The Cold Transition

The next few months will be a shock to some of you who have been used to training in shorts, sweating profusely and enjoying the beach day opportunities over the summer. You shouldn’t fear the cold though, you need to make it your friend and embrace the chance to change up your own regime to cope with less daylight and with colder temperatures.

A change in training regime can be a fantastic time to embrace new ideas and to mix up your schedule so that you keep your exercise fresh and exciting. A lot of the time you become stuck to regimented ideas of how to train and you become slightly blinded by the effects your training will have had for the last few weeks and months. An ideal way to transition with your training ideas and workout regime is to follow the changes in season and to tailor your efforts to how the days are playing out.

So if you’ve never changed your training ideas or you’ve become stuck in the mud with your efforts during a week then this should give you an idea about how best to go about transitioning as the months change with you.

Change with the clocks

As with each and every single year the times you can physically train will change. The days will become shorter meaning your time to train with good daylight can shift. The days will also become colder meaning your attire in the gym or on the road will have to shift along too. With less daylight to play with your body clock will naturally want to be in bed or resting a lot sooner than in the summer months. The key is to not fight this and stick with your late night sessions but to change to early morning training times so that you attack your day whilst you are fully awake and ready to attack your regime. Try to wake up just that little bit earlier and fit in a session before you start your day so that you can finish your work and start to relax rather than try to get a training slot in when your body is naturally going to begin looking at slowing down and beginning to relax.

Wrap and wash up

This might seem a tad tedious and obvious to those of you who are seasoned trainers but the importance of this point cannot be sniffed at. Staying warm during the colder mornings is essential for your body to remain in the best shape to train in. Keeping your muscles and body at a comfortable and warm temperature is essential for the normal cognitive function you’ll need whilst you put your muscles and joints under strain and pressure. The other key element here is that you should always shower after training. Yes this seems obvious but how many times have you just skipped this part because you’re running out of time or are a busy bee? Showering after training will release some of the lactic acid build up from your training, will wash off any cold sweat that will hamper your muscles responding correctly and will keep you feeling refreshed and ready to attack your work day after your hard morning’s work.

Buddy up

Although a lot of you might like the idea of training individually and haven’t ever trained in a pair, the opportunity to feed off of someone else or get motivated by another trainer is key to maintaining high levels of performance. Given the chance to train in the early morning some of you may struggle to make the adaptation to the colder hours so why not make it a little easier on yourself if you can share the burden with a friend or training partner? The motivation, the friendship and the chance to push each other should see you through any of the harder times you’ll face with changes to your sessions. Knowing someone else will be alongside you who’s in the same boat and dealing with the same changes will make you feel better about your own journey and keep you going through a typical week.

These are just a few ideas you can use in the coming months but there are some very helpful things you can do to make the transition easier on yourself if you find it tough to make the needed changes you want from your regime. Don’t be afraid of new things and make sure to embrace any opportunities you have with the change of season you may not have had before. Change is always good and it’s about how you embrace it as an idea and how you make it your own. Cold months don’t have to mean ice cold results so make the changes you need for your own journey and remember to stay hot with your goals!