With the festival of lights just ended and the Christmas holy days approaching, December is a time of family gathering and spending lots of time together. Which often leads to the question, “What are we going to do now?”
Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to stay active inside and out, pending what the weather is like. Here are a few tips from some of our experts over at Physiquality.
Winter fitness with the family
with advice from Cristina Martinez Faucheux, PT and Mark Salandra, CSCS
When the weather turns cold, many people hide indoors, but there are plenty of ways to stay active during the winter months. Many winter activities are a good way to pass the time with family members (or to keep from getting stir crazy), including skating, sledding, hockey, skiing (or snowboarding. Hiking and walking are still possible if it’s not too icy out, and you can always find a gym for a game of basketball.
Cristina encourages families to have fun in the snow, suggesting snow fights, building snow forts, playing tug of war, and grabbing the sand toys (shovels, buckets and molds) for snow castles. For creative types, she advocates snow painting with bottles full of food coloring. (And if you’re not feeling so creative, see if there’s a snow or ice carving competition near you where you can walk through the sculptures and admire the creations of others.)