Winter Workouts: 7 Ways to Stay Motivated when It's Cold Outside

It's so much easier to be active in the warm weather months. You can simply lather on the sunscreen and head outdoors. No big winter coats; no battling ice and snow. In the winter, with fewer daylight hours and the cold, it's so much harder to stay motivated - and so much easier to curl up on the couch in your favorite cozy sweater and drink hot chocolate by the roaring fire. But just because that's what you feel like doing doesn't mean you should do it. Well, not all the time anyway, and definitely not in place of your regular workouts! I hate the cold, and I loathe "falling back," even if it does give me one extra hour of precious sleep. To me it's never worth losing that hour of daylight. And the cold? Forget it! I've never been a cold weather person. The two years I lived in Northern California spoiled me for life. It was the perfect combination of mild summers and mild winters. But now that I live in the Northeast, I'm battling cold winters and snow like much of the country. Getting out of a warm bed in the morning is all that much tougher when you're faced with a run in cold weather or when you know you have to warm up the car to make the ride to the gym tolerable. But even though it's harder to stay motivated in the winter, it is possible. There's no need to let all of your progress slide, so here are a few tips I'll be implementing now that we're getting into the cooler months of the year. May they keep you motivated, too! - By Erin Whitehead

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