Weather or not: weatherproof your workouts during winter months - includes related information

American Fitness, Jan-Feb, 1998 by Bobbi Moreno

Monday morning. The alarm goes off, and as soon as you can clear the mental cobwebs, you peek out the window in anticipation of your scheduled run. What greets you in a dark, dreary, drizzly morning. Even with the most noble intentions, your workout plan, at least for the day, is washed down the drain.

Cold weather doesn't mean the end of exercise. It can be an exciting time to discover fresh, challenging physical activities you might not otherwise have tried.

Play Ball

For a fast-paced, highly aerobic activity, spend an hour on a racquetball court and you'll understand why this sport is listed in the top 20 most-played games in the United States. It has all the qualities you would expect of a high fat-burning workout. It's fast and competitive, allowing you to burn more than 600 calories per hour. During a hard-swinging game, players can make 1,200 explosive moves and cover more than a mile in quick one- and two-step bursts. Many players attest it is a sport that conditions the entire body.

Until you have determined that this is the sport for you, buy an inexpensive racquet and sports glasses. Tennis shoes, shorts, a T-shirt and sports bra is suitable attire.

A Workout with Punch

To pack a powerful punch into your fitness plan, try a boxing class, now offered in some of the larger sports clubs and specialty gyms. Boxing is a well-rounded, high-intensity sport which improves your coordination, timing and speed, while promoting cardiovascular fitness, according to Rick Rummell, fitness manager at The Sports Club in Los Angeles. Since it involves both footwork and upper-body motion, it is an excellent overall body training technique.

Boxing is the best workout that money can buy, according to Bruce Gordon, the owner of Bodies In Motion, a chain of Southern California fitness centers. "While conditioning. your body, you are also learning the art of self-defense," he says. In addition to numerous boxing workshops, including the highly popular kick boxing, Gordon also offers a class entitled Executive Boxing[TM] that appeals to the aerobically superior athlete. This class is taught by professional boxers, who take you through their own training program, burning a whooping 700 to 1,000 calories per hour.

Pilates Power

If you are seeking a softer, gentler approach to toning and flexibility, you will want to try the Pilates method. Your body will love you for it. Invented by German-born Joseph Pilates in 1923, it was originally intended for rehabilitative purposes. Pilates discovered that by attaching springs to the beds of hospitalized patients, they could start exercising even before they could get up.

By the end of the war, this spring-driven machine was embraced by the dance world, having been used by the Joffrey Ballet Company, Martha Graham and George Blanchine as a means of developing strength, elongating the muscles and enhancing flexibility. THe wondrous contraption also works the abdominals, upper thighs and buttocks, eliminates backaches and improves posture.

Since you are focusing on an individual muscle group at a time, Pilates is a wonderfully stress-free method of fine turning your body. You can find an instructor in your area by calling the Pilates Studio at (800) 474-5283.

Rink In the New Year

As you watch Oksana Bayul gracefully glide, twirl and spin on the smooth ice, making it all appear so effortless, don't you want to put on a pair of ice skates and head for the nearest rink? Ice skating is mentally energizing and therapeutic while providing such physical benefits as strengthening and toning the muscles of the hips, thighs and buttocks, as well as increasing stamina. Long-time skating enthusiast and talented ice dancer Jerry Minner feels the sport has improved his balance and body control, while teaching him grace and poise.

To ensure a comfortable and proper fit, wear snug skates that are a half to full size smaller than your shoes, with the laces securely tied. To get started on the right foot, so to speak, you might want to take a few lessons to learn the basics of this graceful sport.

Roller skating is an equally relaxing, unrestrained sport. More than 24 million Americans enjoy it, according to the Roller Skating Rink Operators Association. Several leading health authorities, including the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, consider roller skating the best fitness activity for people of all ages. It tones the buttocks, quadriceps and calf muscles, giving you a good lower-body workout.

In one study in which participants roller skated for 10 weeks, they increased leg strength and aerobic capacity, lowered blood pressure and significantly reduced stress and anxiety. There is nothing like the feeling of sailing around the rink, your body in tune to the rhythm of the music, as your brain takes a rest.

Ice skating and roller skating burn the same number of calories -- around 400 an hour.

Spin Your Wheels

Spinning[R] is a new twist on an old childhood pleasure. This indoor cycling combines the elements of simulated competition, adventure and relaxation.