5 Winter Activities to Keep You Fit this Christmas

Snow is falling, temperatures dropping, and with the holiday season right around the corner, your exercise routine may be more difficult to complete than ever. Furthermore, the holidays can be a stressful time for everyone in the family making exercise that much more important during this time. Even though running or walking outside may not be attainable in below-freezing temperatures, other activities are made for winter conditions. Here are 5 winter activities to keep you fit this upcoming holiday season. 

• Cross-Country Skiing is a great aerobic exercise. Instead of using the hill for power, you will use your arms and legs to help propel yourself forward making this activity a fantastic exercise during the winter months.

• Ice Skating is fun for the whole family whether it’s hockey or figure skating. Ice skating requires stabilization on a slippery surface and strength from your legs and core making this activity a great resistance and balance exercise.

• Building a Snowman with your kids or grandkids is a great mobility exercise. This activity requires you to have to move from standing to kneeling and back up to gather snow from the ground. Then you must reach up, down, and side-to-side with a weight in the form of snow to build up the snowman.

• Join the Local Health Club. If activities outside in the cold don’t sound like an ideal way to keep fit this holiday season, try joining your local health club. You may want to try walking around the track or on the treadmill for aerobic exercise. Otherwise, you can work on your resistance exercise program created by your physical therapist.

• Online Gym Membership. You can also work out from the comfort of your own home. Many companies offer online membership that gives you access to strength, Pilates, and HITT (high-intensity interval training) classes. All these classes allow you to try new forms of exercise that could be your new favorite.

Whether you plan to do winter activities outside or hit the local gym, remember the ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) physical activity guidelines. ACSM recommends 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise every day and muscle strengthening of major muscle groups 2 or more days out of the week. All these activities can be done alone if you need to de-stress or with your loved ones for a family affair. If you find yourself or your parent struggling to keep up with the activities they want or used to do, contact us at Live Your Life for a free consultation to learn how we can help you or your loved one achieve fitness and wellness goals this holiday season. 

References

“Physical Activity Guidelines.” American College of Sports Medicine. https://www.acsm.org/education-resources/trending-topics-resources/physical-activity-guidelines/lists/guidelines-resources/physical-activity-guidelines-for-americans-2nd-edition#:~:text=ACSM%20and%20CDC%20recommendations%20state,on%20three%20days%20per%20week.