Adrien Wilkins

Created on: June 13, 2009

So today you went outside and that first nip of winter chill ran down your spine and now that run you were so motivated for doesn't seem as tempting. Add on top of this the holidays and the stress that goes along with that and before you know it its March and you've got that winter weight to work off. Of course there are various reasons on top of those listed above why it is so much harder to get up and start moving but unless you want to have that same guilt you've felt before it's important to stave of temptations. So to help I've given a few reasons why it's important to stay on the wagon and how much better it is for your body to boot!

The first reason is that while you're snacking and neglecting exercise your body essentially goes into a sort of hibernation. This process in your body starts transferring fats, sugars, and carbohydrates into a longer lasting type of tissue which is harder to burn off. The longer you go without exercising the effect gets worse and the damage spreads. Because on top of the buildup of unwanted fat comes the loss of muscle and cardio-vascular ability. This makes the return to exercise much harder than need be than if you just worked out at least three times a week during the winter.

But that still isn't making the weather any less of a burden. I was born and raised in California and never understood the definition of winter until I joined the military. After that I was moved from the west to the east coast and instantly realized how different the winters were. Thankfully however the Marines in charge of me wouldn't let winter win the body war. And so there was always a plethora of exercises to do inside with limited space. These are perfect for those days when you can't quite get to the gym, or jack frost is feeling extra frosty. Examples of these are push-ups, crunches, burpees, jumping jacks, and planks; and there are many more that can be found by simply doing a search on google.

Perhaps the most important thing you can do is to be accountable for your own exercise regimen and to set goals. This means that you should have a schedule set that you have worked into your day. I find especially during the unpredictable winter months that it is best to have a defining theme for your exercise such as a cardio or upper body day. So that way if bad weather comes your way you still have options for completing your workout. On top of all this my favorite thing to do is set goals. I'll try and set weekly, monthly, and one overall winter goal. For example this last winter my goal was to be able to perform twenty dead hang pull-ups. So many of my workouts would concentrate on arms and back and I was constantly exercising to get where I needed to be.

Some cool ideas also are to get a map and plot out how far you've ran, or pick a place that you would want to run to. This could be something like starting off in San Diego and trying to run to Los Angeles over the course of the winter. Really the options are limitless. Be creative, the more varied your exercises are the more motivation you'll have to get up and get moving. So get your work-out gear ready along with some mittens and get ready to get frosty and take the winter head-on!

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