Exercising in the Winter Months

When I was younger, shortly after the boys were born, there were days when I just had to get out of the house.  I desperately needed exercise and at the time had no idea how to run (something I had decided was much bigger than anything I could ever accomplish).  So I started off slowly by attending aerobics classes at a local church.  Once I proved to myself that I could "stick with it" I joined an official gym that offered group exercise classes.  This gave me two things:  1) Adult time (something new mothers need) 2) A physical outlet that made me feel human again.  I attended classes 5+ days a week and loved every second.

Years went by, the boys got older, and our schedule changed.  I realized that being outside made me happy so I took up running.  Much to my surprise, it really wasn't that bad!  We are fortunate to live in North Carolina where we experience four seasons - most of which are pretty nice.  During spring, summer, and fall, Mr. and I try to run most days.  Up until this week, we belonged to a gym where we could do weight training, etc.


Recently we found ourselves once again needing to change things up.  The winter months are hard. Especially if you prefer exercising outside.  On days we can't run because of weather, we have a couple of workouts we do that are more challenging than they look.

I'm a big fan of these 30 day challenge sets.  You can find for 30 day challenges for planks, running (as I mentioned here), push-ups, etc.  This is the one we are currently on.  As the days progress, the challenge gets harder.

This is our extreme weather day go-to (Mr. does it with me as long as I don't call it the Lauren Conrad workout ;)).  You do this three times through with a two minute break in between.  All you need is a mat, but you could really do this anywhere.  I like it because after 30 minutes, my entire body feels like it did something significant. We all have 30 minutes, right?

So tell me, what do you do to get through the winter months?

P.S.  I have a wellness pinboard if you would like to follow along.