During the cold winter months, the days are shorter, and the weather is chillier, making it harder to maintain an outdoor exercise plan. Regular exercise is important, so we want to encourage and inspire you with creative ways to keep you moving!

Give yourself goals: Develop a plan and aim to make it part of your daily schedule. Whether you want to move more to combat the extra holiday indulgences, or just stay active for your mental health, start small. Take it one day at a time and soon enough you’ll find yourself with a healthy habit! By beginning with a fitness goal in mind you’re more likely to see success.

Create a home exercise space: Bring fitness indoors! Invest in some simple home gym tools like weights, a yoga mat, or even a mini elliptical or treadmill. If you don’t have enough indoor space for equipment, try some body weight resistance workouts using your furniture or a wall. During the winter months, your outdoor exercise may be limited, but there are plenty of ways to improvise activity while keeping warm.

Mix up your movement: High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is a great style of exercise that you can easily implement into your schedule. Equipment is not required, but optional, plus your workout can be as short, long, or intense as you need. For example, choose five exercises (like jumping jacks, lunges, mountain climbers, squats, and high knees in place) and spend 30 seconds or more on each, as quickly and intensely as you can. Keep it interesting and choose new exercises each round, add weights, or use a treadmill to run varying speeds. Once you get more used to it, adjust the timing and frequency of reps, and length of rest time in between sets. Intense cardio workouts like HIIT are challenging, but you’ll see results while never getting bored!

Casually burn calories: You’d be surprised at how many calories you can burn without working out. Stuck shoveling snow? See it as a great opportunity to work your arms and shoulders. Need to grocery shop before a snowstorm? Park farther away, walk briskly through the stores, and take the stairs when possible. Then when you get home, put on some upbeat music and have a dance contest with your kids. Making your daily to-do list more energetic can be fun and easy, and you will hardly notice the effort.

Don’t hibernate: Give your social life a workout too! Start a home exercise “club” with your friends, in person or virtually, and help each other reach your goals. Find a local batting cage, basketball court, or indoor field, and practice your skills. If you’re more into individual fitness, join a gym workout class like kickboxing, yoga, Zumba/dance, or spinning. It will extend your bluesy winter schedule well into the spring!

The key to any successful exercise program is to discover something that you enjoy. When you are having fun, it won’t feel like a chore, and you will be more likely to make it a habit. Whatever that is, set daily or weekly goals to complete it consistently!

To learn more ways to maintain your best health, visit us at premierortho.com. Contact us at 1-855-ORTHO24 to schedule an appointment.