Written by: Tony Junkin

It’s going to start getting cooler and darker this season and a lot of people “fall off the wagon” when it comes to health, but these tips can help you maintain or even boost your current routine.

I won’t lie to you. Even the fittest people have a hard time transitioning from summer to fall. It gets dark earlier so there is less time after a traditional work day and it gets colder, especially in the morning and evening when most people tend to exercise. But it doesn’t have to slow you down and it can even be a great way to boost your fitness by switching up your routine a bit and doing something different.

If you are someone who loves exercising outdoors, I am with you! Running, walking, biking, etc are all better outdoors if you ask me, but what do you do when your usual exercise time is suddenly cold and dark? Of course there is always the option to change the time of day you exercise and that might be the easiest fix, but for a lot of people this isn’t possible and that’s ok because you can still do your thing at the time you have available if you just make sure to do it smartly and safely.

The biggest issue I see with people when it comes to fall and winter exercising is that they are very often overdressed! Say it’s 55 degrees outside so you throw on an undershirt, a sweatshirt, leggings, and joggers over it. That’s great if you are just standing outside, but you’re there to move and I promise you it’s going to get too hot pretty fast. A good rule of thumb to follow is this: if you are exercising at a light to moderate activity level, such as walking, you can add 10 degrees to whatever the current temperature is because your body will heat up as you start moving. If it’s 55 out, dress for 65 and you might feel a bit nippy at first, but it won’t be long before you are doing just fine in that first layer without the additional layer. If you are performing moderate to high intensity exercise, you can add 20 degrees to the current temperature. If it’s 55 when I go out to run, you can guarantee I am wearing shorts and a t-shirt like it’s 75 and I have never regretted that because I am always sweating by the 10 minute mark.

If you are a die-hard outdoor person, you also want to set a limit for yourself in terms of the lowest temperature at which you are willing to exercise outdoors. That will vary from person to person so you just have to experiment and find out where to draw the line. Cold, dry air irritates my lungs so for me, 40 degrees is the lowest I am willing to go for outdoor exercise, but it may be higher or lower for you.

The other big issue is the days getting shorter. It’s amazing how the official start of fall really changes that amount of daylight you get quickly! If you have the option to exercise during a daylight time, that is preferable, but if you want to be outdoors and it’s dark, I can give you a couple of tips. Make sure you are in a well-lit area such as a neighborhood with plenty of street lights or even a shopping center. The latter is especially helpful when it is cold because you can always pop into a store if you need to warm up or see anything happening that looks sketchy.

I can’t tell you what to do, but I highly highly recommend not exercising outside before 6am or after 9pm. This goes for men and women alike becuase unfortunately, there are people out there just waiting for a single walker or jogger to come along at an hour when nobody else is around. Exercising with a buddy is also a great idea at night. It’s not a guarantee that you will be safe, but it does greatly reduce the chances of something happening.

A gym membership is also a great option for this time of year, but shop around. The closest or most popular gym might not be the right one for you. If you are someone who needs motivation or likes to focus more on strength training, a smaller private gym may be the best option. They tend to know their clients better and have the proper equipment for serious strength training. If you are just into general fitness and keeping healthy, a larger chain gym is probably best because they cater to a much wider range of people. However, make sure you completely understand the terms of your membership before you sign anything or give them any information. Ask questions to clarify. Some gyms will only cancel your membership under specific terms and that can make it very hard to get out once you get in. If the process to cancel isn’t simple, I don’t recommend it. These are the gyms that rely on a large chunk of income from people who stop using their membership but continue to pay for it because it’s too complicated to cancel. Those tend to be the same gyms that I hear people complain about regarding all kinds of billing issues. Remember, with any chain gym, there will be an agreement of authorization to charge your card or bank account and those places can have hidden fees, errors in billing, and more. Just be thorough and do your homework and make the best choice based on policies, not convenience of location or how modern the place looks. You should be able to easily cancel and restart your membership when you want. Essentially, a gym is a gym and you can do pretty much the same thing at any of them!

Finally, consider getting some home gym equipment for days when the weather just isn’t on your side. A used sports store is a great place to grab dumbbells, yoga mats, kettlebells, etc for a much better price than new equipment and it works just as well. There are also all kinds of free workouts on places like YouTube that you can play on your tv and follow along. If you have Netflix or any other streaming service, see if there is a fitness section and you’ll have guided workouts from the comfort of your own home!