Overcoming The Challenges of Keeping the Weight off During the Colder Months

OVERCOMING THE CHALLENGES OF KEEPING THE WEIGHT OFF DURING THE

COLDER MONTHS, Article Written by Mr. Patrice (Kaymel) Wilson, P.T., E.T.S.

Markedly, new gym memberships typically reach their peak right after the new year. In fact, I'm sure that one of the most popular New Year's resolutions is the vow to get in shape/ lose weight. You could bet that a gym survey would reveal the fact

that most people are in there trying to whip themselves into shape for the war

summer months when everyone is out and about, wearing less clothing.

But what about the fall, where the signal of cold weather, dormancy and

more clothes lie in the wake? Far too many people just accept the fact that they are going to hibernate and pack on the extra pounds.

That said, we are entering the final quarter of the year where some severe holiday

eating will go down. Think, T-Day, Christmas and New Years! On top of that, the

temperature outside will be dropping significantly; subsequently, most

people will opt to

hang around the house more. More food + fewer activities= added weight

and inches.

What is the solution for all of the added weight? Enter, revolutionize

ing your workout!

Instead of merely waiting for the warmer months to get your cardio in, why not infuse it into your indoor workout? Whether you go to your local gym or opt to exercise in your

home, there are ways to 'get it in' with the cardio during the colder months. Obviously,

you could use any of the cardio machines in your gym to achieve your objective,

but what about if you don't have a gym membership? No prob! You could jump rope, emulate jumping, do jumping jacks, run in place, etc.

As a fitness professional, I would advise you to do at least 20 minutes of

straight cardio at least 3 times a week before working out. Again, this could be accomplished in either a gym or home setting. Then I would advise incorporating cardio into your workout of

the day. Say you're at the gym on the leg day, why not create a leg circuit where you infuse either the Stairmaster, or treadmill into your routine? If you're at home doing legs, you could perform jumping jacks, jump rope or do mountain climbers between your squats and lunges. If you're doing upper-body work at the gym, you could incorporate medicine ball slams into your workout. If you're at home and don't own a medicine ball, you could do explosive knee-tuck jumps, high-steps, or 'in and outs', just to name a few.

One of the easiest ways to perform these types of routines is to create a 'T

Tabata' (a Japanese Doctor created the term meaning 'time under tension) type of c

circuit. Here, you'd be responsible for working as hard as you could in each station for

20-

30

seconds(as opposed to performing a particular rep range).

Professionally speaking, I would advise that you ditch the amount of weight that

only allows you to lift 4-6 reps, and instead use an amount of weight that

would let you get anywhere from 20-25 reps (keep in mind, you need to be struggling with the 20th-25th

rep) unless of course bulking up is your goal during the colder months. On days where you are training using a rep range method, I would still advise in

fusing 20-30 seconds of cardio into your circuit, alternating between anaerobic and aerobic exercises.

Apparently, I think that it should go without saying that one must govern

how they eat. At the end of the day, a great workout could never trump a horrible

diet! The bottom line is that by watching what you eat and intensifying y

our cardio, you could offset the number of pounds you typically gain during the colder months making you a quest for a beach body that much more attainable.