7 tips for safe exercise during the cold and windy rainy season

If you are able to exercise regularly, don't make the rainy season an excuse to be absent. However, sports during the rainy season are also at risk of injury. Slippery and muddy roads have a high risk of making you slip. Not to mention the risk of getting sick after the rain. Psstt… No need to worry if you know the safe tips.

1. Heating remains mandatory

Warming up is a ritual you can't miss every time you want to exercise, be it hot or cold, windy. In fact, exercising without warming up especially in cold weather actually increases your risk for sprains or injuries.

However, how to warm up you also should not be arbitrary. Experts recommend that you warm up for at least 15 minutes indoors first so that your body temperature can rise faster. Then, follow through with stretching movements to prevent injury.

If the conditions do not allow you to warm up in the room, deal with dynamic heating (heating that is done by moving places; not staying in one place) until the body heats up.

For example, if you are going to run, a dynamic warm-up is necessary to walk fast or jog. Then exercise in place to stretch the muscles of the thighs, buttocks, lower back.

2. Use layered clothes

If you keep exercising during the rainy season, it's best to always wear layers of clothing. Starting from the thinnest synthetic material first to the thickest and can withstand strong winds and rainwater.

Avoid sports clothes that are made of cotton, as they can absorb sweat. Because, clothes that are wet with sweat will make your body temperature decrease and increase the risk of hypothermia.

Hypothermia is characterized by problems with the ability to think and move easily, chills, fatigue, drowsiness, slow and weak pulse, and collapse or unconsciousness.

But also pay attention to how thick your layers are. On the other hand, dressing too thick can make you sweat more and thus make you shiver even more cold. If you are already sweating profusely, you should reduce the layers of your clothes so you don't get hypothermic.

3. Keep using sunblock

Even though the sky is always cloudy, that doesn't mean you can skip using sunblock or sunscreen every time you exercise outside.

Clouds filter sunlight but not UV radiation. The Skin Cancer Foundation says that clouds only block at least 20% of UV rays. Excessive UV exposure is a risk factor for aging and skin cancer.

So if you want to exercise during the rainy season, you have to keep applying skin moisturizer, lip balm and sunscreen with a minimum SPF of 15-30.

4. Keep drinking

The comfortable cold air makes us not feel thirsty, so forget to drink. In fact, we still sweat when exercising during the rainy season.

Therefore, you must keep drinking water to replace lost body fluids so you don't get dehydrated. In order not to forget, make an alarm to take a drink break every 15-20 minutes.

If you are not sure whether you have drunk enough or not, try checking the color of your urine before and after exercise. The darker the urine, the sign that you need more drinking.

5. Use gloves and a hat

In order to defend itself during cold weather, the body concentrates more blood flow in the core of the body. This condition makes the ends of the body, such as the head, hands, and feet, prone to cold.

Therefore, use gloves and a hat when exercising in cold temperatures. Hats can also be used to ward off drizzling that may appear impromptu during sports.

7. Keep cooling down after exercise

Even if you exercise during the rainy season, this doesn't mean you have to leave the stagecooling down or cool down after exercising.

Always allow 5-10 minutes to cool down. For example, by walking casually after running. This will increase blood flow from the muscles to the heart.

Cooling down helps lower the temperature of previously hot muscles so that they can heal faster and avoid pain. Cooling down is also needed to reduce muscle stiffness that is prone to occur after exercising.