Training tips for cold weather

After reading "When Cold......", by George on the Beijing Yin Style study group's training blog, I decided to put together some of what I have to say about training in cold weather, which is, obviously, appropriate for the season for many practitioners right now and will be again soon enough for our Southern Hemisphere friends. Definitely check out George's post on Y.S.Behind Enemy Lines when you get a chance, and take his advice to heart since it's solid information. It's also a poignant topic for us right now since the Knoxville study group trained this week outdoors in 25-degree Fahrenheit (-4 Celsius) for a couple of hours while damp snow fell lightly on us.

George starts off with a couple of pieces of advice that absolutely are a must for anyone training in cold weather, and those musts are centered on layering your clothing. Here is a summary of his main points:

1. Wear sufficient layers to protect yourself from the cold, paying particular attention to the ankles and knees. I might add to this list an include the hands and neck, at least for the time before or after your training and especially if it's windy, and probably the top of the head, particularly if it's below freezing. You'll want to choose layers that are easy to take off, though, and keep in mind that the inner layers will be the main ones you'll need to shed as you begin to sweat.
2. Constant heat-building activities like turning the circle are ideal for getting started with your training in cold weather. Those activities will keep you warm because they are continuous and don't require the same kind of fatigue-breaks as strike drilling or standing strengthening. They also tend to induce a lot of sweating, however, so be prepared to shed layers, particularly wet inner layers after you've done them for a while.
3. Circle turning and standing strengthening are renowned within Yin Style Baguazhang as excellent for improving and encouraging circulation, so use either, particularly standing strengthening, to jump start your circulation between sets of other activities or at the beginning.
4. After your training, if you have a considerable amount of time to be outdoors still due to a commute home or for some other reason, be sure to wear only dry layers.

My advice doesn't venture far from his, actually, in most respects. I might add that finding an enclosed area, particularly one sheltered from most or all of the breeze, will make an enormous difference in your perception of and endurance against the cold weather. Wind chill is horribly hard to bear when exercising, so finding shelter from it can and will make a tremendous difference. A mostly empty garage or porch will make a surprising difference if you can find one, and even a high hedge or fence could make some difference.

You'll also want to keep moving when you're training, even if you're not turning the circle. Standing around to rest is generally not going to be your best option. Instead, you might consider doing some light turning or even just marching or jogging gently in place. Especially if you're sweating, you don't want to stand still in the cold for very long at all, and once you get cold from doing just that, you'll probably find it very difficult to warm back up, even if training vigorously.

One other piece of advice I'll add is that it's probably in your best interests to keep practical safety near the front of your mind if you're going to brave the elements and the cold. Some simple things you can do might include staying relatively close to warm shelter, making sure people know where you're going to be training (particularly if not so close to warm shelter), bringing a thermos with hot soup or a hot drink in it for helping to warm you back up after training (though it's not great to drink hot or caffeinated liquids while you train, those can be good choices after -- note, however, that green tea is considered cooling and might not be the best choice at that particular moment), and using the good sense to know when the cold is starting to beat you and that you need to retreat. In that, it might be a good idea to familiarize yourself with the symptoms of hypothermia and frostbite and be prepared to act responsibly at the first real signs of them. George talks about "manning up," but don't be a fool in your attempt to do so!

A lot of folks that train internal arts have images in their heads of using advanced qi to melt snow around them and preserve themselves in cold weather. If that kind of thing motivates you to train in the cold when you have the opportunity, then great. Keep in mind, though, that you might not have that level of development (if it truly exists) and that hypothermia and frostbite are realistic dangers in sub-freezing temperatures. Put delusions of grandeur aside if you're getting so cold that you're starting to feel certain that something bad is happening.

After you train in the cold, you need to warm up. It's a good idea, as mentioned earlier, to have access to dry clothes, probably including gloves, to wear out of your training area if it's further away from somewhere warm than a couple of minutes' walk. It's also a good idea to warm yourself up after your training with warm soups, stews, or beverages and even a nice, hot shower. Just don't be too quick about immersing yourself in hot water as the quick change in temperature can be a little much for your system to handle and isn't really good for you. It's not a bad idea to apply a chaffing kind of brisk massage to your joints, particularly ones that are susceptible to cold like the knees, ankles, wrists, and hands/fingers when you come in.

So, as George would tell you: Man up! Don't let the cold weather be another excuse to avoid hard, serious training, but plan accordingly and do it intelligently. Of course, another alternative is available for most of us: if you can, simply train indoors!