Too Cold to Exercise? Try Another Excuse
We don’t need no doctor, at least a doctor telling us what most winter cyclists already know. It can be done. But for the doubters out there, here’s a recent article from the New York Times:
Extreme cold can be safe for exercisers — that runs contrary to conventional wisdom. But in fact, said John W. Castellani, an exercise physiologist at the Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, it turns out that even though cold can be frightening, more people are injured exercising in the heat than exercising in the cold.
Dr. Castellani was lead author of a 2006 position paper from the American College of Sports Medicine on exercising in the cold.
The big question was, “Is it ever too cold?” Dr. Castellani said. “The answer is no. People go to the poles, people are out there when it’s minus-50 degrees, people do incredible things, and safely. There really isn’t a point where you can tell people it is not safe anymore.”