January = Cold

That about sums up my first month training outdoors. The average temp was in the teens for my workouts. Despite the cold, I had a blast training outdoors. I stayed fit, strong, and definitely increased my ability to endure harsh conditions.

What I’ve learned:

After the first two weeks, the cold did not bother me anymore. I am amazed at how fast I adapted to training in the cold temps. I actually enjoy it now. On a rare thirty degree day, I trained in a sweatshirt and felt cozy. That never would have happened two months ago.
Winter is tuff. Training outdoors has a huge impact on my mood. In years past when February rolled in, I couldn't wait for winter to end. Now I am thinking… what am I going to do when the ground gets soggy?
Training in the woods is awesome! It is peaceful and your training experience is much more zen. On a few occasions I have had deer come so close to me I could have pet them. During one workout, birds kept flying over to a tree I was doing pull-ups on. They seemed just as confused about what I was doing as the people that walked by, except they came closer, while the people gave me space (and weird looks).
My weight and body comp haven't changed. I am 6’ and 185 lbs, give or take a few.
The forced variety of training grips and positions has been good for my joint health. A similar benefit on the knees can be realized when runners switch to trail running from road running.
Training outdoors makes me feel like a kid again. The world becomes your playground or gym. Exploring and looking for great spots to do dips or trees to do pull-ups from is a blast. I am definitely having the most fun working out in years!
To stay warm, I had to increase the intensity of my usual warm ups. To do so, I often did my sprints, plyometrics, or a short fast trail run (1.5 mile or less) before training. This got the core temp fired up and in turn helped keep hands and feet warm.
On the coldest days, I sprinted between sets. Great workout!
I cut the rest time on my training down to almost nothing to stay warm. Sometimes my rest were as short as ten seconds. This greatly increased the intensity of the workout. I am modifying set/rep combos to work better with shorter rest periods in February. For example I will do less reps with more sets. I also will mix exercises up circuit fashion on some days. This will provide muscles with some additional rest while keeping overall rest times short.
Suspension trainers make working out outdoors much easier. I had trouble consistently finding things to hang from for back exercises. With suspension trainers this is a non issue.
Trees our our friends. I used sturdy trees to hang my suspension trainers from, and as a backdrop for my handstands. While in DC for work, I even found a nice tree to do pull-ups on. That got me a lot of strange looks, I think they were jealous.
Wool is the best base layer material and wool socks are a must. Wool keeps you warm even when when you get wet. Another benefit of wool is that it does not pick up the bad smell that synthetics tend to.
Variability is unavoidable when training outdoors. I allowed more flexibility in my routines, specifically with warm up and finishers. This helped me adapt to the conditions I was training in. To gauge progress, I kept my foundation exercises consistent throughout the month.

Hit me up with some feedback. I love to hear how your training is going.

Take action and train outdoors!