Cold Weather Fitness Goals for 2020

As winter weather settles in throughout the United States, athletes and people trying to stay active face the same dilemma: how to work out during the freezing months. Fitness Together^® studio owner and ACE certified personal trainer Derek Maxfield says that, even though it’s easier to stay indoors or fall into a cycle of skipping your workout routines, his Beverly, MA studio trainers encourage clients to endure and embrace the cooler temperatures to bring you closer to your new year and decade fitness goals.

“As with any challenge to your professional, personal, or fitness goals, adversity creates opportunity,” says Derek. “Cooler weather is an opportunity to push your limits and strengthen areas of your workout which you overlook in warmer months, such as strengthening your heart for greater blood distribution throughout the body, noticing the importance of warm-ups and cool-downs, and – most importantly – building tolerance to adversity.”

Here are more helpful winter workout tips from Derek:

Find outdoor activities you enjoy.

To build up a tolerance to the cold, pick an activity you enjoy and get outside. Have you ever been snowshoeing or cross-country skiing? Find your local ski rental shop and take your family on a new adventure at a local park. For those located near mountains, pick up skiing, snowboarding, and sledding. For those without mountains, towns and cities typically set up seasonal ice rinks for skating. Getting active in winter can even include building a snow fort with your family, picking a snowball fight, making snow angels, or collecting snow cones for fresh scents in the home.

How to stay motivated.

Reverse how you perceive the cold weather. Instead of thinking how cold you might feel at first, think of how many extra calories you’re able to burn in the cold as the body works against the cold to regulate its temperature. Nutritionally, be mindful at holiday parties and meals to not over-indulge, potentially unmaking progress you’ve made. It’s always better to start the new year – and decade – off right with good habits than having to dig yourself out of a hole.

Warm-ups and cool-down exercises.

Rehabilitation exercises and stretches generally help to avoid getting hurt during workouts in colder weather or for any winter-time activity, such as shoveling snow. In addition to keeping active overall, exercises like bird dogs, back extensions, planks, squats, and hip lifts are helpful, ensuring the core, hips, and lower back are healthy for movements like shoveling.

Derek is the owner of the Fitness Together^® studio in Beverly, MA, and has conducted over 35,000 personal training sessions throughout his career. Derek’s specialty as a certified personal trainer is identifying exercise activities that clients enjoy in order to achieve full engagement and results. Derek was named the 2013 Greater Beverly Chamber of Commerce Young Entrepreneur of the Year has actively participated _in professional groups such as BNI, Beverly Rotary, and the Greater Beverly Chamber of Commerce, and is the host of an award-winning information program called “Half Hour of Health” that airs on BevCam, Beverly’s exclusive access television network.

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