The American Heart Association recommends that a healthy adult get at least 150 minutes of aerobic exercise every week, or 30 minutes 5 times a week. If you can’t do 30 minutes in one go, you can split it into two 15 minute sessions and still get the same benefits.
In the winter, it’s harder to get in your aerobic exercise. Getting ready and going out into freezing temperatures is just no fun! People end up not exercising at all to avoid going outside.
Instead of completely dropping you workouts, keep up your momentum inside. Even if you have little to no equipment, you can still workout.
Indoor Workouts for Cold Weather
Jump Rope
A jump rope is pretty in-expensive, you can pick one up for under $10. Jumping rope burns about twice as many calories as running. Skipping for just 15 minutes will burn as many calories as a 30 minute run.
You can ease into jumping rope by doing 3 minutes skipping, followed by a 30 second rest period. Keep alternating for 15 minutes. You can do this even without a rope, just make the motions with your hands and keep on skipping!
Dancing
Dancing is a fun way to burn calories. You can find lots of free videos online or just turn on your favorite song and dance like no one is watching!
Dancing will allow you to burn lots of calories without much thought, just groove to the music. Its a ton of fun and 30 minutes will be up in no time! If you have trouble getting into dance, try out an instructional video or DVD!
Shadow Boxing
This is so easy and so much fun! Just start throwing some punches and kicks and you’ll burn calories like crazy! You can do it yourself or find a video online if you need a bit more instruction. Either way this is sure to get the blood flowing and your muscles burning!
Jumping Jacks
This is pretty self-explanatory. We all know how to do jumping jacks, right? They will get your heart pumping in no time and require little space. You can even create your own workouts alternating jumping jacks and jumping rope.
Try out some different exercises every week so you don’t get bored. Keep your body guessing and burn some calories. But do try and get outside at least once a week, to get some much needed fresh air and sunshine!
