Marty’s 5 Tips for Exercising during Winter
With only 3 months until the Melbourne Marathon (Sunday 15th of October) I thought I would discuss the importance of keeping up your training during the winter.
I personally find it hard to stick to a fitness routine into Spring and Summer, as the sunshine comes, so does the general excess of get togethers and holiday celebrations. But if you can start a program and make it a HABIT over the winter, you have a much greater chance of sticking to that as we defrost.
My 5 tips for keeping fit this Winter
1. Get a Gym membership to do some of your exercise indoors
Cross training is a very effective way of building your muscles for running and general fitness
Winter days are short, so exercising outdoors can become tougher when working full time
It’s often warmer in the gym, so it’s not as hard to drag yourself out of bed
2. Invest in some warmer exercise clothing to run in
I use Linebreak compression wear and windbreakers from Uniqlo to keep me out on the street
Use a Dynamic warmup (see our Facebook page for details)
3. Get a Personalised Exercise Program to prevent injury
Our physiotherapy team are trained to give you the start-up exercise program to keep you injury free, based on your biomechanical assessment i.e. what muscles and joints work well, and which ones need improvement.
You can also get a running assessment to make improvements to your technique to keep you exercising (and reducing the likelihood of nasty injuries like shin splints)
4. Get an accountabil-a-buddy
Exercise with a friend, or at very least, use the MyFitnessPal or Strava app to keep you on track with your exercise and nutrition (I’ve heard FitBit’s are also helpful but I have not used one)
5. Meal prep
After working as a Physio for 8 years, I have heard 1000 excuses as to why people cannot do their exercises. A lot of them revolve around the lack of time in the day to exercise. This weekend, try preparing your meals for Monday and Wednesday dinner for the whole family, saving you time to allow you to fit in your daily exercise
At current, the National Guidelines for Exercise is 300 minutes per week. That is 60 mins per day for 5 days with 2 rest days each week. This can be any form of exercise, but if you are unsure what type of exercise is right for you, please speak to your Physiotherapist or other medical professional.
Start today, and work hard through the Winter to reap the benefits this Summer.