Spring is in the air and daylight savings time is upon us! For me, that means more time to play after the work day is done! I always look forward to this time of year because I am guaranteed more hours of sunlight, which helps me feel more productive, more energetic, and helps me drop away from making excuses as to why I can’t workout.
I get it. During the winter, the colder days and longer nights can make exercising and/or making it out of the house to go to the yoga studio, park, or even for a walk/run around the neighborhood a mental tug of war (I want to look and feel good….but it’s so cozy in my house!) But now that the weather is getting warmer and the days are longer, nature is sweetly inviting you to come out of your dwellings and into the sunlight. We easily have an additional 2 hours of sunlight to take advantage of, which makes fitting in outdoor activity that much easier, at least mentally speaking.
I highly recommend that you take advantage of the weather and the sunlight and get outside as much as possible for your workouts/exercise. We need the sunlight to lift our mood and to help us get our Vitamin D levels up. Did you know that your body actually stores the Vitamin D you get in the spring and summer to help you for the rest of the year? Pretty amazing, huh? I love it when Mama Nature has a game plan!
Speaking of game plans, it’s important that you have a game plan as well to get in your outdoor activity. Some suggestions are:
- Bring your sneaks with you to work, as well as your workout clothes, so you can head for the hills as soon as you clock out!
- Love yoga? Me too! Pack yoga friendly clothes and your mat in your car so you can go to your local park, beach, or overall favorite spot to get some true sun salutations!
- If you are close enough, bike to work! Good for the environment and good for your upcoming beach body!
- Need some extra push and motivation? Talk to your work buddies and see about getting in a walk during lunch hour or committing to working out together after work 2-3 times a week. Support always helps!
- If you like to workout closer to home, slip into your workout clothes before you hop in your car. You’ll be less likely to change your mind if you’ve already changed your clothes!
One of my favorite ways to play (aka exercise) is to hop on my beach cruiser and go for a nice long bike ride. It lifts my spirits and makes me feel like a kid again. That’s exactly what I did today and because it felt more like play than working out, I went longer than I had originally planned. With such beautiful weather and all that sunlight, how could I resist?
If you your not an outdoor workout kinda person, at the very least, use the extra sunlight and weather to motivate you to get to your gym or yoga studio; just make sure that you are getting in some pure, sunscreen-less sunlight (at least 10 minutes) daily to keep your mood and Vitamin D in check!
How will you use the extra daylight hours/weather to get you moving and motivated to get your physical activity on?
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