WINTER FUN, so cool you won't feel the burn

New Year resolutions have always puddled faster than a snowball on the hearth for me, until, that is, I found a way to trick myself.

The word exercise conjures up thoughts of sweat and pain, which are the opposite of fun. That’s why I came to the conclusion that I should mentally avoid the term exercise in my battle for midriff mitigation.

The key was to find something that is fun to do and that still burns calories. In other words, fool myself into working out. It wasn’t as hard a search as I expected, but it did require literally stepping out of my comfort zone and into the snow. I guess I lost my love of snow when I stopped having fun with it.

One January First, however, I vowed to exercise and considered the winter sports that might be fun and burn calories at the same time: sledding, ice skating, skiing, and snowshoeing came to mind. As I considered each of these from an adult perspective, the last items presented themselves as the most appealing in that, a) I don’t have to pull my sled back up the hill, b) there are a great many more places to ski and “shoe” than to skate, and c) it’s cool to tell your coworkers that you spent the weekend trekking in the woods.
When skiing is mentioned, the first thought that comes to most people’s minds is downhill or Alpine, but there is another type that many consider as much fun, but much cheaper, not to mention much safer--cross-country or Nordic. Snowshoeing is more self-explanatory. Most of us have at least seen the equipment for both sports.

The practical way to have fun in the snow with the least cash outlay appeared to be cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. My rationale went like this. First, the equipment is relatively cheap, especially at summer garage sales (roughly equivalent to what a decent bike would cost). Second, traveling to a suitable location to enjoy either sport is minimal at worst and unnecessary at best.
The appeal to me of both sports is the illusion of ease. I can fool myself into thinking it’s actually easier than walking. But in reality, I can get a lot of bang for my buck in the calorie-burning department without huffing and puffing. Considering that one of the most popular (and expensive) workout machines is the cross-country skiing simulator, the actual sport is more fun.

The techniques are easy to learn. If you can master shuffling your feet, you can cross-country ski. And if you can walk, you can snowshoe. Although a physical examination is recommended before starting, if you are a reasonably healthy individual, these gentle and relaxing sports are safe. To start, simply wait for snow (a couple of inches will do for skiing, deeper snow is best for snowshoeing) then take your equipment to the nearest wide open space.

Calorie-combustion for both is roughly equivalent to cycling, according to Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, the official journal of the American College of Sports Medicine. For a person who weighs 155 pounds, an hour of moderate cross-country skiing or snowshoeing will burn 563 calories. Biking at about 12 miles per hour, a moderate pace, burns the same amount of calories. Smaller people burn less calories than larger people in any activity, according to the journal.

And here’s the beauty of the “exercise” part: I just do it until I decide to stop, I may only have made one circuit of the field or city park, but I will have burned calories and had a good time doing it. It’s that simple. Doing a couple of “laps” around the inside perimeter of the Tecumseh city park of your choice is a surprisingly relaxing way to spend an hour.

There are plenty of places to go in or near Tecumseh. Most of the city parks are well suited for both sports. A good place to start is Cal Zorn Recreation Center, located at the intersection of West Russell Road and South Evans Street in Tecumseh. The park is as flat as a billiard table and there is plenty of parking. Hidden Lake Gardens is another good local destination, and the scenery is worth the short trip.

A relatively new addition to the winter trekking sports scene is Leonard Preserve near Manchester, which is owned by the Nature Conservancy and offers four miles of wooded trails along the River Raisin. Another plus for these sports is that the equipment: will fit easily inside most cars, rooftop ski racks are optional. One of my favorite parks for enjoying winter sports is The Pit (Tecumseh Park on Adrian Street). It has a variety of terrain that can be as challenging as I choose.

As New Year’s resolutions go, winter trekking by either method turned out to be ideal. They’re good for you, they’re fun, and you can only do them when there is snow on the ground. So, basically, my resolve only needs to last a few months. n