Moving Our Tired Bodies Once Again

Humans, like certain hibernating animals, tend to store fat during the winter and shed it in the summer. Unlike, say, grizzly bears, we do it through a complicated process known as “getting back in shape”, but it’s generally the same thing, minus the months of sleeping and consuming our own fat.

If you’re the kind of guy who’s been going to a gym all winter, this article isn’t for you. In most places, the winter is cold, dark, and often depressing. It’s fine to hit the gym as much as possible, but oftentimes we find ourselves sitting around just a little bit more, eating a bit more, and moving around a little less.

Now that spring is on the horizon (depending where you are… sorry, Canadians), you need to start thinking about getting active again, about running, exercising, walking—whatever you gotta do.

That’s why ryoni.com is here with five ways you can stop lazing around and quickly get back in shape and back into your routine.

5. Use the Better Weather to Your Advantage.

Each day brings more warmth, right? Any time it’s feasible to get out there and go for a run (people do it throughout the winter, too, but we all know they’re crazy), try it out. Notice it’s suddenly warm enough to go for a long, robust walk without taking your hat and gloves or a heavy coat? Do it!

If you stay conscious of how the weather is consistently improving after the long stretch that is winter, you’ll appreciate every single change in temperature, and with appreciation comes a desire for exploitation. Take advantage of it.

4. Longer Days Are Your Friend.

Come this time—early March—every day is giving us about 2-3 minutes of extra sunlight. You add that up, and in one week you’ve got an extra 15-20 minutes of sun. What’s 20 minutes good for?

Hell, a run, a quick walk, a fast game of catch, or pick-up anything—every week that we move closer towards summer is like a gift of free light allowing you to exercise all the easier.

3. Do Something Every Day.

This is extremely simple but often the hardest step. When coming out of a long period of inactivity, we’re often tempted to set a big plan for ourselves, with specific workdays and all the rest.

Life doesn’t ever work out that easily, and after we miss a few of our scheduled appointments or exercise plans, it’s easy to fall off the wagon. That’s why it’s more important to measure activity in a smaller way, and on a daily basis.

Didn’t have time for your run today, but have 20 extra minutes? Throw on your coat and walk, at a fast pace, for those 20. It’s better than nothing, you don’t have to do a bunch of stretching and deal with the extra details of going for a run or going to the gym, and you’ve still burned some calories and taken some steps towards getting back to the level you want. That’s all that matters, not sticking to the exact weekly schedule you made for yourself.

2. Start Small.

Besides excessive planning, which almost everyone can be guilty of, the other big sin when coming out of a long period like the winter is to overdo it in the quantity department, too. It’s really easy to setup a thorough exercise regime at your desk, followed by a stressful week of trying to follow it, finishing with eventual abandonment of the entire project.

Make a rough outline of your plan, don’t make it too big (in terms of strict schedule but also just straight-up activity levels), and leave enough flexibility, both on paper and mentally, so that if you screw up, miss a few days, or just get caught up in whatever else life is doing, it doesn’t throw you off terribly.

1. Follow the Magic Formula: Cardio/Weights.

Once you’ve internalized all those pieces of advice above, are thinking about getting active every day but not going crazy with your planning or setting excessive goals, and are taking advantage of the extra sun and warmer weather, what exactly do you do?

Do you embark on an ever-increasing amount of running per day, measuring by kilometre? Do you figure out a ton of circuit exercises and do pushups in your basement for hours instead? What’s the best option?

Go to any gym or ask anyone how you can quickly, safely, and effectively get yourself back in shape and they’ll all tell you the quickest, simplest way is a cardio/circuit mix.

Try and get 20-30 minutes of cardiovascular work in every day. That’s running, biking, elliptical training, hell, even power-walking will do it fine.

Then, three times a week, right after you’ve done that cardio, do some weight work. Pop into a gym, or figure out a series of exercises (the internet is full of them) you can do with only your own body weight at home, or buy a set of dumbbells or a resistance band.

Don’t focus exclusively on one or the other: just running or just weights won’t get you back into shape so quickly, and when it finally does, it’ll already be October.

Why This Works So Well

Ask anyone at any gym and they’ll all tell you: for a general ‘get back in shape’ plan, nothing beats the cardio/weight split. Nothing works faster and nothing feels better: every run will feel good because of the weights, and the weights won’t feel as draining because of your cardio capacity.

Any other suggestions for how to get back into it after a long winter? Let us know!