Working out in the cold

"How cold is it...?"
Right now in the U.S. it is so cold that it has frozen the gronicales off of the brass monkeys, and in the Spring someone is going to earn a good living welding them back on.

My weight-room (my friends call it a dojo) is slightly below freezing...



...so I have curtailed my workout slightly to things that I can do in the relative warmth of the house.
I've contented myself with a set of dumbbells which I rescued from the cold, my CoC, trainer, a few push-ups, and other furniture-related things that are still fun and can be done before a warm fire.

But seriously, am I correct to forgo exercises in the cold? Is there serious danger in working out in a sub-freezing gym...
...even if I use the rowing machine until I am hot and perspiring before lifting iron?

I've heard opinions both ways... what do you think?

..I'm not a great fan of working out in the cold either....but infact assuming you warm-up there should be little, if any extra risk of injury, assuming you design the workout to be a more 'metabolic style' style of training (that is no big gaps, go slightly lighter & go for 30 sec or so gaps between sets). Guys like Steve Jeck & Dan John (see his snowy book cover here) both workout outside over the winter & I have heard tails of some Russian & old sov block lifters doing stuff in real extremes. One warning is you might need gloves if lifting metal, sweaty hands meet metal & freeze (you get the picture!), you don't want to go to A&E with no palms!
That looks like a fab little workout perch you've got there, better than my dingy basement!

"...That looks like a fab little workout perch you've got there, better than my dingy basement!"[i]

Thanks. I have an interest in Japanese art and design.

Before this, I understand...
I too have spent lifting time in rat-infested basements. Also, in community gyms with people who should have been left behind in rat-infested basements.
Fortunately most of the people I've met in rusty if usable iron, were at least marginally interested in health and fitness, and some were people who enjoyed the pain of lifting against ping pong or computer games.

Again I would say to the Real Lifters, who are admired for their dedication; and to those who follow far behind them, Thanks.
We nearly know what it must mean to them, more than the Last Breath.

Beautiful looking place.

My workout place is also quite cold now. My workout is quite short though. I do a superset (chinups, dips, dumbell raises with no rest between each) then come in the warmth for a minute or two then go back out for a second set.

In the past I would go on 2 hour long runs in -5 C. For that sort of thing it's a matter of the body making some relatively quick adjustments. The first time breathing really hard in cold weather can leave the lungs burning but the body adjusts quickly. I do wonder if it's maybe too much on the immune system to start a jogging program in the middle of the winter (maybe leaves one more susceptible to colds, etc) and it's definitely nice if you're exercising through the fall as it gradually gets colder, giving your body some time to adjust.

But when adjusted in the past the only issue with running in the extreme cold was running through the snow would stretch out my calves more than they were used to and burn them out too quick.

Here's a snapshot of the interior of my workout space.



Most of the equipment and iron have been picked up from flea markets and yard sales.

Did a short workout today. The cold was a problem because handling the bars made my hands numb...so no overhead lifting, too much danger of getting conked on the head. Went back inside and played with dumbells and CoC.

My gosh compared to my place that looks ultra neat...I'll say I have more equipment (you certainly need a power rack or safety squat set), but I'm not so good at the whole tidiness thing in my gym, mines a bit more like piles in a scrap metal yard

You are right about needing a power rack. I'm working without a spotter, and while that makes me VERY careful, and VERY conservative about how much weight I bench...
...there is always the possibility of an accident.
Since it would be relatively expensive to have my head screwed back on after dropping a bar, a rack would provide cheap insurance.

I just checked on line, Bayou Fitness is offering a rack for just over US$ 330, with free shipping. It appears that it would work with my existing bench
My birthday comes up in two weeks.



Powerline Power Rack by Body Solid
Model: PPR200X

looks good.

That looks like the kind of thing you need to finish off your gym. Even with a rack I still recommend you have your collars on loose when you barbell bench alone. I know the safety bars are there, but just incase of mishap & the safety bars fail you can still dump by tipping the bar & the plates fall off one end, oh yea & never use a thumbless grip, silly idea when it could drop & crush your windpipe!
Man I wish I was getting an exciting toy like that for my birthday! You'll have real fun with that

As long as I was buying new toys I also ordered the CoC # 1.
I'll keep the Trainer CoC in the car to play with on long trips, and get serious with the # 1.

About leaving the collars off when benching alone...
Yes, I've tried that, but never had to dump the plates in an emergency. However, I was haunted by the mental image of what would happen in the advent of a plate-dump--I could picture myself cartwheeling off in the opposite direction and ending up on the floor under half-a-max of iron plates.

Crawling out from under a bar that couldn't quite be lifted one last rep is embarrassing, but as long as the bar came back down slowly the results weren't too bad (been there, done that). But solo benching danger is real. U.S. football player Staton Johnson dropped a bar on his neck while bench-pressing a few weeks ago:
http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/09/29/mishaps-waiting-to-strike-in-weight-room/

Agree about the thumbless grip. It leaves the lifter just one sweaty-palm from death.

Yea, that guy sounds like a thumbless gripper to me, you rarely 'drop' a bench unless thumbless grip is invlolved, Years ago I had to wriggle out from a lone benching 'incident', luckily I thought to wriggle the bar downwards over the tummy (a bit uncomfortable getting it over lower abs & 'your bits', but better than trying to get it over your head), since then I've always used safety bars with loose collars as it was a bit scary. Hurt my shoulders doing the old 'barbell wriggle' mind you, I was doing about 1.5x bodyweight at the time (that was my one rep max at the time, I was doing about 6 - 8 rep max when it happened if I remember rightly, so you can get an idea it was quite heavy for me to budge). I've never had to dump a bar as the safety bars have been 100% effective when I've failed a rep they've always saved the day so far...but I still keep the collars loose if I need to dump I prefer a bar to tip over than another 'wriggling episode' as it's really not good for the shoulders (well MY shoulders anyway). I think the basic idea is to dump 1 or 2 plates & then the bar kind of pivots over rolling over the chest a bit, or maybe it would be possible to drop a plate from each side if you're going heavy enough & get the weight light enough to push up, like you I've never actually done it, so I'm not sure how easy that would be in practice...hopefully I'll never have to find out
At this rate you'll be needed a #2 by summer time

I've attempted both rolling it down my body and dumping it to the side long ago. (When I was young and stupid. ) I think it's far better to dump it to the side. If the bar is heavy enough you might not be successful in rolling it down your body. Even if the plates are entirely secured I think it's still better to dump it to the side.

Stafon Johnson had spotters right there with him BTW. But it slipped out of his hands so quick they weren't able to catch it in time. Probably part of his problem is that he was so used to trusting his spotters.

Agreed about Johnson. When the bar slips it comes down like the Hammer of Hell.

When I was working with a partner (Jerry the Bear) we realized that even with an alert spotter a bar-drop would be like a guillotine.
When I spotted for Jerry he was benching twice what I could, so I was mainly a cheering squad. When he spotted for me it consisted mainly of pushing my elbows together and shouting, "PUSH! PUSH! ...YOU CAN DO IT...!"

As fate had it, neither of us dropped anything while benching, but Jerry did homogenize his rotator cuff which took him out of the game for several months.
Jerry no longer lifts, but has taken up cross-country bicycle racing.

Yea, I think a lot of us have suffered rotator cuff issues. I believe one of the reasons is we don't do strand work anymore (chest expander stuff). In the old days using strands was a normal part of lifting, everyone did it (check out Thomas Inch as an example of an old time guy who was strong as anything & used strands as a part of his training). Many pulls worked all the rotator cuff muscles & also the added instability of a strand pull really works the stability muscles of the shoulder. Oh yea you can also work the muscles from any angle & not rely on gravity as the rubber strands can pull the muscles in any direction, not just downwards.