5-steps-to-conquer-the-winter-workout If working out during winter is something you dread year after year, now is the optimum time to switch up your training plan to accommodate the dropping temperatures and darker days. How? Here are our five top tips for conquering fitness this winter... Get yourself organised Waking up and assessing whether or not today is a training day or a rest day will leave you unmotivated and lost for direction. By creating a winter training plan with up to date goals and targets, you will see the festivities through with success and progression. Try something new Summer workouts are ideal as you’ve got the option of working out both indoors or outdoors, but winter? Not so much, unless running or cycling in the cold is your thing. If not, now is the ideal time to adapt your workouts to suit the seasonal changes, with the added benefit that your body will react brilliantly to change – rocketing those results just in time for Christmas. Stuck for ideas? Try weight training with different equipment, or opt for a home cardio workout instead. Schedule an early workout Admittedly morning workouts in winter are tough. It’s cold, it’s dark and it’s basically anything but appealing – but believe it or not they are worth doing. Why? Here are three reasons: your motivation will be at its peak, your body will react better to the shock of training first thing, and last but by no means least, you can spend all evening relaxing in the warm – guilt free. Refuel with a hot breakfast Porridge, pancakes and omelettes are all great options for breakfast on a cold, winter’s morning.  If you wake up and can’t bring yourself to stick even a single toe out from underneath the duvet because it’s that cold, then a hot, hearty post-workout breakfast is going to be the ultimate get up and go motivation. Allow time to relax and indulge We believe that scheduling in time to relax with loved ones over the festive period, with or without a few treats here and there, is a good way to spike your motivation just in time for the New Year. If you avoid down time or your favourite Christmas treat, there's a chance you will roll into January thinking “why did I bother with training in winter? It was miserable”. News flash: it doesn’t have to be. Find a balance and do what works for you, we’re all human, after all.