Anyone who tries to stick to a regular fitness training routine every week knows that staying on track is more challenging during winter. Watching the snow pouring down can be beautiful when you are watching it from the comfort of your warm home. However, it is a different story when you try to exercise in it. Gone are the many opportunities to exercise in the sunny outdoors, so what do you do?
It is essential to take a healthy lifestyle approach to stay fit year-round and always have easy-to-stick-to workout routines throughout the year that you can easily incorporate into your schedule. If you take advantage of the warm months to hike, go on long runs, and all the other ways you can exercise outdoors, you may need to develop a training routine just for the winter months. The best way to establish this routine is to be realistic about what you can see yourself feeling motivated to do every week. It may be time to invest in a gym membership for the winter months. However, you may not have time to drive to and from the gym when you want to train. If this is the case, you will not stay on track with this plan. Instead, you should invest in free weights for a home gym. Whatever you decide, it is important to have a realistic plan for what days and times you can workout and stay committed to this plan. Having a workout journal or whiteboard on your wall may be helpful with your routine written on it as a weekly reminder and motivator.
If your fitness goals include building muscle, the winter months are the perfect time to focus on this goal. With holiday gatherings and colder weather, who doesn’t want to indulge in more goodies during the winter months? You can consider this extra calorie intake as fuel for your muscle-building goals. Regarding holiday goodies, it is important to keep a healthy balance. You do not need to avoid the treats, but just do not overdo it. You should also ensure you get healthy fats, like nuts and avocados, and carbs, like sweet potatoes and oatmeal. Consuming healthy fats, carbs, and lean proteins is excellent muscle-building fuel and will also help keep your appetite in check, so you don’t overdo the treats. Also, ensure you consume enough micronutrients like vitamin C and B vitamins to support muscle repair, energy, and other aspects that optimize your gains. TAPOUT Performance Hydration & Recovery Drinks make it easy to ensure you are getting a steady supply of the vitamins you need to support your gains, as well as five electrolytes to help you keep going strong.
Now that you are properly fueling your muscles, are you training the right way to achieve the muscle growth you want? For example, lifting weight with the goal of leaning down vs. lifting to pack on muscle is two very different strategies. If you are trying to lean down overall, lifting lighter weights with more reps is the way to go. However, the opposite is true if you are trying to pack on muscle – heavy weights and fewer reps. When building muscle, we recommend lifting with the heaviest weight you are comfortable with. In addition, we suggest focusing on one major muscle group 2-3 times per week, with 48 hours separating each training session to give your body time to heal.
As we have discussed, it is alright to indulge in a few holiday treats as long as you don’t overdo it, but it is also essential to not overdo your regular meals too. Numerous studies have pointed out that people tend to feel hungrier and eat more when the weather gets colder. But, of course, all of the delicious treats of the holidays do not help either. So how do you keep your appetite under control?
Try to eat slower during meal times. This will help you savor the flavors more, but studies have also shown that it takes about 20 minutes for your brain to realize you are full. So those times when you were uncomfortably full were probably because you did not give your brain enough time to realize how much food you were eating! It is also important to keep track of portion sizes. Choosing smaller plates and bowls is an easy way to control portions. If you are eating packaged food, paying attention to the recommended serving size is essential to keep your calorie consumption in check.
If you are making some festive recipes of your own, think about how you can make the recipes healthier while also retaining the flavor. For example, the cookie recipe that calls for a ton of shortening. Instead, you could swap the shortening for apple sauce or peanut butter to benefit from its healthy fats and less saturated fat. Thinking about that same cookie recipe, what could you use instead of the ton of sugar that typically go in cookie recipes? You could use only half of the sugar the recipe calls for or swap the sugar for healthier options like monk fruit or stevia. Does the recipe call for eggs? Instead, you could use the leaner part of the eggs, the egg whites.
TAPOUT Performance Hydration and Recovery Drinks have been designed to activate your body's natural energy reserves, improve performance during competition and training and promote quick and healthy recovery after exercise.
TAPOUT comes in four flavors:
- Citrus
- Cherry Lemonade
- Orange
- Peach Mango
Our Citrus flavor has 120 calories to replenish natural energy and give you a boost under difficult training conditions. It also has 240mg of natural sodium, and a blend of electrolytes and vitamins. As you work out, these vitamins and electrolytes are used by your body or lost in sweat. That's why each TAPOUT contains:
- Vitamins A, C, E
- The Vitamin B Complex
- Potassium
- Calcium
- Magnesium
- Chloride
If you're looking for a sports performance drink that replenishes these electrolytes and vitamins but prefer a no-sugar drink, TAPOUT Orange and Cherry Lemonade contain the same scientifically derived formula with zero sugar and only five calories.
No matter which flavor you choose, you can be assured that you're getting great taste from a sports drink made with no artificial colors, flavors or ingredients.