Exercise Carefully in Cold

A little cold weather shouldn't keep you from your daily outside exercise routine if you follow some good-sense tips. The American Council on Exercise says the biggest concern about exercising in the cold is hypothermia -- when your body loses too much heat.

Your body temperature is affected by your insulation, otherwise lovingly known as your body fat -- plus your clothing. If you're a little on the heavy side, that actually helps in cold-water cardio, because you're be better insulated and lose less body heat in the cold.

As you probably know, it's important to keep your hands and feet warm and wear a hat -- you can lose about 50 percent of your body heat from your head. It's true what they say about layering -- air trapped by layers of clothing maintains your temperature because the air cannot conduct the heat away from your body.

In the coldest of temperatures, you risk significant heat loss when you exercise and then sweat. So, be sure to select clothing that will trap the dry air near your skin, but let the sweat pass through.

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Get tips on how to feel younger, thinner and stronger at the ThirdAge Diet & Fitness Center.