Fitness expert Guy Leech is here to make sure we combat our winter workout excuses once and for all. Check out the top five excuses we tend to use below, and find out how you can change your way of thinking this winter to ensure you stay fit, healthy and happy.
1. “It’s too cold to get up.”
Trust us, we get it. Why go for a jog outside when your bed is so cosy? Because health, that’s why. Guy has some pretty clever ways to get you out of this situation, and your bed.
“Put a heater in your room and set it on a timer so it starts cranking twenty minutes before you wake up,” he suggests. “Additionally, lay out your workout clothes the night before so you can literally jump out of bed and put them on. If that fails, recruit an exercise buddy and enforce a ‘no cancellation’ policy between you.”
2. “My body is hidden under all these winter clothes, so it doesn’t really matter.”
Should you ever give yourself permission to, as Guy calls it, “Let yourself go”? He says, “Besides all the negative health consequences, chances are by the time spring comes around you’ll be very sorry you skipped all those workouts and feasted on all that winter ‘comfort food’.”
Oh yeah, we’ve all been there. The sun rears its head and we feel a little shy to get back into that miniskirt. Take preventative measures by working out during winter.
“As little as 15 minutes of exercise is proven to make a difference to your fitness and wellbeing,” Guy advises. “Remember, losing weight is far harder than maintaining your healthy weight, so don’t line yourself up behind the eight ball,” he adds.
3. “I don’t want to catch a cold!”
Seems like a reasonable excuse, because who has the time or energy to be sick? Well, exercising could actually keep you fighting off the flus and colds during winter, believe it or not. “Exercising in the cold doesn’t give you a cold,” Guy explains.
“On the contrary, exercise keeps us fit and healthy, which in turn boosts immunity. So you’re not going to be any healthier by skipping your workout.”
Guy adds that the winter we experience in Australia is nowhere near as intense as other places around the world, like New York, where people continue to exercise on a daily basis. “We Aussies need to man up!” he says.
Photo courtesy of Guy Leech
4. “I don’t like training in the dark.”
Sure, nighttime is kind of scary. Lucky you don’t have to exercise outside. Ever heard of gyms, people? What about stairs? If you’ve got some free floor space, invest in a skipping rope. It’s that easy.
5. “I can’t get motivated in winter.”
While Guy admits that winter can have us feeling sluggish and a bit down, setting yourself a goal can lift your spirits. “Set yourself a goal for the winter that you can focus on – maybe it’s running the City to Surf in August, doing your first mini triathlon in spring, or maybe it’s just increasing the time you can exercise without stopping by 5 minutes a week,” he says.
“Once you’ve chosen your goal, write it down and put it somewhere that you can see every day. Better yet, tell people about it or find someone to go on the journey with you so you can share the experience together.”
So there you have it peeps, your typical winter workout excuses are no longer valid. If you can’t be bothered, get bothered. What’s more important than your health? That’s what we thought. See you at the gym.
