Walking outdoors may seem like a distant memory during the fall and winter. Colder days and earlier sunsets make walking outside challenging. Even if you rely on your walk for fitness or mental health, you can still stay warm and safe at home or in any indoor space. Walking or other low-intensity exercises in the cold is easy with these steps:
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Head To A Hallway In Your Home
According to Dr. Aaron Baggish, a professor of medicine at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, getting in a walk at home is as simple as going for a walk inside. He said that the extent to which you can do an indoor walk depends on how your home looks. According to Baggish, the easiest way to find a loop is either one that traverses successive rooms or one that is the longest straight distance.
Start by picking a time or a step goal. As you walk, you can turn on some music, turn on the TV, or call a friend if you get bored (circling an indoor loop can get boring). You can walk 20-30 minutes without going anywhere, Baggish said.
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Hit The Stairs
Get moving by walking up and down the stairs if you live in a multi-level house. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Catherine Hagan Vargo says stair-walking is an excellent exercise. You decide how many times you want to climb them. You can walk up and down one flight upstairs if you get tired,” Vargo said. Try two or three times if one isn’t enough.
Vargo suggested making this exercise challenging while not pushing yourself too much – and building on it too. Increase your reps when you can walk up and down the stairs twice without difficulty.