CityView Magazine

health Get Moving Turning up the heat when it's cold outside O BY CHRIS KENON h, the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful. You know you need to exercise, but you don't want to go outside. Even if you manage to go through the motions of getting all bundled up, once you get outside in that brisk cold air, you start shivering, your nose runs instantly, your fingers and toes go numb and you tell yourself — 'It's too cold!' It is hard to stay committed to exer- cise when the conditions outside are less than desirable. The days are short and dark and people have migrated into their cozy, warm houses for the winter. Un- less you're a diehard fitness buff, you're most likely going to need a little moti- vation to get you moving during these difficult months, so start with finding something you enjoy. If you don't like doing it to begin with, it won't matter if it's cold or not — you won't stick with it. If you're not sure what you will or won't 42 | January/February • 2012 like, then try different things until you find something you enjoy. Let's hear what other fitness profes- sionals had to say about staying moti- vated and finding alternative ways to exercise when it seems too cold to get bundled up. Nate Schrader, a CrossFit instructor at RedPoint, leads classes for people of all fitness levels. When asked what tips he would give for fitness indoors during the winter, he said, "The best thing you can do is keep it intense." He explained that many people get comfortable with their steady-paced cardio on the tread- mill or elliptical and don't see the results they want. He suggested high intensity intervals to really see a difference from your workouts. "Workouts don't have to be long," Schrader said. "They can be short as long as they're intense." Morgan Whisenant, a fitness coach at The Fitness Boutique, offered an ar- ray of ideas for people of all fitness lev- els. "Walking in an indoor location, like a mall. If you need extra motivation to get yourself to the mall, join a walking group or start your own group. This will help you stay accountable to someone other than yourself," she said. "If you have stairs where you live or close by, spend as little as twenty min- utes climbing up and down the stairs for a very intense and efficient work- out," Whisenant suggested. Finally, she said that people who find it difficult to leave the house can still get challenged by purchasing (and using) DVD programs like BeachBody, P90X, Insanity, TurboFire, Body Gospel and Turbo Jam. And video game devices like the Nintendo Wii and the Xbox make it easy and fun to get the whole family moving, Whisenant, said. "Just Dance, Zumba, Jillian Michael's and Wii Fit are great ways to get the family involved." Shannon Easingwood, a physical

• Cover