The Case For The Cold Weather Workout

IN FALL AND WINTER, IT’S EASY TO LET YOUR WORKOUT ROUTINE succumb to hibernation.

- Christa Sgobba

But new research shows that crisp temperatures can actually boost your results. “In a cool environment, people’s ratings of perceived exertion are lower, and the duration of their exercise time tends to be a little bit greater,” says Lacy Alexander, Ph.D., an associate professor of kinesiology at Penn State University. Translation: You can go harder, longer. Not only that, but even mildly cool temperatures (say, 60 degrees) can trigger the activation of heat-producing brown fat, the kind that burns calories, explains Kristin Stanford, Ph.D., a researcher at The Ohio State University College of Medicine.