Fitness

Essential stretches to fight stiff winter muscles – Harvard Health

Published

1 year ago

October 22, 2024

Essential stretches to fight stiff winter muscles – Harvard Health

Does cold weather seem to leave you with stiff, sore muscles? It’s not your imagination; there’s science behind the symptoms. Fortunately, you can relieve discomfort and protect your muscles by stretching regularly.

How cold affects muscles

When the mercury drops, it threatens your body’s core temperature, which functions best at about 98.6° F. To stay warm, your body will send more blood toward your core. “The muscles in your legs and arms get less blood flow — and less oxygen — than they would in warmer temperatures. With less oxygen, the muscles are stiffer, they don’t work as well, and they fatigue easily,” says Dr. Sarah Eby, a sports medicine physician with Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital.

Cold weather also affects nerves (which contribute to muscle function) and makes blood flow to muscles even less efficient.

All of these changes increase the risk for muscle and tendon injuries, especially if you’re less active in the winter and your muscles are weak and tight.

Two types of stretches

Dr. Eby recommends two kinds of stretches to ward off cold weather consequences.

Dynamic stretches get your muscles ready for activity. They consist of flowing, repetitive motions, such as walking briskly. The activity sends blood, heat, and oxygen to the muscles to help them work more efficiently and make them less likely to tear. During winter, they’re best done when you’re inside.

Most of the year, you need just a few minutes of dynamic stretching before an activity, and you might focus only on muscles you’ll be using (such as leg muscles before a walk). “But in cold weather, everything tightens up, and you need a dynamic warm-up for your whole body. Do lunges or squats, bring each knee to your chest, make circles with your arms, and twist your trunk left and right. Loosen up for about 10 to 15 minutes,” Dr. Eby says.

Static stretches keep muscles long and flexible and should be done only when your muscles are warmed up (after a workout, for example).

To do a static stretch, you hold a certain position for 20 to 30 seconds, without bouncing (which can tear muscle fibers). Examples include

clasping your hands behind you, straightening your arms, and lifting them toward the ceiling, to stretch your chest and shoulders
reaching for your toes while sitting on the floor with your legs out in front of you, to stretch the hamstrings (in the back of your thigh)
doing a deep lunge while keeping your back heel planted on the ground, to stretch your calf muscles.

Static stretches feel good and lengthen the muscles, which fights stiffness, increases your range of motion, and improves your posture, balance, and agility. Dr. Eby recommends doing them every day as a preventive measure or to relieve pain and stiffness.

For more information about stretching, check out the Harvard Special Health Report Stretching.

Move of the month: Calf stretch

Stand up straight and hold the back of a chair. Extend your right leg back and press your heel against the floor. Bend your left knee and feel the stretch in your right calf. Hold for 20 to 30 seconds and return to the starting position. Repeat. Then repeat on the other side, with your left leg back and your right knee bent.

Photo by Michael Carroll

What else you can do

While stretching might be enough to avoid stiff winter muscles, the following tips can also help.

Stay hydrated. This helps prevent lactic acid from building up in your muscles and causing cramps.

Dress for the elements. “Dress warmly, with a hat, a neck gaiter, and a vest or a coat, so you don’t need to shunt as much blood away from your arms and legs,” Dr. Eby says.

Take vitamin D₃. Vitamin D deficiency can make muscles sore and achy. Take 1,000 to 2,000 IU of vitamin D₃ per day.

Avoid junk food. Stay away from highly processed foods, such as cookies, chips, and frozen dinners. These can contribute to inflammation throughout the body, causing muscle discomfort.

If pain doesn’t go away

If muscle pain doesn’t go away, you might have an injury, such as a muscle strain. An important clue: “Sore muscles feel better once you loosen up and exercise. Strained muscles get worse as you keep going,” Dr. Eby says.

She recommends putting an ice pack on suspected muscle strains, applying topical pain relievers, and seeing your doctor if symptoms persist.

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Fitness

Winter Work Outs: Beware Of Vigorous Exercise That Can Harm Your Knees And Back

Published

4 hours ago

November 30, 2025

Press Room

Winter Work Outs: Beware Of Vigorous Exercise That Can Harm Your Knees And Back

Last Updated:November 29, 2025, 19:15 IST

Winter is the peak season for preventable injuries, especially among people who go from zero to beast mode without warming up properly.

It is important to focus on the basics while working, especially in winter months

Winter and year-end have that weird motivational magic: the cold hits, the guilt kicks in, and suddenly everyone wants to “fix their fitness” overnight. Gyms fill up, running tracks get busy, and people jump straight from hibernation mode to high-intensity everything. And honestly? That’s where most winter workout injuries begin.

If you’ve ever felt your knees crack louder than your New Year’s resolutions or your lower back screaming after a surprise sprint session, you’re not alone. Orthopaedic doctors say winter is the peak season for preventable injuries, especially among people who go from zero to beast mode without warming up properly.

Dr Ashis Acharya, Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi, puts it straight: “Cold muscles are tight muscles. Tight muscles get injured faster. Most knee and lower-back injuries in winter happen because people start vigorously without allowing the body to transition from cold to active.”

Why Winter Makes You More Vulnerable

Think of your muscles like cold rubber bands. They’re less flexible, stiffer, and more likely to snap under sudden stress. When the temperature dips, your body goes into “leave me alone” mode.

Your muscles don’t get the same easy blood flow, so they take longer to warm up. Your joints feel a little creaky, like they’ve been sitting in one position too long. And your tendons? They tighten up like stubborn rubber bands, which means your knees and lower back have to work way harder than they should.

The Usual Culprits: Mistakes Everyone Makes

‘I’ll warm up as I go’: That’s like starting your car in freezing weather and immediately hitting 100 km/h. Your knees, especially the patellofemoral joint, take the first hit.

Jumping from desk job to deadlifts: If you sit 8–10 hours a day, your hip flexors tighten, and your glutes go on vacation. Winter amplifies this. So, when you suddenly lift heavy, your lower back ends up doing the job your hips should be doing.

Running with cold shoes, cold muscles, cold everything: Runners are notorious for this. Cold mornings + no mobility work = knee pain that sticks around longer than your enthusiasm.

Overconfidence because ‘Winter feels good for workouts’: Sure, cold air feels refreshing. But inside, your joints are screaming, “please stop”.

What Actually Helps

Warm up for 10–15 minutes. Light mobility, marching, ankle circles, hip openers, simple but magic.
Start slower. Build intensity gradually over 2–3 weeks.
Layer up. Warm muscles = safer movements.
Strengthen the basics. Glutes, hamstrings, quads, core. These stabilise your knees and back.
Stretch after workouts. Winter tightness lingers, so cool-downs actually matter.

As Dr Acharya sums up, “Consistency beats intensity. Winter workouts are great, but only if your body is ready for them.” You can absolutely crush your winter goals. Just don’t treat your body like it’s auditioning for an action film on day one. Warm up, ease in, stay smart, and your knees and back will thank you all season long.

First Published:

November 29, 2025, 19:15 IST

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Fitness

I tried the Wattbike Proton smart bike for a month and it’s the best exercise bike I’ve ever used

Published

21 hours ago

November 29, 2025

Press Room

I tried the Wattbike Proton smart bike for a month and it’s the best exercise bike I’ve ever used

I’ve tried a lot of stationary exercise bikes in my time as a fitness writer, but I can safely say the Wattbike Proton is my favorite.

And now you can get your hands on the Wattbike Proton with $450 off in the Black Friday sale—down to $1,845 from $2,295 (excluding shipping). This price includes a free subscription to Hub+, the premium version of the accompanying app, worth $80.

I was lucky enough to test this smart bike out for 30 days and it’s surprisingly addictive. I’ve been using it every day without fail and it’s become my new way to de-stress.

I got into a routine of getting on the bike every night before dinner and not only did it give me a much-needed energy boost, it felt good to spin the legs and the day’s stresses away. Here’s what else I discovered.

It’s really compact

As well as a writer, I’m an independent personal trainer and my kitchen-living room is overflowing with fitness equipment, so I was pleasantly surprised that the Wattbike Proton was much smaller than I expected—just 57cm x 102cm.

At 48kg, it’s quite heavy to move, so I’d recommend setting it up next to an outlet. It does have rollers to help you move it, however.

It’s family-friendly

It’s simple to adjust (something I had to do a lot because my two daughters were obsessed with it!) and the magnetic resistance results in a smooth and quiet ride—ideal if you want to do a workout early morning or late at night when the kids are asleep.

The Proton automatically adjusts the resistance, too, so you don’t need to worry about changing it (unless you want to) and you can just concentrate on pedalling.

The app is free—no monthly fees for once!

Fans of Peloton might bemoan the lack of inbuilt screen and instructor-led classes, but one thing I loved about the bike is that you don’t have to pay for the excellent Wattbike Hub app.

There is a subscription option if you want to unlock premium features like personalized workouts, but honestly, you don’t need to.

I worked my way through multiple workouts—from HIIT, endurance, speed, aerobic all-rounders and climbs—and I still had plenty of classes to try. There are even workouts designed to improve your running performance.

And in just 30 days I felt like my cycling ability had improved. Cycling felt easier, especially riding the heavy longtail cargo bike I cart the kids around on.

You can also connect it to many of the popular cycling apps, including Zwift and Rouvy, and it will sync happily with Apple Health and Strava.

The data helps you stay motivated

When I first started using the bike, the amount of stats on the app was a little overwhelming. But as I got the hang of things I found them really motivating, and enjoyed the traffic light system that indicated when I was hitting my targets for both power output and cadence.

I’m still a little baffled by the PES (Pedalling Effectiveness Score) system, which gives a visual depiction of how well you are pedalling. Not very well in my case. My left leg was always pushing harder, according to my stats, generally around 54% compared with 46% for my right. But I put that down to my physio’s assessment that my pelvis twisted in childbirth, causing my right leg to be slightly weaker than the left.

“A perfect PES score is 75, but it’s just a guide of where you are,” Wattbike’s Tom Crampton told me. “We have some beginners who get on and just nail it and some seasoned riders who are still hovering around the 55 mark. The key thing is that it’s a visual aid and you can improve it with the simple coaching points on the app.”

The Proton is well designed, but I have some notes

The Proton is set up like a road bike with drop handlebars and a very thin racer-style saddle. It’s fine for short rides, but not that comfortable for longer ones. Padded shorts were definitely needed for any workouts longer than 40 minutes.

The Proton has two bottle holders and caged pedals, but these can be swapped for ones with toe clips if you prefer.

There’s no inbuilt screen, but it has a small media holder, which I used for my iPad and I balanced my phone on the smaller shelf below, however it fell off several times. Something more sturdy or slightly bigger so you can use a tablet and phone at the same time would be helpful.

Fitness

Is morning or evening exercise better for weight loss? Researchers find out

Published

2 days ago

November 28, 2025

Press Room

Is morning or evening exercise better for weight loss? Researchers find out

Any exercise is better than no exercise when it comes to losing weight, and ultimately, you should go when you know you can stay consistent because it fits in your schedule. For some people, that’s first thing in the morning, and for others, that’s in the evening after work. Others like to mix it up depending on what’s on the agenda.

In a thought-provoking study, researchers found that moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, such as running, cycling, sports, and brisk walking, is protective against obesity. However, what’s less clear is the optimal time to get those muscles moving and break a sweat. Does it really matter that much? Are we overthinking it? Researchers dived deeper to understand more.

The study

In a study published in the journal Obesity, researchers placed 5285 participants into three different groups based on when they did most of their exercise:

Morning workout group
Midday workout group
Evening workout group

The researchers tested the patterns and associations between the timing of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and obesity. They compared how exercising at different times related to both waist size and body weight.

The results

The results revealed the following:

Morning exercise seemed to be the most effective for weight control.
Those who were the most active in the morning had a lower body mass index and smaller waistlines overall, even when they did the same amount of exercise as those who mostly exercised midday or in the evening.
Exercising at any time of the day was beneficial for obesity, but morning exercisers had the strongest link to lower obesity.

Meeting the exercise guidelines

Among the individuals who met the weekly exercise guidelines of at least 150 minutes every week, their average body mass index was:

Morning — 25.9
Midday — 27.6
Evening — 27.2

For those who met the exercise guidelines, their waist size was:

Morning — 91.5 cm
Midday — 95.8 cm
Evening — 95.0 cm

Overall, morning exercisers were leaner.

The takeaway

Exercise helps prevent obesity and promotes weight loss, no matter what time you get your muscles moving. This study shows that morning exercise may be superior and offer an extra advantage for weight loss compared with midday or evening exercise. In this study, morning exercisers had lower BMIs and smaller waists. There’s more to the weight-loss picture than exercise alone; other factors like nutrition, hormones, toxicity, sleep, certain medications, and stress also play a role.