One of the great obstacles when it comes to practicing winter sports is the cold that it is on the streets of our cities and in the mountains, and that it does not make exercise desirable. Let’s not kid ourselves: the cold also serves as an excuse on some occasions to skip race training.
To end all those excuses we teach you in this article how do you have to protect your body against low temperatures so that doing sports outdoors is a pleasure and not torture.
How to dress in layers for winter sports
The first thing we must learn if we do sports in winter is to dress in layers, so that it is easy for us to find a compromise between not freezing to death and not sweating as if we were in a sauna. We must bear in mind that the moment we begin to exercise our body temperature will rise a couple of degrees (more degrees the faster we move), so going out too warm can be a mistake that can take its toll in the form of dehydration, even in winter.
A first layer, the innermost, can be a thermal undershirt. On this we can place a technical long sleeve T-shirt: If we find ourselves with a temperature of about 10 degrees, with those two layers and some long leggings is usually enough. In case of very cold or airy days, we can add a third layer in the form of windbreaker or jacket slightly thicker that protects us from inclement weather. If in the middle of training we find that it is too warm, we can always remove the windbreaker and tie it around the waist.
What types of fabrics are better
It is important that we pay attention to the type of fabrics we use in our sportswear, especially in the winter months. The premise would be bet on synthetic fabrics and flee from those that get soaked quickly with sweat, such as cotton.
The big brands have research and development laboratories where manufacture their own materials capable of wicking sweat and stay dry while we are playing sports (Nike, for example, has Nike Tech Fleece technology): these synthetic materials help us maintain a comfortable body temperature, protect us from the cold and they are getting lighter, so that we do not have the feeling of carrying a very heavy garment while we train.
If we talk about footwear, one of the most demanded materials and that gives the best result is the Gore-tex, which is usually used in trail running shoes and winter footwear: on the one hand it is water resistant (therefore ideal for use in the mountains in winter), but at the same time it is breathable.
What parts of the body should we cover when practicing winter sports
Let’s not just focus on the torso and legs: there are other parts of the body that we must protect when we train outdoors. Hands, for example, they must be protected with gloves: a good tip is that if we go out to train with our mobile phone or with a watch with a touch screen, these gloves are capable of letting us interact with them. In large sports areas we can find gloves suitable for touch screens at a reasonable price.
Neck and ears are the other two key points that we must protect when we train in winter. To protect the neck, the most comfortable thing to do is to use a sports brief, which protects us but is breathable so that sweat does not accumulate. When it comes to protecting our ears we can make use of bandanas, warm caps with a visor or even some type of hat.
Choose your clothes according to the sport you are going to practice
Of course, going snowboarding in the Aragonese Pyrenees is not the same as going out for a run in Madrid in January. If we practice mountain sports such as skiing or snow, our clothing must be according to the weather that we are going to find (obviously colder than in cities), we must also bear in mind that we are going to spend part of the time sitting and immobile (using the chair lifts or mountain lifts) and we will have to protect other parts of our body (special glasses so that the mountain sun does not affect our vision, helmet when necessary).
The most important thing when choosing our winter sportswear is that let’s get comfortable with her and that really does its job: it is worth investing in good materials to train in the cold in a pleasant way.
