We live in Scotland. Cold and dull weather may not be restricted to just the winter months so you would think we were well equipped to keep up our fitness regimes no matter the weather. But, as soon as the clocks fall back that precious hour and the nights ‘fair draw in’ many of us understandably find it easier and easier to find an excuse not to move too much.

We asked all the physios for their favourite top tip for working out in winter and keeping up motivation until Spring.

The responses were fairly unanimous and there were two particular suggestions that everyone agreed upon.

1. Buddy up.

Enlist a training partner. Plan ahead, book in and force the commitment. Whether it is a personal training session, a fitness class, a game of tennis or walk with the dog. Putting it in a calendar will make it harder to cancel and we are sticklers for showing up for others more readily than for ourselves. This accountability helps even more when it’s cold, dark and the alarm goes off at 6am. Committing to someone else as well as yourself makes the commitment harder to break and more likely to be kept. It creates accountability, and this will improve your consistency.

2. Remember the reasons why.

All aspects of a healthy lifestyle impact upon our mental and emotional wellbeing. Sleeping well, eating right and exercising regularly help maintain physical fitness, prevent injury and affect how we feel about ourselves and our relationships with others. Remind yourself what keeping up those good choices does for you. Remind yourself of the progress you have made through the summer months to motivate you to keep working through winter.

These strategies are tools to make the real winter magic happen – consistency. Keeping up with our healthy habits means we break the cycle of one step forward, two steps back and build these habits into a long term lifestyle rather than a short term goal.

If your long term healthy and happy lifestyle is being hindered by an injury, a niggle or condition you can get in touch for some advice on how we might be able to give you the support, treatment and advice to get better and stay better on 0333 301 0205 / treatment@optimalphysio.co.uk or book online here. 

If your long term healthy and happy lifestyle is being hindered by an injury, a niggle or condition you can get in touch for some advice on how we might be able to give you the support, treatment and advice to get better and stay better on 0333 301 0205 / treatment@optimalphysio.co.uk or book online here.