Just when you've gotten into a regular outdoor exercise routine, along comes fall with cooler temperatures and shorter days to throw a wrench into things. It won’t be long before you find yourself wanting to hibernate at home under a blanket and drink hot chocolate instead of looking forward to your walk around the neighborhood or bike ride along the lake.
It’s important to keep moving and stay focused on your fitness all year round. There is no off-season when it comes to your health.
Are you ready to transition your outdoor workout indoors?
We need a minimum of 150 minutes of exercise per week to maintain or increase our current health status, regardless of the season. Exercise is important because it helps to fend off colds, manage stress and weight, improve your sleep, and keeps you happy and upbeat even when you miss the sunshine.
As we transition into autumn and winter and outdoor exercise becomes difficult for many areas of the United States, it’s time to move your workout routines indoors.
Moving your exercise indoors isn’t always easy, as it can take plenty of mental motivation to get over the loss of fresh air and warm weather. Luckily, there are still lots of ways that you can get a great workout in, even if you are indoors. Here are a few ideas for how you can make the most of moving your workouts inside.
Set a Goal
Just working out with no goal can quickly turn tiresome. So, set a goal for yourself and adjust your new indoor workouts to achieve them. Choose a goal that is both exciting and motivating. Write it down and remember why you want to achieve it.
Stick To Those Goals
Setting goals is one thing. Sticking to them is something entirely different. Humans naturally resist change, and we get stuck in patterns. When our previous routines don’t work anymore, it’s hard to transition to new ones. The best way to ensure that you stick to your goals is to find support and accountability. Maybe this is a friend or relative who is also making a shift in their exercise plan. Or maybe hiring a personal health coach to motivate and inspire you is a good choice! 😊
Make a Plan
To reach your goals, you need a plan to achieve them. If you want to continue to exercise outdoors, make sure you have the right gear – comfortable cold-weather exercise clothes and the proper footwear can make being outside in the cold a satisfying workout. If you want to exercise indoors, find a gym that has the equipment and/or classes you want. Or create your own home gym with a few dumbbells, bands, and a mat. Having a dedicated space will make it a lot easier to exercise indoors. Guest bedrooms make excellent workout spaces. But if that’s not an option, clearing a small area and keeping it open for you to exercise will work too. Try to avoid having to move furniture or stuff each time you want to get a workout in.
Involve Others
Maybe your accountability partner also wants to be your workout partner. Or if you want the guidance of a professional, hire a personal trainer to make your fitness goals easier and more fun to achieve.
Having access to indoor exercise equipment at home such as dumbbells, treadmills, and stationary bicycles makes the transition indoors easier. But if you don’t have these resources, here are some options for indoor exercise to help you stay on track:
Join a gym or a specialized fitness studio (kickboxing, yoga, Pilates, etc.). Check out STRIDE in Oak Park for indoor walking and running classes.
Hire a personal trainer
Subscribe to an online fitness channel. Check out You + M.E. Fitness for a variety of challenging and fun workouts.
Try an indoor sports league (in Chicago there are a lot of opportunities for indoor tennis, ice hockey, soccer, etc.)
Dance – formal (dance classes) or informal (at-home dance parties), dancing is great exercise.
A little chill in the air is no reason to abandon your workout routine. Once winter sets in, take your training session inside.
You’ve got many options at home, your local gym, and around town to tone your muscles and increase your aerobic stamina. Find the activity that suits you best, set your goals, make a plan, gather any equipment you need, and get ready to stay active through the cold season. It may be more difficult to stick to this time of year, but you can do it!