Try These Winter Workouts!

Mix it up with these cold weather routines

What better time is there to discover a spankin’ new, uh-mazing workout than right now? (Hint: there is no better time!) I've rounded up some great ways to get you moving this winter. Whether you’re a natural snow angel or prefer to escape the winter chills, you’re sure to find a workout to warm both your muscles and your heart.

For the Great Outdoorswoman:

Go tobogganing. What exactly is a toboggan, you ask? Simply, it’s a sled without runners. Sure, tobogganing may not seem like much of a workout, but take a few trips back up that hill, and you’ll understand just how good this activity is for you — especially when it comes to perking up that booty! Plus, you’ll be having too much fun to even notice that you’re in the middle of a winter sweat sesh!

Slip on a pair of snowshoes. There are endless health and fitness benefits to taking a stroll outdoors, not the least of which include weight loss, lower blood pressure, and reduced risk of heart disease and cancer. But throw on a pair of snowshoes, and you’ve got a whole new level of outdoor fitness since snowshoeing can burn anywhere between 400 and 1,000 calories an hour! Now that’s a great reason to bundle up and enjoy the scenery.

For the Warm Weather Wisher:

Take yoga practice off your mat. Love yoga but feel like taking your practice to the next level? Enter aerial yoga, a workout that uses a silk hammock to suspend yogis above the ground — a fun, new twist on an ancient practice. Plus, Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow swear by it, and have you seen their physiques? Check out AntiGravity Fitness for more info.

Hit it, then quit it. 2014 is the year of the High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) workout. Lasting anywhere between four and 30 minutes, a HIIT workout consists of brief periods of intense movement followed by brief recovery periods. There are a number of variations to try, from Tabata to Focus T25, the 25-minute workout from Insanity creator Shaun T. The fact that we can get a complete (and we mean complete) workout in less than half an hour makes this one regimen we can definitely fit into our hectic schedules!