Diet Mind Spirit

I know. That rhymes.

Many of you live in climates where you’ll have a long spurt of very grey, cold, rainy or snowy weather during the winter time, and it leaves much to be desired in terms of staying active and keeping fit and happy. Unless you like using the weather as an excuse to not be in shape, here are some suggestions where you can get some great exercise and keep you from not being bored or depressed:

1. Indoor Rock Climbing - There’s nothing better than rock climbing to tone up your muscles while at the same time, giving you a pretty good workout. Go with some friends and make it a fun, group activity.

2. Bowling - This activity would be relatively low on the physical workout barometer but it will get you out of the house, get you moving, get your hand-eye coordination working (or not), and can be really fun with a group of friends.

3. Ice Skating - You can be the next Michelle Kwan or Todd Eldridge if you can handle the cold. Skate outdoors if any places are available near your home or go to an indoor place. Remember to wear appropriate clothing and earmuffs to keep warm. Not into Ice Skating, try in-line skating/rollerblading (or roller skating if you can find them), and you won’t have to deal with getting cold.

4. Dance Classes - You can spice up and heat up your life with salsa dance classes or any other kind of dance (jazz, hiphop, ballroom, line, etc) that grabs your interest. Work up a sweat, burn off those cookies AND ice cream you polished off the other day and look great all year long.

5. Yoga / Tai Chi / Pilates / Spin Classes or the Gym - These are more obvious activities I thought I’d list just in case they haven’t occurred to you. I particularly love Tai Chi but if it’s not for you, try Yoga or another kind of martial art. Maybe even give a go at the martial arts dance hybrid from Brazil, Capoeira.

6. Wii Night (or Day) - Yup! I’m gonna suggest video games to get into shape. Yay and vive les video games! Don’t argue with me; the Wii Sports games like the boxing game or tennis game - will get your heartrate up and even get you sweaty. It’s a mega fun thing to do especially with friends and family, and it’ll give you a pretty good workout, too.

7. Indoor Swimming - What?! You don’t have your own indoor swimming pool? Oh well - Sometimes the local public pools are open. If they are open during these winter months, forget about goosebumps and try to muster up all the strength you need to go for a swim. It’s one of the best ways to exercise because it’s easy on all the joints, but you’ll feel like a million bucks afterward.

8. Rajio Taiso - Wha??! No, I didn’t sneeze just now. Rajio Taiso (radio calisthenics) is a funny and relatively short calisthenics workout developed in Japan a long time ago to get students and workers moving before they started their day. It’s short (about 6 minutes) and effective, if not a bit dorky and quirky. Here’s a vid.

10. Have Sex - Duh. The obvious one right?? It’s so obvious that I almost forgot it.

UPDATE: I forgot #9! (Thanks, Ronald!)

9. Indoor Racquetball / Indoor Tennis - These activities will get your heart pumping in no time at all. They’re probably some of the best cardio-vascular workouts you can get, you’ll be happily sweating up a storm, burning off those mashed potatoes and will perk you up for the rest of the day.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 15th, 2008 at 12:10 am and is filed under articles, body, general, health, kids, online self help, recommendations and favorites, self improvement, spirit. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.