Best snowy workout for this February
The last winter month is ahead of us and some of you might be stuck in snowy cities with no motivation to leave the house for gym. Well we got good news for all of you: no need to go far in order to workout. Just grab a shovel and go outside and make your yard clean and your body fit and strong.
For this workout you only need 2 "ingredients": snow and a shovel. Once you got that covered, you can start your snowy workout with these 4 moves:
Snowy workout
1. Shovel Squats
For the first exercise just bend down and lift each shovel full of snow. When doing the squats make sure you do it right. The best way to protect your back is to avoid lifting with it, but doing so with your legs. Also, when working out you must make sure to focus on a good squat form. You can easily do so by putting your feet in shoulder-width or slightly wider position, bending your knees, this way keeping your back straight, and have the chest lifted. Stop when your thighs are more or less parallel to the ground in order to scoop the snow onto your shovel and return to the standing position.
2. Standing Oblique Shovel Twists
Once you’ve lifted the shovel, the best thing you could do is to carry your snow to a pile of it rather than flipping it over your shoulder. While you do that, make sure you stand tall and tuck the hips under, bracing the core, and rotate to each side 5 times to engage the obliques.
3. Shovel Lunges
To help cutting down on the potential back injuries and limiting the number of reps of squats that you’ll be forced to do, try pushing the snow instead of lifting it. While you’re at it, bend your knees until they make up 90 degree angle or at least go as low as your outfit allows you.
4. Shovel Deadlifts
The last exercise of the snowy workout is for the professional snow shovelers out there. But if you aren’t used to the weight-lifting, carefully try a couple of deadlifts with the shovel full of snow. Keep your feet a bit more than shoulder-width apart and maintain a little strength in the knees. Grip your shovel slightly further from your legs and hinge at the hips, keeping the back straight and the chest lifted as you scoop up the snow. Go from the heels as you straighten your back up, and squeeze the glutes while you thrust the hips and return to standing position.
Now all you have to do is grab the largest shovel you can find and go have your snowy workout today or unfortunately, wait by the window until it starts snowing.
No snow? No problem!
As for the girls who live in Bahamas, Fiji or Brazil you can still apply this workout when gardening, playing with your siblings in the sandbox or hoping your significant other will surprise you with a trip to the mountains where you can snowboard and kill 460 calories per hour. Also, don't underestimate sledding - 360 cal/h, ice skating with 460 cal/h or ice hockey which kills up to 550 cal/h!
