told ya cold air kills your lungs! (in a good way though)
Okay, some of you might disagree with me, but here’s my take on it. This comes from camping/training with minimal gear through an arctic blast(though in the MO area, but still nasty), and general outdoor practice:
-Cold air is NOT good to get deep in the lungs, so do not get huffing and puffing too much unless you’re young and crazy. This WILL raise your likelihood way up of getting sick.
-Push ups or anything else like that need to be done indoors.
-Stretching should be done indoors, and will go much quicker that way.
-Sparring in the cold is higher risk than elsewhere for obvious reasons(you will be tighter, no matter what, because that is what cold does).
-Start with many layers, and remove as need be.
-Anything that requires extended duration of more than your shoes touching the ground is risking losing a lot of body heat, which increases your risk of getting sick.
-I’ve yet to experience a temperature at which I could not do chi kung comfortably. However, the more wind, the more skin I need to cover.
-Sitting on concrete is trouble. Don’t do it.
-Dress for the season, and workout slower. Most body heat is lost through the head, so wear a hat.
I HAVE to be at class throughout winter, as I’m a senior student. We train outside, so this is what I do to keep well.
Most of the times I see people get sick or get sick myself, they either underdress for the cold, or get huffing and puffing too much cold air.
Huffing and puffing cold air will by no means get you sick. You may get cold-air induced athsma, but you will not get ill.
Semantics. Asthma, sick, what’s the difference, functionally? Pushes the envelope for a cough too. Granted, it won’t spontaneously ‘create’ a virus or anything, but it will make you less able, and is effectively the same as being sick.
“Most of the times I see people get sick or get sick myself, they either underdress for the cold, or get huffing and puffing too much cold air.”
‘Too much’
“-Cold air is NOT good to get deep in the lungs, so do not get huffing and puffing too much unless you’re young and crazy. This WILL raise your likelihood way up of getting sick.”
Again, ‘too much’.
I’m not saying there should be an absolute ban on aerobic activity in the cold, but there’s a point that’s too much.
So … going for a little jog in the cold (like 1 mile or so) would be OK, but running until you’re ready to fall out would be detrimental – you get weak, your immune system weakens, and it opens the door to viruses. Something like that?
Originally posted by SaMantis
OK, so any tips on shoveling?
Usually, I start with a medium/tall stance and step into your shoveling swip, keeping your rear leg mostly straight. You will then be in something a lot like a bow stance. keep your back straight and use your front leg to help lift the weight on the shovel, slidding your rear leg in as you lift. Wah-la, shoveling and stance training. with this method you will be very unlikely to fall down while you are shoveling. This is the way I shoveled all last winter and it worked well for me. Being a snow plow driver shoveling is a good portion of my job.
This may be the completely wrong way of lifting snow but it worked for me.
btw, we had 10 inches of new snow this morning!
SaMantis: Well, perhaps my response to Ford was too involved. I have a deficiency in my briefness gland which prevents me from saying something like “Who wants asthma symptoms, either?”
Yeah, I have nothing against jogging in the cold, or sprinting, I just keep wary of that point of exhaustion that opens me up to sickness.
Ford, sorry if I came on a little strong with the semantics bit.
That’s cool, KC Elbows,
Qi dup, LOL on stance training! I’ll keep the info in mind this winter.
Followup:How do you northerners train in winter?
OK, I’ve been able to workout indoors most of the time, plus I do stairs at work. Yesterday I tried a workout in the snow for the first time.
Big difference! Basics were extremely tough, forms were nearly impossible. Couldn’t do anything at full-speed. My feet were either sliding around or getting jammed in packed snow. By the end of the hour I was just putting together line drills and working on balance.
Worst thing was that the leaves are off the trees, so all my neighbors could see me flailing around in the backyard. 
Oh well.
Anyone else working out in this weather?
**** that snow was heavy. I had enough of a workout shovelling out.
I train indoors
IronFist
sweeeet. inic’s on the mend.
Weekdays:
Indoors work on stances, silk reeling, single movements and similar.
Weekends:
Hit the running track in the Park (7 min. on Bicycle) at 06:00am and also do forms and other training in the center of the track. Normally do 1 1/2 ~ 2 hours.
Example:
Different leg kicks step combos for about 150 meters turn do a different kick step combo, etc.
This kicks also work wonders for your flexibility and I don’t need additional stretching.
Luckily we hardly ever get snow and temps don’t drop much below -2 C at night.
It has snowed in Central London for the first time in about 10 years, so I got a chance to snow practice yesterday with some friends. It also ended up being a much more balance type workout, but was good. It made us practise our horse stances downwards rather than with outward pressure so we couldn’t fall. ( which is if I understand correctly the right way to do them.)
It was cold to begin with but after qigong practise for an hour we were quite warm and training in just our t-shirts. Falling on the floor was also more on the agenda, so we got a chance to develop some breakfalls and strengthen the body(once the snow had been compacted to ice it was reasonably hard to land on.)
We are also looking forward to warm summer weather.
LOL IronFist, indoors is the place to be I guess. I usually hit the stationary bike for a couple minutes a day, do bits of a tai chi form and 13 postures.
The snow workout is still pretty cool – I’m lucky because the landlord takes care of shoveling it away from the steps. And the ice underneath will make you practice breakfalls, whether you like it or not. Maybe if I hit the ground enough times I’ll become a master of Iron Butt.
I noticed the same thing about horse stance – the ice won’t let you push outward, but you’ve still gotta get low or you’re gonna slide.
inic, you’re not going running this weekend are you? The temperature is supposed to be like … 9.
Worst thing was that the leaves are off the trees, so all my neighbors could see me flailing around in the backyard.
atleast u have trees… my backyard is a open book… and the sun just beems dwon on me with disrespect… I KNOW my neighbors think I’m crazy… wait until I get my big azz tire… then things will get interesting…
winter training
I am usually residing either in Albany or Poughkeepsie , upstate New York (but not THAT upstate). There always seems to be plenty of snow. I favor going deep into the woods, at least 5 miles or so, dragging with me a 45 pound weight plate by a rope. Depending on how you drag it, you are working different muscle groups. The deep snow helps to build leg power. In addition, I will strap weights to my ankles and sometimes wear a backback with additional weight. I climb the trees, and jump down into the snow to practice falling/ landing. I do kicking line drills in the snow and I practice my punches and hand techniques on the trees, which conditions my hands and knuckles. This is how the old masters trained thousands of years ago. One time, while training in the woods, I was attacked by a wolf and I killed it with my knife. You never know what will happen in the woods, when you return your whole body is sore. It is among my favorite training methods. When I get tired of dragging the weight, I then start picking it up and throwing it forward in my path.
sorry but i feel like i’m reading a fiction story when reading your post. theres no way you can do all that alone, you NEED another person with you. and being attacked by a wolf?? first of all, wolves dont attack alone, always in groups. if a wolf is alone, no way is it attacking a human. and you’ll need more than a knife to stop it, if it does attack. wow, and i though I exaggerated!
Ok wait a minute. Wasn’t that whole training scene done in Rocky IV?
i often take a training partner with me into the woods. it comes in handy in case of emergency to have someone with you. but “going out there alone” is not as harsh as you make it sound. These arent the adirondacks, they’re about 150 acres of woods bordering my neighborhood. Rocky did drag logs through the snow in part 4, but surely the movie producers weren’t the first people to think of that. I dont claim to have invented any of these training methods, i’ve picked them up along the way. as a kid (and even now), whenever i heard or saw something about training, i would be the first to go out and try it. “dont try this at home kids”. i grew up practically in the middle of nowhere, so was always out camping/hunting/hiking/ whatever. wolves often do hunt in packs, however there simply arent that many of them around here, and most of them are starving, which is probably why the one attacked me. people usually believe the story more when they see the scars on my leg and arm to go along with it. if the training concepts sound too harsh i’m sorry, you should try them some time though.