Exercising outdoors in the winter is not the same as exercising in the summer; here are different challenges that need to be surmounted by all those hoping to avoid injuries. A new report out of New Jersey finds one doctor providing his tips on how to ensure workouts remain beneficial and injury-free in the coming months, especially in those climes where snow and zero-degree temperatures are a possibility.
When it’s cold outside, warmups become even more important than they are when you’re at the gym or when the weather is hot. Without warming up properly, you’re asking a lot of your muscles, which will be stiff and ill-equipped to cope with the cold unless they’re coaxed into doing so.
Instead, get your body moving and ready for the workout ahead. Even a quick jog in one place or down the street and back can get your muscles ready for what’s to come. Conduct stretches that allow your body to experience a full range of motion without threat of soreness or fatigue. The more you can ready yourself for the workout, the lower the risk of an injury related to cold weather.
Conducting some type of strength training indoors in conjunction with an outdoor run can also help you cope with the cold. When your muscles are strong, there’s less of a chance that they’ll stiffen up. They’ll help to propel you through the cold rather than hold you back, and you may find that the workout as a whole benefits thanks to the fat-burning impact that greater muscle mass will have.
When running in the winter, the right pair of shoes is going to be essential. You may not think that a worn-out tread is a big deal in the summer, but when the temperatures drop and it starts getting slick outside, an inability to grip onto the surface can cause strains, sprains, and injuries that may take months to recover from. If you’ve been using the same pair of shoes for months or even years, this may be the time to replace them with a new pair that hasn’t suffered from intensive wear.
In addition to just updating your shoes, though, make sure the environment you choose for the workout is appropriate. Stick to sidewalks that have been cleared of snow and various types of debris. Well-traveled pathways are a good idea, and you should make sure you’re running during the daytime. At night, it’s hard for you to identify various obstacles, and it’s hard for others to identify you.
Finally, don’t avoid a cool-down period. Even walking for a couple of minutes can help your body acclimate to what you’ve just put it through. If you want, do this inside so that the sweat sticking to your body doesn’t cause you to become unnecessarily cold.
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