Winter Sports - It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

by Heather Long | More from this Blogger

27 Nov 2006 07:36 AM

Just about now you may be missing the swimming pool and your bathing suit, but the winter months have their own sporting gear and sports for you to enjoy. Wintertime is a great time for winter sports and to stay active this winter season, here are some of the best sports of winter for you and your family to indulge in.

So stay active and check out these winter challenges:

• Ice Skating - You don't have to be Dorothy Hamill to strap on a pair of ice skates and go for a simple spin around the ice - an hour of ice skating can burn over 400 calories
• Snow skiing and snow boarding - The first time I did this, I was absolutely hooked, I miss living close to ski slopes where we could make a day trip of it, once you get going, you're often having so much fun you have no idea how many hundreds of calories you are burning throughout the day
• Cross-country skiing - this is a lot harder than downhill skiing, but you can burn nearly a 1,000 calories an hour - seriously great workout, but also a lot of fun
• Sledding - Remember hauling the sled up the hill and hopping on it to go flying down the hill with a heck of a lot of fun - it's that walk up that gives you the workout and the whizzing down that gives you all the fun
• Snowball Fight - Dodgeball is the only summertime equivalent to this amount of hysterical fun that you and the kids can have shoving together your snowball forts and going to war - just be sure to take periodic breaks to warm up and dry off
• Running/Biking/Walking in the cold air - it can be harder to get your body heat up in the cold air, but it requires you to burn more energy to do it and the cold air needs to be warmed up in your lungs too - it's fantastic way to get a good workout and to enjoy the crispness of the beautiful winter weather

What's your favorite winter sport?

Related Articles:

Tis the Season - Fitness Gift Ideas

The World of Snow Skiing

Ramp Up: Burn More Calories In the Same Amount of Time

Cardio Crash Course

Skiing for Fitness

The Season of Skiing

Learn more about Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago.

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