Training oneself in winter: mission impossible?

7 buoni motivi per allenarsi anche con il freddo

Willpower. This is the main ingredient to live up to one of the most difficult engagements with ourselves: the morning training. Let's face it, in the summer it is easier to find the courage to stand up to do exercise: the sun rises early, it is hot, the body awakes easily and sweetly. In winter, however, it becomes a real "mission impossible" worse than Tom Cruise’ s! The alarm sound irritates us more than ever, leaving the warmth of the duvet makes us cringe, and then if it is raining outside, the urge passes completely. Do not miss our seven valuable tips that will help you jump out of the bed like a spring to train early in the morning even during the winter.

1. Go to bed earlier

Start by hastening 15 minutes each time until you will reach the ideal time to go to bed. If you sleep every night at the same time, you will improve the quality of sleep and ensure that body and mind have time to change their biological clocks. It is absolutely forbidden the use of luminous electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets, computers, TV, as they make it difficult to fall into Morpheus arms. Of course, it will be a difficult task for those who are used to take advantage of the last hours of the day to relax by watching TV or "chatting" with friends, but it is worth it because your body will benefit from it!

2. Set up multiple alarms

There are some tricks that can make the psychological obstacle of the morning alarm clock less stressful. One of these is to program 3 different alarms in your clock, 10-15 minutes distance from each other with a series of motivational and sympathetic messages to give the right charge, such as:
AT MY THREE WE JUMP OUT OF THE BED. READY ? 1 ...
2 ... WE ARE NEARLY TO
3 ... LET’S GET UP !!!
Use your creativity to write something that you know might work.
Placing the alarm far from the bed may help. In this way, getting up and turning it off will become a single gesture.
If you try to look between the App for smartphones, there are of all tastes ... among them, a free and one of the nicest (but we could also say one of the most diabolical!) is called Alarmy. Its purpose, like that of all alarms, is to throw us out of bed at all costs, but the way of doing it is entirely unique! To disable it, we can set some options, including the "easier" ones to solve a mathematical question or a puzzle (who among us would not be able to solve the square root of 18769 once awaken!).
But the most diabolical mode is that of planning to take a picture of an object photographed the night before (for example, the coffee pot or a stove in the kitchen): the alarm will not stop playing until we do not photograph the same object again.
If the slogan of Alarmy is "Sleep if you can",there must be a reason!

3. Prepare everything the night before

Organising your bag for training since the evening is an excellent strategy to gain time and be ready in 5 minutes. And if the warmth of the duvet does not let you go? Well, to defeat the cold shock, you could put the clothes you are going to wear directly on the heater leaving them all night to find them warm.
If your workout is outdoors then you need to take precautions to protect yourselves from the cold winter weather, and add some more items of clothing in your bag.
First of all, a cap or a headband to protect your head, face and ears, then gloves for winter races (avoid wool gloves because they let too much air pass through) to protect your hands and finally, technical socks to protect your feet and avoid blisters.
It is normal to feel cold at the beginning of the training, but after the first few minutes of activity, the heat generated by the body together with the right technical clothing will be enough to create a healthy microclimate. We suggest to dress in layers in the first phase of warming up and to undress as the body temperature rises. In this way you do not sweat excessively and you will always have an impeccable outfit!

4. Use music to awaken muscles and mind

Sometimes you happened to be half asleep in the morning, and hear pop music coming from the neighbor’s radio? Maybe it is just the piece you like, the one you cannot wait for, whatever makes your legs start moving and that, in no time at all, you find yourself dancing like you were Michael Jackson! So use it! To put you in the right mood, listen loudly (perhaps with the earphones if you have a family! ) to your favourite music even while you are brushing your teeth. Do not wait for the real workout. This will give you instant energy!

5. Train with a friend

On cold mornings when there seems no reason to train, running with a friend will give you the right push. It is hard to blow a habit when there is someone waiting for us at the door.
A friend can also help you track your personal goals or inspire you to move forward. It is statistically proven that those who train alone are more sensitive to adversity, and not only towards those referring to weather. Extra-work commitments, chores, lack of desire, etc ... all excuses that end up coaching us only when we have nothing to do. But why, is it ever possible to have anything to do? So then you should text your sporty friend and challenge him to do 100 push ups and 100 abdominal in the park at 7.30 the following morning!

6. Keep motivation high

Running, jumping, throwing. Again ... running, jumping, throwing. But why do I have to do it? How many times have we asked ourselves this question as soon as we hear the wake-up alarm?
Giving ourselves a goal may be motivational enough to get out of bed more willingly to perform daily exercise. Make yourselves a promise, for example.., a breakfast at the café (obviously avoiding calorific sweets !) a nice weekend, a massage at a spa, a beautiful new dress.
Reward yourselves for the ongoing commitment and for the power that you put into it.

7. Use the social

Share your workout results with your friends. The comparison will help you do better!