As the weather gets colder and the days get shorter, working out on a consistent basis can be a chore.

Issac Hammerly, assistant strength and conditioning coach for Olympic sports in the athletic department, said it is important to work out all year, but it is especially important during the winter.

“Well, I think it’s important to keep your body in shape all the time, but particularly in the winter, I’d say it’s important because of the holidays, where people tend to overeat at Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year’s,” Hammerly said.

“It’s pretty challenging. Most people in the winter just naturally gain some weight because they are not as active.”

“Another thing that makes it challenging is the lack of sunlight that shorter days bring,” Hammerly said.

“The days get shorter, there’s not much sunlight, your motivation starts to drop and it affects quite a few people,” he said. “Some people actually have emotional disorders that start to come on with longer nights and shorter days, so we’ve also got that working against us.”

While Hammerly understands the difficulties of working out, he and Zeb Sullivan, graduate student in kinesiology, have tips to get started with a workout routine.

Start Slowly

A common mistake when starting a workout program is overexertion. Hammerly said people start off strong but try to do too much too soon.

“A lot of people will jump into things and start up where they left off maybe a month or two ago, or three months ago, whatever, or where they think they need to be now, people just doing what they used to do, and then they realize that their body hurts really bad and they don’t want to go back to it,” Hammerly said. “It’s not worth it to them, but they don’t realize that they are overtraining themselves very quickly and then they just burn themselves out of it.”

The solution is to start slow, even working out 10 to 15 minutes at a time. To go along with that, proper technique for weightlifting is key, Sullivan said.

“I would start off slowly, and most importantly learn technique,” said Sullivan, who is also an assistant faculty advisor to the ISU Weightlifting Club.

“If you start off and train slowly, you greatly decrease your risk of injury. Proper technique is most important.”

Manage your time

College students are usually registered for around 15 credit hours along with potential extracurricular activities and jobs. Finding time can be understandably hard, Hammerly said. This is where it becomes important to know exactly what workout you are going to do.

“If you’re lifting some weights or doing some cardio, you don’t need a whole lot of time. You can get into the weight room and be done in 20 minutes, it’s just a matter of getting in and doing it,” Hammerly said. “You don’t necessarily have to have something elaborate planned, just have an idea of what you’re doing and do it. Don’t make it too complicated.”

Making a workout a priority is a good way to stick to it.

“A schedule is important and I know that most college students are on a schedule, so maybe just stick it in their schedule somewhere, so that way it’s already part of your schedule,” Hammerly said.

Sullivan said that there are practical ways to help keep yourself in shape if you can’t make it to the gym everyday.

“Unless you drive to the commuter lot or you have a class at Vet Med, stay off the Orange [CyRide] bus,” Sullivan said. “I see people ride the Orange bus around campus. Walk to class. Walk up the stairs, don’t take the elevator -that adds up, guaranteed.”

Set goals

Hammerly said another way not to get burned out is to know what your goals are when you start out.

“Progression is a key. Set goals of where you want to be a month from now,” Hammerly said.

Long-term goals are also important, Sullivan said. The trick is to set goals you can reach.

Some people take pictures and look at what their body looks like in comparison six months later, Sullivan said. “Set goals for certain exercises. Set reasonable but attainable goals for yourself. That may help you continue the resistance exercise.”

Another rut to avoid is comparing yourself to others. The goals you set for yourself are what you should be focused on, Sullivan said.

“You need to think of it in terms of ‘I need to improve my physical health’ … you can only compare yourself to yourself,” Sullivan said. “And if you are making progress, that’s what matters.”

Find a good balance

Working both aerobic activity and weightlifting into a routine is better for your body than having just one or the other.

“I think it’s very good to have a balance,” Hammerly said. “Weight training is important. Cardiovascular activity is good, because it’s good for your heart and I would probably recommend it. Weightlifting is also important, because you maintain the lean body mass, and when you just strengthen your muscles that can be healthy.”

Running is good for your heart, but you need to do both, Hammerly said, especially when running may be hard on your body or difficult with your body type.

“It’s pretty important just to have a balance,” Hammerly said. “I think that some people think that running is like the key, and some people that have excess body weight … they probably shouldn’t do a whole lot of distance running.”

If running is not your thing, other forms of cardiovascular activity, such as biking, playing sports or swimming, can give some benefit as well.

Work with a partner

You wake up for that 8 a.m. workout you planned on, and your first thought is to reset the alarm and go back to sleep until your 11 a.m. class. That’s when you receive another wakeup call – your workout partner wondering where you are.

“It’s easy if you have an accountability partner, so if you have a good friend, for most types of people that’s going to make it a lot easier,” Hammerly said.

“Having someone say ‘Ok, we’re going to meet at this time’ or whatever, it’s a lot easier than telling yourself, ‘No, I’m not going to do it today.'”

Have fun

Both Hammerly and Sullivan acknowledged burnout is a factor. This is where mixing up your normal routine comes into play.

“Do things that are fun. If you see someone else doing something that looks fun, maybe go up and ask them why they’re doing it and then maybe try it for themselves,” Hammerly said. “People need to start being creative with they’re training and do what’s fun, do something they enjoy, instead of doing what everybody else is doing.”

Some ways to do that could be trying new lifts or playing sports to get aerobic workouts that don’t involve running in circles.

“It doesn’t have to be something that you dislike. You don’t have to run around the track for 30 minutes. Play basketball, play racquetball – something fun,” Sullivan said. “That’s a reason people get burned out. It’s boring, its monotonous – ‘Oh, I have to go to the stupid treadmill again.’ You don’t have to do that.”

Swimming provides alternate workout form

Looking for a cardiovascular workout? Running not your thing?

Swimming is a great alternative, said ISU swimming coach Duane Sorenson.

“One of the great things about swimming is people who have bad knees from running or bad ankles or bad hips take up swimming to take some of the pounding off,” Sorenson said.

Like any new workout, the key to starting a new swimming routine is to pace yourself.

“You don’t want to try to come in and sprint down the pool and stop and rest for a half hour,” Sorenson said. “You’re not going to get any conditioning out of it, just like you wouldn’t run a marathon by doing 100-yard dashes.”

A good way to start out, Sorenson said, is to go a lap at a time, rest a little bit until you recover, and then swim another lap, working your way up to multiple laps.

Once you are comfortable with that, you can start setting time limits on your resting period.

Even if your schedule prevents you from spending a long period of time in the pool, you can still get a good workout.

“You don’t need to spend hours and hours a day doing this,” Sorenson said.

“There are a lot of people that get in and spend a half hour a day, or even 20 minutes doing this. You’re still going to get a full-body workout.”

The key to keeping yourself interested is variety.

“Just like running all the time gets boring, swimming all the time gets boring, so you’re still exercising and keeping yourself fit, but just using different muscles, and it’s something to look forward to that day of workout,” Sorenson said.