Exercising when it’s cold is a funny old beast. On one hand the cold can kill motivation, but on the other cold weather exercise can be an amazing thing to do for your body.
If you’re into outdoor exercise such as running, the cold can be a huge ally. It keeps your temperature lower for longer, which allows you to exercise without suffering from the ill-effects of the warmer weather. There is research that shows a clear link between lower temperatures and longer TTE (time to exhaustion) Cold exposure is also a known calorie burner, so there’s a suggestion it gives you more bang for your fat loss buck. Finally, getting outside in the fresh air when you’re spending extended periods of time indoors, away from the cold can have big mental health boosts.
That being said, exercising in the cold does come with its risks. The purpose of this blog post is to help you exercise in the cold whilst mitigating these risk factors and allowing you to maximise the benefits.
Gloves maybe necessary in the cold!
Cold weather exercise - what are the risks?
There are multiple studies telling us that although there are risks associated with cold weather exercise, providing the right precautions are taken it’s a perfectly safe activity. The important thing is you can’t be complacent with your preparation before outdoor exercise.
By identifying the risks, we can make sure we take precautions to avoid problems…
Problem: Injury risk increases in the cold
The risk of injury dramatically increases during cold weather. Research shows cold muscles require less force to become injured when cold than when warm.
Solution: Spend longer warming up ahead of explosive movements
If your planned session involves lots of dynamic work such as sprints, plyometrics, direction changes etc you need to ensure you go through a long, progressive warm up before you start to do the explosive work. If you haven’t ensured you are fully warmed up, your injury risk is very high.
Problem: Mobility is compromised in the cold, affecting technique
Mobility is impacted significantly by the cold weather. The reduction in blood flow to the soft tissues in the joints means they take longer to get and as such aren’t able to move as freely.
Solution: Be strategic in your session planning
If you know a session will be taken in a particularly cold environment, be sensible with what you do. Something like a stretching workout isn’t a good idea in the cold. Instead stick to workouts that won’t need you to work at end ranges of movement. Running, cycling, circuits etc are ideal.
Problem: Time is limited
If time is limited you have to make strategic decisions on what you’re able to do during your workout. There are certain things you cant compromise on though.
Solution: Go back to first principles
The first principle of exercise is ‘do no harm’. We’ve already established a workout in the cold comes with inherent safety risks, so we can’t skimp on warm up quality. You’re always better off sacrificing the high risk elements of a workout. Don’t rush the warm up and put yourself at a high risk of injury.
Cold weather workout guidelines…
To ensure your cold weather workout is as safe as it can be, follow the following guidelines…
Wrap up as warm as you can be. You can always take layers off when you get warm, but starting cold and getting warm is a much riskier approach.
Never compromise on your warm up quality. Even if it means sacrificing other elements of the session, never compromise on your warm up. Cold bodies are injured more easily than warm ones.
Plan your sessions with the conditions in mind. If you’re outside and it’s particularly cold, leave the dynamic, explosive work for another day. Better to miss a single session than risk injury and miss a whole lot more.
Don’t get too complicated. In the cold weather movement is compromised - don’t do anything that involves end-range of movement or high-skill. Stick to basic, hard work in the sessions and save the other stuff for more suitable weather.
Don’t be intimidated by the cold, just respect it. As I said at the top of the article, there are definite benefits to outdoor training, you just have to be safe. Respect the conditions, adapt to the conditions, but don’t fear them!
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If you want your health and fitness journey to be guided by the best personal training team in East London, get in touch with us at AdMac Fitness. We operate from our private personal training studio in Bow, E3. Contact us on 07921465108 or email us at admacfitness@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you.