Complete 8 rounds of 20 seconds work followed by 10 seconds rest of:
burpees
box jumps
situps
row
jump rope
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When Is It Too Cold To Exercise? - Neil Anderson
It used to be that fitness experts and general medical types had rules for when it was too cold to exercise. It's not the case anymore.
Back in the day, we used to tell people to come in from the cold and stop exercising outdoors when the ambient air temp approached freezing. It was believed that the cold air could somehow damage the lungs. This "damage" could potentially be permanent.
I remember the first time I heard the advice to not exercise in the cold. I was blown away. Hearing that it was potentially dangerous and could be permanently disabling didn't make sense to me. Quite frankly, it didn't hold water.
I grew up in Northern Utah, the son of a farmer/rancher. Northern Utah winters are FRICKIN cold. They are frequently below zero. These temps are usually accompanied by a lot of snow and even more HARD work, at least where I'm from. It is the kind of hard work that makes you breathe heavily - for hours! Work like hauling hay to the cows on the hill (by hand back then), or cleaning corals, or fencing, etc. was miserable and if I'd have had an excuse like, "Doc says, no" I surely would have pulled it.
As I sat in the exercise physiology class where I was learning about how potentially dangerous hard work was for me and my lungs, I wondered how that excuse would have gone over with my Pop.
"Sorry, Pop. Can't help you today. It is potentially dangerous."
Yeah, right. I am fairly sure had I uttered this sentence, it quite possibly could have been my last.
"Researchers have found that more people are hurt by exercising in the heat than in the cold," said Dr John W. Castellani, and exercise physiologist at the Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine. He states in a position paper from the American College of Sports Medicine on exercising in the cold:
"People go to the poles, people are out there when it is minus - 50 degrees, people do incredible things, and safely. There really isn't a point where you can tell people it is not safe anymore."
I think he is right. Back before much of the industrialized population came to live in an artificial 70 degree world, people did a lot in the cold. Can you imagine pioneer wagon trains and handcart companies stopping progress every time the mercury dipped below 32 degrees? It is silly to imagine.
The thing we worry about most is damage to our lungs or asthma symptoms becoming exacerbated by the cold. This is a myth.
"Lungs are not damaged by cold," says Kenneth W. Rundell, the director of respiratory research and the human physiology laboratory at Marywood University in Scranton, Pa. "No matter how cold the air is, by the time it reaches your lungs, it is body temperature."
"Some people complain that they get exercise-induced asthma from the cold. But that sort of irritation of the respiratory tract is caused by dryness, not cold," Dr. Rundell said. "Cold air just happens not to hold much water and is quite dry," he said. "You'd have the same effect exercising in air that was equally dry but warm."
What is the take home? If you exercise (work) in the cold you should be worried primarily about three things:
1. Beware of hypothermia. At the point where you begin to shiver, you are in the first stages and should immediately seek warmth. Prevention is the key here. Prepare for cold temps by dressing appropriately and in layers. Peeling back layers and putting them back on should be expected in different stages of your exercise (work). It is best to prevent profuse sweating. Doing so will expose you to rapid cooling despite the best layered clothing.
2. Beware of frostbite. Exposed skin is susceptible to injury in the cold. When skin temps reach 27 degrees it freezes. Sometimes this injury can be long lasting or permanent as in nerve damage, scarring and amputation. Cover up exposed skin when exercising in freezing weather. The first sign of frostbite is a burning sensation. You should avoid this at all costs, because eventually that burning sensation will go away. By then you've got frostbite (or you got smart and warmed up, which is hopefully the case).
3. Beware of lung irritation due to DRY, cold air. If you are susceptible to lung irritation and asthma you should see a respiratory specialist and take medication when you exercise. You might also consider using a balaclava so your exhaled breath can moisten the air you breathe.
So, no more staying in on cold day and skipping your workout just because of the cold. Get out in it. The official FZN stand on exercising in the cold is - DO IT. There is fitness in it if you are careful not to become injured by the cold or the heat. It take a lot of energy for the body to regulate temperature. More so, when the temps are beyond our artificially created 70 degree cocoons.
