During winter, weight loss becomes a really difficult task than it already is. The cold weather and shorter days makes working out almost impossible and when the temperature starts to rise, coming back up and returning to your workout routine may not be so easy. How exactly should you get back to shape? Do you have to continue from where you stopped, or take it in bits? Keep reading to know more
1. Set goals
It doesn’t really matter how far you had gone before winter, either you were a beginner or not. You still need to set your goals and be realistic about it to get back into a workout routine. You can begin by working out two to three times every week, to make it a priority.
Keep doing this until you are able to stick to the routine, then add a couple of days to work your way back to your usual routine before the winter. Be realistic about the result you expect, especially if you were not physically active at all throughout the winter, it might take more time to return to your former state.
2. Don’t skip the warm up
You really don’t have to kick off at the gym straightaway just because you feel that your body can accommodate it. A proper warm up will help prepare your body for the strenuous exercises you are engaged in. It also loosens up the muscles to avoid muscle cramps and minor injuries, and keeps the heart going. This helps greatly when you finally resume your workout sessions fully and will boost metabolism and speed up the calorie burn.
A proper warm up should make you sweat or breathe real hard to prepare your body for further strenuous workouts, like weight lifting, you will put it through. Try jumping jacks, foam rolling, and body weight exercises.
3. Choose the workout that is best for you
The workout you fall back to is totally dependent on you, what you think is best based on your goals and abilities. It may also be based on how much time you can spare. Full body workouts will be more efficient if you want to burn fat and lose weight.
On the other hand, you can try high-intensity interval training (HIIT), if you want to cut calories as quickly as possible. HIIT helps to keep the body in peak fat-burning and muscle-building condition all through the workout, by pairing high-intensity movements with lower-intensity movements.
To make it much easier on yourself, when winter sets in, try to be physically active as much as you can. You don’t have to step out of your house to make this happen, just ensure you don’t live a sedentary lifestyle.
Image courtesy of: wholesale7.net.
