By Melissa Ingram, Physiotherapist, Personal Trainer and Wellness Coach at Elysia Wellness Retreat
When the mercury drops and the days become shorter, it can be tempting for all of us to abandon exercise in favour of a cosy couch and some comfort food.
While there is a certain appeal to hunkering down in the cooler months, it’s also true that keeping your physical, mental, and spiritual health in shape can work wonders for warding off the winter blues.
A hibernation-free zone: How to prioritise winter self-care
We understand that motivation can be hard to come by when even the birds are still warm in bed at dawn. With the darker mornings and nights, it can be challenging to find time to set aside for self-care, especially when that couch is calling.
To keep your motivation high, it can help to try these things:
Prioritise your sleep and sleep hygiene
Keep a consistent bedtime and a relaxing, mindful bedtime routine for the best quality sleep. Stretch, meditate, wind down. Setting aside your screens can help.
Set your alarm and stick to it
We’ve all heard ‘you snooze, you lose’, and there’s some truth to that idiom. Actually doing the thing you set out to do has multiple benefits to mental and physical health, and leaves you with a feeling of accomplishment at the end of the day, as well as sufficient tiredness to sleep well.
Be organised
Get out your workout clothes ahead of time, fill your water bottle, charge your headphones. Do whatever you need to do the night before to make it easier to get started in the morning.
Amp up your nutrition
Stock up on seasonal, fresh produce, and ensure you’re fueling your body and mind in a nutritionally dense way. It doesn’t have to be costly or take too long to prepare, either. (That’s what farmers’ markets and slow cookers are for.) And don’t forget to keep up your water intake, aiming for a couple of litres a day.
Set movement goals
Take some time at the start of the week to plan out your fitness pursuits and write them down to keep yourself accountable. If you’re new to regular exercise, start slowly and build up over time. If you’re a seasoned fitness fan, mixing things up with variety and balance can keep your interest high. Try yoga or stretching one day, bodyweight exercises the next, and perhaps hop on a treadmill for another wellbeing boost later in the week.
Work it out: Hot tips to warm up
While our Australian winters could be considered mild compared to other parts of the world, we know venturing outdoors to run, ride or swim in winter is still about as appealing as ice fishing in your activewear.
If a treadmill in your living room is not an option, and the gym is too far away, there’s still plenty you can do indoors with limited to no equipment.
Here are some of our best exercise hacks to get you motivated and out of hibernation. Try them out to enliven your mornings and set you up for the day, or give you a post-work endorphin hit.
Pretend skipping
A great cardio exercise, and you don’t even need a skipping rope – which means you can do this in limited space. Depending on your ability, jump with both feet, or hop from left leg to right, while holding your arms down by your sides, with shoulders down and back, rotating your wrist like you’re spinning a skipping rope.
It can be helpful to put a number to it – try 50 skips, then increase incrementally to 100 to chart your progress.
Plank holds
Find some space on the floor for this core-targeting exercise. Resting on your forearms with elbows below the shoulders, and going up on your toes, position your body horizontal to the ground.
Engage your core – think about pulling your belly button to your spine, tighten your buttocks and hold for 30 seconds, swapping from elbows and toes to knees if you wish. Try increasing the hold duration as your ability improves. You may surprise yourself!
Single leg glute bridge
Laying on your back, bend your knees and place your feet on the floor, bringing them close to – but not quite touching – your bottom.
Raise one leg up and then push into the ground with the foot that is planted, and lift your hips up off the ground, squeezing your buttocks at the top. Reverse the movement and repeat, or swap legs. Try six each leg and your glutes may thank you later.
Side plank hold
Lying on your side, stretch out your body, with your elbow beneath your shoulder. Raise up onto your side, lifting your hips off the ground so your body is straight, with one leg stacked on top of the other. Hold this for 30 seconds, then swap sides.
Calf raises and lowers
Find a step and place your toes on the step, with your heels hanging off. Be sure to hold a handrail or wall if you need support. Lift up your heels until you are on your tiptoes, then lower down until your heels drop lower than the step. Try 8-10 of these and increase as your ability grows.
Squats
Body weight exercises are chronically underrated, and the humble squat is the full-body hero. To set up, stand tall, shoulders back, with your feet about shoulder width apart. It may help to turn your toes out slightly.
Hold your arms out in front of you. Without lifting your toes or your heels, squat down by pushing your butt back, like you’re sitting on a chair, while keeping your upper body up and chest proud, until your butt drops down equal to or lower than your knees, depending on your mobility.
Don’t bounce back up – the movement up should involve pushing down through your heels, without lifting your toes, to stand back up. Rinse and repeat. Start with sets of 10 and keep increasing to reap the benefits.
Reverse lunges
A challenge to enhance balance, take this one at your own pace. Stand tall, with feet about hip width apart. Step one foot back, bending the knee and planting your back foot’s toes to the ground as you lunge backwards.
Keep your upper body upright as you aim to get your knee to lightly touch, or get close to, the ground. Push forward off your back foot to resume the upright position. Try 6-8 on one leg, then swap, or change legs each time.
The reverse variation will work your core, glutes and hamstrings, and can offer more stability as well as less strain on joints.
If adding some equipment is an option, there are a few inexpensive items that could help you mix up your routine, including a yoga mat, sliders and a small resistance band.
Sliders
Exercises you can do with sliders include:
- With your feet on sliders, slide out into a side squat.
- Reverse lunges with your feet on sliders.
- On your hands and knees (or toes), place sliders under each hand. Push one out to the side and lower chest into a push-up, then change sides.
- Threading the needle with hands on sliders. Once again on your hands and knees (or toes), place sliders under each hand, and then bring your right arm off the floor and move it through between your opposite hand and leg, followed by your shoulder and head. You should feel a stretch down your side as you move down towards the floor. Then change sides.
Bands
Exercises you can do with a resistance band include:
- Crab walks with the band around your ankles.
- While on your back, place the band around your toes and drive one hip up in a hip flexion action.
- While standing, place the band around your hands, with your palms facing each other, shoulder width apart. Flex your elbows up and down, maintaining the width between your hands.
What if I fall off the winter wagon?
The answer to this one is simple – just hop back on! If we miss a workout, our default setting is often to be self-critical. But being kinder to ourselves is key. Mindset can make all the difference to motivation.
Working out in winter can bring huge benefits, including arming our immune systems to battle illness, burning more calories as our bodies work harder, and improving endurance in cooler temperatures.
Our bodies are designed to move, and while being consistent is ideal, it’s important to consider your ability, and see a professional if you’re nursing any injuries or have any concerns.
And above all else, remember a revitalising doona day is OK sometimes, too.
At Elysia Wellness Retreat, we can help you prioritise your self-care through winter and beyond. Book in for a wellness retreat or spa experience today to put you on the journey to a healthier, happier you.
