Beating the winter blues outdoors in SE16

Short days are hard, and moving your body outdoors in daylight is one of the most reliable things you can do about it. That is the whole case for winter training at Bootcamp SE16, and it is why our November and December sessions are busier than most people expect.

The winter dip is real for a lot of us. You leave for work in the dark, you come home in the dark, and the plans you made in September quietly slide. Nobody needs telling that. What helps is having something already in the diary, with people who will notice if you are not there.

Daylight, movement and mood

Exercise is one of the few things that reliably lifts how people feel, and doing it outside adds daylight to the deal. Even a cloudy morning at Stave Hill is far brighter than any indoor room, and a morning session gets you out into it before the day closes in again. Plenty of members say that is the single biggest reason they keep coming through winter.

If low mood through the winter is affecting your daily life, it is worth a conversation with your GP. Training is not a substitute for that. It is a good thing to have in your week alongside it.

The part that actually keeps you going

Motivation in February is largely a myth. What works is structure and people.

• A fixed session time you have already committed to.
• A coach who says hello by name and asks how last week went.
• A group from Canada Water, Rotherhithe, Surrey Quays and Bermondsey standing in exactly the same weather as you.
• An hour where nobody wants anything from you except effort.

The hardest part of a winter session is the ten minutes before you leave the house. Everything after that is fine.

Winter is not a write-off

Plenty of people treat December to February as a pause, then spend March getting back what they lost. Training through it means you arrive at spring ahead of where you were, rather than starting again. This is not about punishing yourself over Christmas. Two sessions a week through the cold months is enough to keep your strength, your fitness and, most importantly, the habit intact.

Dressing for it

• Layers, including a base layer you are happy to train in once the jacket comes off.
• Gloves and a hat, especially for the early mornings.
• Trainers with grip, and a spare dry pair of socks in your bag.

Everything else we bring, so there is nothing to buy before you start.

Sessions run mornings, evenings and weekends at Stave Hill Ecological Park, about ten minutes on foot from Canada Water station, from £9 a session, and they are open to complete beginners. Book one session in the cold and you will start to understand why the regulars are so strangely cheerful about it.