Preparing for Winter

Prepare Properly

Part of the reason winter exercise seems so daunting is because people don’t prepare properly and they end up cold and miserable. That is an easy fix. Prepare properly and wear appropriate attire. Layer up. You would ideally have moisture wicking fabrics that pull the sweat away from your body. These will help you stay a bit warmer. Examples of this are polyester, wool, and spandex, to name a few, and most sports stores carry plenty of performance wear that is moisture wicking. When you start your exercise, you do want to be a little chilly because your body temperature will rise as you get moving. By starting chilly you allow your body temperature to rise without needing to remove other layers. Look at that initial chill as one of the biggest mental components to overcome; by doing so, you’ve jumped an enormous hurdle.

Remember your warm-up and cooldowns. Warm up with stretches in the house and start out light when you get outside so as not to shock your body and ask it to do too much too soon. When you finish, walk it off, do a brisk and gentle slowdown of your exercise, and then ease back into your indoor temperatures. You can end with a few “warm-down” stretches indoors as well. This allows your body proper transition both in and out of the cold.

Don’t let the cold derail your exercise success. Work with it, embrace the challenge of it, and know that this too shall pass as everything does. Understand the benefits that the cold offers in your goals toward better health and improved body performance, and then prepare properly. If you have questions or concerns about exercising in the cold, ask your local doctor at Adelaide Clinic during your regular adjustments and they’ll help you on your way to maximizing optimal cold weather movement.

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