Winter has arrived. Depending on your location, you might be dealing with snow, ice, and freezing temperatures, which might make you want to huddle under a warm blanket. For others, winter brings a variety of activities that aren’t available any other time of the year. No matter how you feel about winter, it’s here.
For those who love staying active but aren’t fans of the cold, this season can make it challenging to keep moving. If snow isn’t your thing but you still want to stay active, you might need to try winter sports, outdoor hobbies, modified summer sports, or find ways to stay active indoors.
The best way to decide on a winter activity is to think about what you enjoy during the summer. If you love hiking, canoeing, or swimming, you might like winter activities like snowshoeing, skiing, or ice skating. These winter versions of your favorite summer sports can make winter more enjoyable and help you stay active.
Instead of cranking up the heat and hibernating, consider trying a sport to stay engaged with the outdoors and maintain an active lifestyle. Some activities are more demanding than others, but you don’t need a full-body workout to benefit from a winter hobby. Even low-impact activities like making snow angels, building snowmen, and sledding can get you outside and moving. You might also try metal detecting for lost objects in the snow, which is a gentle exercise for any age.
Other outdoor hobbies like ice fishing, bird watching, and photography can also keep you active without intense exertion. If you normally spend an hour a day hiking or walking your dog, these might not seem as fulfilling, but they’re still great options to get outside.
Just because it’s cold doesn’t mean you have to give up your favorite summer activities. You can modify camping, jogging, bike riding, and rock climbing for the winter. Even surfing is possible with a wetsuit designed for colder weather. Staying active outdoors can continue if you’re willing to adapt. You might go snowshoeing to a winter campsite, jog in warmer clothing, use wider bike tires, or find a different rock climbing spot more suitable for winter.
For some, dealing with the cold isn’t doable, and staying inside is the only option. If you can’t or don’t want to be outside, it doesn’t mean you can’t work out. Options like joining a gym, getting a home workout machine, doing a Wii workout, or focusing on easy at-home exercises can keep you moving. Although fun outdoor activities can be great, they may not easily fit into a daily workout routine.
For this reason, some people prefer indoor exercises over bundling up for snowshoeing. Doing a workout at home with crunches, pushups, lunges, or yoga can help you stay active while staying warm.
The important thing is to keep moving during these tough winter months. For those who prefer activities over gym routines, it can be easy to fall into a less active pattern. But with options like winter sports, outdoor hobbies, modified summer activities, and indoor exercises, you can stay active even if it’s just getting outside a bit rather than lounging and watching Netflix all day.