Cold Weather’s Affect
Winter weather has a bigger impact on your body than you might think. You don’t just feel cold in the winter, you don’t just experience that inner mantra of “ItsColdItsColdItsColdItsCold”. Your body reacts physically to the temperature as well. When your body experiences the cold like this, the first thing that happens is that the muscles tighten up to lock in what heat you do have so it doesn’t escape your body. Do this for long periods of time, we’re looking at muscles staying in a shortened state for potentially hours a day, for a good portion of the year, causing discomfort during normal life, as well as experiencing a limited range of motion. We know this becomes a problem when it’s time to workout. How do we counteract this? Number one, we dress warmly. Seems like an obvious one, and yet we spend so much time complaining about how cold it is so add another layer! Perhaps a scarf, since the application of hot or cold to the neck is the quickest way to change our bodies temperature. Number two, stretch. Not just at AM, but at work, at home, anytime you’re recovering from coming in from the cold air.
Check out LeighAnn’s video to see what muscles are affected the most, and learn some good stretches, following your foam rolling, to try at home or at the gym!
