Bring your winter workout indoors

Don't let your motivation fall with the temperature! Do like the birds and take your outdoor workout choices to a warmer climate. Laps at the pool? Head for an indoor pool. Your usual walk in the neighbourhood? Shift it to the mall. Gyms can get a bit more crowded in the winter months because of the weather, so if you want to avoid the sweaty masses, try out a yoga studio or see if there's a community centre or school that opens its indoor facilities to the public. You can also sign up for indoor activities and team sports through your local community centre.

This winter, you may also want to reexamine your attitude toward video games. They usually get a bad rap for encouraging sloth and inactivity. But games that encourage movement, like rhythm dancing or fitness ones, pull lazy gamers off of the couch and challenge them to a variety of active movement games. It's all fun and games, but these types of video games engage users in the fitness fundamentals – balance, strength training, flexibility, aerobics, and personal goal setting.

One possible reason that video games have become popular as an at-home fitness option is because they don't take up as much space as traditional fitness equipment. A treadmill or elliptical trainer doesn't fit in everyone's home! But what about an exercise mat? Anyone could unroll a yoga mat onto the rug and enjoy the benefits of a simple daily stretch. Without even leaving your warm, cozy house, you can improve your posture, relieve stress and enhance your circulation ("Yay!" say your cold toes) – and gain strength and endurance. "How?" ask your cold toes. Recent research has revealed that stretching improves more than just your flexibility. By expanding and lengthening your muscles, stretching can help to improve performance in specific exercises, for example increasing the knee muscles' endurance, allowing you to exert more strength through their use.

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