Winter is a terrible time for working out.

The days are no longer warm, sunny, long and blissful, and the seemingly endless, dark mornings threaten to squash any hope of a bit of exercise before work. You could start exercising in a group or a class, such as Krav Maga in Melbourne, but sometimes the evenings aren’t free and you have to cancel.

 

Basically, it’s hard to stay fit when the three month cold snap hits, but believe it or not, there are ways to keep the muscle on and the fat off, even when the degree count stays below ten for weeks on end. To illustrate this point, we have put together a list of 6 ways you can stay fighting fit this season.

 

Maintain Your Routine

 

The first step in making sure you stay fit throughout this dreary and dreadful season is to keep on exercising. The cold and the dark is very persuasive when it comes to convincing people to give up on their exercising goals for a few months, and giving up temporarily often means giving up long term. Once that routine is broken, it becomes very hard to restart it. Take the safe route and keep up the work at the same time as always, your summer bod will thank you for it.

 

Control Your Calories

 

The other thing people tend to do a lot of in winter is to eat fattier foods.

In evolutionary history, humans would eat fatty foods before winter to build up fat stores in their bodies, because winter time meant a lack of animals to hunt and plants to eat. Nowadays we obviously don’t have to worry about that as much, but our instincts are still strong to eat more food more often when it’s cold. Fight these instincts and keep off the carbs.

 

Bulk Up

 

Alternatively, you can embrace the fatty food season and use those extra meals to your advantage. Eat more carbs, more protein, more food in general, and double your exercise routine. Lift heavier weights, do fewer sets and do more cardio, and the extra food will turn into more muscle rather than those hard-to-shake fat stores.

 

Heat Things Up

 

If motivation is what you lack in the dead of winter, try warming up your exercise area before starting to work out. Yes, you still have to do a warmup yourself, but a warm exercise area can help to loosen your muscles faster, and it makes you more inclined to get into your workout gear and get into shape. Plus, working out in the heat makes you sweat more, and sweat is good for your skin, which is a surprise bonus.

 

Cardio Increase

Some people live by cardio as their main exercise component, some people can’t stand it. Either way, winter is the time to bump up your cardio, and winter is the time to start cardio if you’re not a believer.

 

A run or a ride on a cold morning is one of the principle joys of exercise, as you begin to heat yourself faster than the air can cool you you can gain an appreciation of the crisp, low temperatures. Get into some cardio, and keep fit as a result.

 

Self Defence

If all of the above isn’t for you, we have one last suggestion.

Studying self defence is a great way to stay fit, keep warm, and learn to protect yourself in the process. There are usually a variety of self-defence classes in any given city, and you can pick and choose the style of self defence that suits you best. Maybe you prefer to avoid harming your attacker, in which case Aikido might be for you. Maybe you prefer to have brutal and uncompromising counter-attacks ready, in which case Krav Maga could be more your speed. Investigate and decide for yourself.

 

Kick winter to the curb with these easy tips, and watch the strength build in you as you do it.