Uh oh, we've just turned the corner into winter with the end of daylight saving.  I can feel the chill in the air now and the earlier nights setting in.  With the colder weather, many people complain of poor motivation for exercise. 'Its dark when I finish work', 'it's too cold in the mornings' and 'it's too cold in the evenings to walk'.

Unfortunately many people also complain of weight gain during the winter months, whether it is due to lack of exercise, or eating 'heartier' meals or both. Exercise, however does not have to mean rugging up to brave the cold at 5am or getting home before 4pm to get your afternoon walk in. 

If you haven't already started your exercise plan to get yourself into a good regime over the winter months then you might want to try these ideas to get you through the winter ahead:

- Start work a little earlier or finish a little later and take some extra time during your lunch break to walk, run or go to the gym

- Hire a personal trainer that works out of a studio or comes to your home or office

- Walk to, from or both to work

- Buy a pedometer and ensure you do 10 000 or more steps per day, whether this is walking the hallways at home, the hallways of the office or on the street

- Buy a piece of gym equipment for at home such as a stationary bike, treadmill, stepper or cross-trainer and exercise at home, in the warmth and without the need for daylight - Try a new form of exercise - for example join a dance class, join a lunchtime Bootcamp, take up Saturday morning yoga or pilates - Do longer forms of exercise on weekends, such as walk for an hour, stop and have a coffee and walk back.

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The vast majority of myths about weight gain are mostly passed down from "gym talk" and so-called experts who know nothing about the body's workings.

Myths that lead to wasted time, frustration and if are taken blindly as truth, can really set back your progress in the gym. Don't believe everything you hear in the gym when it comes to exercise and weight gain, do the research yourself.

Simple, basic principles apply to all weight and muscle gain such as progressive overload, variable frequency of reps and high intensity workouts. Lets take a look at some of the most common weight gain myths.

High repetitions burn fat while low repetitions build muscle
Progressive overload is needed to make muscles bigger. Meaning that you need to perform more reps than you did for your last workout for that particular exercise.

If you perform the same amount of reps at each workout nothing will change on you, also if the weight doesn't changes on the bar nothing will change on you. You need to become stronger.   Definition has two characteristics, muscle size and a low incidence of body fat. To reduce body fat you will have to reduce your calories; the high repetition exercise will burn some calories, but wouldn't it be better to fast walk to burn these off?

Better still; use the low reps to build muscle, which will elevate your metabolism and burn more calories (less fat).

If you take a week off you will lose most of your gains
Taking one or two weeks off occasionally will not harm your training. By taking this time off every eight to ten weeks in between strength training cycles it has the habit of refreshing you and to heal those small niggling injuries. By having longer layoffs you do not actually lose muscle fibres, just volume through not training, any size loss will be quickly re-gained. 

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You don't have to go without all those mouth watering treats when you're eating cleanly most of the year.  As long as you have a reasonable level of self discipline and don't go overboard with your portions you can still be part of the festivities without feeling guilty about enjoying some of life's delicious morsels.

However, if you have a big goal - like a bodybuilding contest or big weigh in that is only weeks away - in mind and you don't want to feel 'guilty' about having a treat then its probably best you don't indulge at all.

For those who can afford a cheat meal, here's some tips on how you can organise your cheat meals and training so you can burn those calories maximally, bon appetite!

1. Workout as early as possible, preferably first thing in the morning. If your schedule is really hectic, I would advise waking up early and getting training done, if possible, right before you go to work. If this is not possible, then try doing it at lunch-time or right after work so that nothing else interferes with your workout. On days off from work, definitely get the training done as early as possible.

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