Winter is no excuse to stop exercising

FREDERICK KEBADIRETSE
Staff Writer | Friday May 14, 2010 00:00

Temperatures drop significantly in winter, and as a result most people prefer to spend most of their time indoors, either at the office or at home. Outdoor activities are shelved until the beginning of the warmer season.

Engaging in exercise or physical activity is one of the activities that are done less often in winter. Gyms and fitness centres usually record low subscriptions during the winter season.

The common sight of people jogging along highways and jog paths in the city will become a thing of the past in winter. Well, it's quite reasonable, in Botswana we are used to relatively hot temperatures for the better part of the year. The three months of cold are a shock to our bodies as evidenced in our reaction to winter.

The Department of Meteorological Services recently warned that we should brace ourselves for freezing temperatures this winter. This warning, to many people, sounded like an instruction to stay away from the outdoors and to stay indoors or in bed with a pile of clothes covering your body.

But, do we necessarily need to shun the very important activity of exercise just because of chilly weather? Not at all! That is according to Ashley Malunga, a fitness consultant at the Energy Health Studios in Gaborone.

According to Malunga, the winter season actually provides people who exercise an opportunity to make a lot of progress in their programs.

'The human body needs to produce a lot of energy in winter in order to keep warm, so if you exercise in winter, you will be able to burn even more calories than you can in summer, Malunga advised.

Malunga said that he was not expecting his clients to stop exercising in winter as they have been educating them about other benefits of exercise so that people will not just do it for leisure and stop anytime.

'People are getting more learned these days, so I hope they will not stop exercising just because of the cold weather,' he said.

He added that if people are finding it difficult to exercise during winter, they should reschedule their training times so that it is suitable for them to train, especially during the day.

Research shows that a lot of people tend to report weight gain after winter compared to other seasons. This is because the more time spent in front of the television set eating all those snacks; the body gains the more calories. With 2010 being a soccer World Cup year, more and more people are going to spend a lot of time watching soccer on television and being inactive.

The routine will be such that people go to work in the morning, come back home in the evening, and switch on their television sets and watch soccer with no physical activity.

It becomes even worse for drinkers because they will be gulping alcohol whilst watching television hence gaining calories which often shows by the 'pot belly' syndrome.

We all know that winter is a period of certain diseases like flu. Most of these diseases are communicable and spread easily as people often stay in less ventilated places as a result of closed doors and windows to avoid the cold. Therefore, your body's immune system needs to be very strong during this period so that you it can fight these illnesses.

Exercise enhances the immune system and through it, you can stay disease-free throughout winter.

Now, for all of you who have been exercising, continue with your exercise routine so that you can reap even more benefits at the end of the winter season.

Planning for your winter exercise programme is the best thing to do. If you have very little time to exercise this winter, a maintenance programme will do. A maintenance programme is not very strenuous or vigorous. You can include some activities you like engaging in during your leisure time in the programme so that your fitness level does not diminish during the winter.

For those who like jogging outdoors, you can subscribe to a gym during winter if you do not like the cold because exercising at the gym is done indoors where temperatures are regulated.

You will find that by the end of winter, you will not have to worry about struggling to lose some kilos to get back into shape for summer.

Remember the resolutions you set at the beginning of the year about keeping fit? So, do not break them now due to weather, keep exercising and stay healthy.