Winter Training

Winter is coming!

All year we have been hearing the all familiar phrase “Winter is coming”, now it is upon us, here are a few tips and hints to continue training effectively.

• Spend more time on your warm up. Your body will be colder in the winter, training without adequate warm up can lead to shock in muscles, ligaments, and tendons.

• Spend more time on your cool down. Just as important as preparation for training, post exercise spend more time than usual on your cool down, ensure that you gradually lower your heart rate and body temperature to avoid injury.

• Dress warmly. Logically, wearing warmer clothes during winter training can ensure that your exercise does not feel as if you are trekking through a blizzard. I would advise to apply the ‘onion principle’ during outdoor winter training, its best to wear multiple layers which can be removed during training.

• Monitor breathing. The colder the weather, the more stress that is placed on the bodies pulmonary system. Try breathing through your nose as much as possible, this will allow inhaled air to be adequately heated before reaching the lungs, avoiding complications.

• Train during the day. Train during the warmest part of the day. Athletes training during the evening may not experience much sun, which can cause Vitamin D deficiency, so train in sunlight hours to avoid this.

Training in winter can be tempting, we are used to eating up the miles in the bliss summer but now we must be careful not to injure ourselves on the snow and ice. Winter specific equipment can be an important asset when avoiding injury.