The clocks have been pushed back, it’s colder in the morning, it’s dark out at 4pm in the afternoon…HELP! I’m losing my workout mojo again!

Honestly, I loathe the winter time.  If I could move to Florida (and know that when I came home from work my house wasn’t blown away in a hurricane or taken over by flying cockroaches) I honestly would.  I would love to be able to work out outside all the time.  I love the sound of nature, the difficulty of an outdoor workout and the freedom from the time ticker on a cardio machine.  But alas, I live in New England and it is that time of year again.  It is time for me to become creative and find something that gets me going when I don’t want to do anything but curl up in a ball on the couch with a Snuggie (no, I don’t own one yet but I am obsessed)! 

One of the most successful things that I have found to work for me is to change my cardio based on the seasons—or at least time intervals of weeks.  This helps tremendously and keeps me from getting in a cardio rut.  If you have the luxury of being able to do this—do it! 

Right now it is windy and unpredictable so my workouts have moved to the street where I will either bike now or hill walk.  I live in the hilliest area of my city and I love it.  In the summer it was all about field workouts and track workouts because the grass was conducive to direction change (no leaves on the ground) and great traction.  The winter is now upon us almost and I am considering my next outdoor adventure:  snow shoeing.  Yes…snow shoeing. 

I have never done it but I am really looking forward to trying it.  Not sure if I am going to or not, but it is a definite possibility.  I want to stay outside.  I am not a long distance runner—I am a sprinter by DNA—so that’s not really appealing to me and biking becomes dangerous once the snow falls.  So I am left with no choice other than to become really creative with my cardio if I want to stay outside for the majority of my workouts. 

Now if you know me you know that this is going to last until the first real cold day and then I’ll be over it faster than you can say 9-10 cardio!  Then I’ll hunker down to a nice kettlebell workout or a heavy complex and use that for cardio til it thaws out. 

No matter what your weapon of choice is, find something that brings out the kid in you.  Nothing stresses me out more than looking into the eyes of the drones on the elliptical machines in the gym who have been sucked into the land of mindless cardio.  There has to be more to life than that and I am punking you right now to find it.  Man up and get out there and find a great cardio alternative!…and then come back and share!  WOOP WOOP!:o)