How Can You Stay Active During The Winter Months

The nights are dark and the evenings are cold. It’s easy to drive home, get into your PJ’s and just curl up on the sofa watching I’m a celebrity.

Yep I know exactly where you’re coming from. I love nothing better than to light the candles, read a book or write an article from the comfort of my warm home surrounded by my family. Venturing out into the cold dark night is about as welcoming as a skunk at a lawn party.

So what can you do to overcome this urge and keep yourself motivated throughout the winter months?

Below are 8 key points you can apply for instant motivation!

Put Your Gym Kit In Your Car Ready ~ This is a winner as it avoids going home and feeling the ‘cosy night in’ symptoms. Driving directly to the gym, your fitness class or PT session avoids distractions that may stop you reaching your destination.
Workout With A Buddy ~ Choose someone who has similar goals to you and will motivate and inspire you. Make a pact and write down 10 excuses you’re likely to use for cancelling, then swap lists with each other. The deal is you can NEVER use these excuses to bail out of session. If you do you, you pay the price…. Literally, £50 to your mate!
Set Yourself A Challenge ~ Make it a short-term goal. (Something you want to achieve by Christmas.) This is a great way of being ahead of the game and avoiding the New Year onslaught of resolutions. Putting a few things into action now helps over indulgences and gives you some focus for the party season. It could be something as easy as getting 5 x 30 minutes workouts in a week for 4 consecutive weeks.
Hold Yourself Accountable ~ At the end of each week, look back and see what you could have done differently. Could you have put your gym kit in the car ready, prepared the veggies in advance for dinner or squeezed in a 15 minute workout instead of reading the continual dramas on Facebook? Once you assess your actions it’s easier to make the changes to do better next time.
Reward Yourself ~ When you’ve cracked the above and you’re hitting target each week, give yourself a reward for your hard work. You wouldn’t expect a dog to learn any tricks or change it’s behaviours without the reward at the end. We are just the same. Choose something that makes you feel good like a facial, a new album or dedicating the ‘cosy night in’ as your treat for being focussed. You’ll really appreciate it and totally guilt free!
Home Workouts ~ If getting out the door to go training is a big issue, then don’t! Exercise at home instead and get the whole family involved if you can’t get 25 minutes alone. Use the children as obstacles or weights. My son loves me giving him a piggy back so we often go up the stairs like this, do some squats on the landing, he jumps off and we run back down the stairs and repeat.
The Permanent Reminder ~ If you have a party or special occasion you are attending and want to feel great in your outfit, get it out the wardrobe and put it on display. Having your garment in your vision will remind you of the reasons for your actions.
Focus On The New ~ A binge exerciser only takes action for certain occasions or events like a new years resolution, a holiday or a wedding and are not prepared to change their old habits. This means they can only sustain the change short-term and return to old ways after a short period of time. By focussing on new habits, behaviours and lifestyle, will eventually become routine and part of everyday life.