Before I announced that I am pregnant with my second child, I wrote a post about beating the winter training blahs.
As a reminder, my tips to beat the winter training blahs were:
- Embrace each day. Be thankful every single day. Find the good!
- Accept that you’re never going to be completely motivated all the time. Sometimes you gotta suck it up and “do it anyway” even when you don’t feel like it.
- Change up your training plan. Join a gym, hire a coach or if you write your own training programs, add in some new exercises or a different type of training
- Don’t give up completely because you have a bad day. Bad days happen. Snow days happen (a lot lately). Things don’t go as planned. Get over it and get back on schedule.
- Shorten your workouts. Sometimes it’s easier to stay consistent when you just have to commit to 30 minutes instead of 60 minutes or more. You can still get a lot of great work done in a short amount of time if you work hard!
Now that you know I’m pregnant, obviously part of my training blahs this fall were due to first trimester sleepy time. Little did I know the weather we were having in November was TROPICAL compared to the crazy winter weather, freezing temps and non-stop blizzards we’ve experienced over the last few weeks. (PS. We officially live in the snowiest city in America with 111 inches so far.)
I wasn’t prepared for the craziest winter ever snow-wise, but I’m glad I took time to get my head right this past fall before all the snow and cold hit us hard. I committed to walking more, even in the cold, and to making sure I get my training sessions in, even if it means modifying the plan a bit with shorter workouts or training at home sometimes.
I think it’s worth sharing some additional tips on how to stay active in the winter when you’re way past the winter training blahs and literally house-bound for days at at time!
Here are a few other tips to stay active in winter when all you want to do is curl up on the couch and booze it up while eating allllll the snacks.
1. Get a step tracker/activity monitor. I got a FitBit for Christmas and I seriously love it. I mentioned that I never ever thought I would be a steps person, but it really does motivate me to get off my butt. Even if it just means going upstairs a few extra times instead of being lazy and making one trip.
2. Schedule your workouts weekly. Look at the forecast and your schedule so you can adjust your training plan each week as necessary. During this time of year there are a lot of things you can’t control, especially if you are a parent. You can’t control school or daycare closings and you can’t control the weather or your kiddos (or you) getting sick. You need a little more wiggle room in your training plan! Instead of sticking to the exact same days/times each week, it may help you feel less overwhelmed if you look ahead at each week and adjust your schedule, your alarm clocks, your workouts, etc. based on what the week ahead looks like. Also, remember your plan doesn’t have to be so rigid that you can’t make changes on the fly. It’s okay to trade in a gym workout for an at-home workout last minute or to switch training days when someone gets sick!
3. Eat well most of the time. Yup, even on snow days. And weekends. I know it’s snowy, you don’t want to leave your house, you feel lazy and you just wanna EAT ALL THE SNACKS. You can eat the same on snow days as you do on regular work days. I used to use any excuse I could come up with to eat crap and drink my face off, knowing I’d “get back on track” the next day. Valentines Day? Snow day? Friday? Saturday? A sunny Sunday? You name it, I came up with plenty of reasons so have a “fun” day when I was in my early/mid twenties. Sure, that method works well for days like Thanksgiving that happen once a year, but this time of year when there are multiple snow days and sick days you may find you have more “off days” than normal days. You can use this tip year-round. You can still eat well on weekends. Just because it’s Friday or Saturday doesn’t mean you have to eat crap food or go out to every meal instead of eating your normal foods. Sure, you can mix it up, go out and be social or eat a few meals out, but you certainly don’t need to go hog wild just because it’s the weekend. 
4. Get creative outside or at home. You’d be surprised how little space and equipment you need to get in a productive training session at home. Leave a kettlebell somewhere and commit to 10 swings every time you walk by. If you have a pullup bar commit to doing 20 pullups by the end of the day. Do some turkish-get-ups and yoga. Take your kids sledding. Bundle up and go for a walk in the snow. You get the idea, but just because you’re house-bound doesn’t mean you have to sleep and eat all day!
What are your tips for staying active in the cold, snowy winter months?
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