It’s getting colder now and if you want to continue working out outdoors you are going to need to make sure you are preserving body heat. There are lots of health concerns when spending extended periods of time in the cold like hypothermia, frostbite, and pneumonia. Check out these 5 tips that will help you keep your body heat, even when it’s really cold!
Start your warm-up inside.
Before even setting foot outside you can start your warm up inside. Boost your body heat by getting your heart racing. Run on the spot, do pushups, or do some jumping jacks. By the time you get outside you want to feel like you are already warmed up. You already feel like you are too hot? Good!
Layer your clothing.
It’s much better to wear layers of clothing instead of wearing one heavy jacket. The multiple layers of clothing will do a better job of keeping your body heat trapped and prevent moisture inside. It will also be easier for you to take off a layer or two of clothing when you get too hot.
You will still want to wear a jacket on top. You want something that is water resistant so snow won’t melt and go through your jacket.
Use a Heart Rate Monitor.
Sometimes it’s difficult for people to tell how hard they are actually working out. Most of the time you can tell how hard you are working out by how much you sweat, but in winter it’s not accurate.
Sweat helps cool your body down in the heat. So in the Spring, Summer, and Fall, that’s what it does. In the winter, your sweat attracts the cold and you end up losing more body heat. Your body sweats less when you work out in the winter so you don’t lose body heat. So in the winter you can’t really gauge how hard you are working out by how much you are sweating. Instead you can use a heart rate monitor to calculate your maximum heart rate and then you should try and stay at about 80% intensity.
Work out during the day.
Even if the temperature is the same during the day as it is at night, don’t underestimate sunlight on your skin! During the day you will feel a lot warmer when you feel the sun on your skin.
Don’t take your exercise gear off as soon as you get inside.
Make sure you give your body time to adjust to the transition from cold to warm. Try and give yourself 5 to 10 minutes before removing all your workout clothes so you can build up the body heat. You will end up losing a lot of body heat when you take off your clothes right away, and it can end up causing a shock to your system.
Using these five tips will help you use your own body heat to stay warm, even if you are working out in really cold weather!
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