Winter Movement Science: Cold Weather Exercise, Heart Health, and Staying Active Indoors
Move Your DNA with Katy Bowman
Nutritious Movement
4.8 • 686 Ratings
🗓️ 14 January 2026
⏱️ 62 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
How cold affects muscles, blood flow, and cardiovascular risk—plus practical ways to keep moving safely indoors and out.Â
Biomechanist Katy Bowman and biologist Dr. Jeannette Loram explore how cold air and cold water affect muscle function, blood flow, heart rate, and blood pressure during exercise. They unpack how vasoconstriction increases cardiovascular demand, and why activities like snow shoveling and cold-water swimming carry specific risks. The episode also offers practical strategies for continuing to move safely outdoors throughout the winter months.
Even when winter keeps many of us indoors, movement doesn’t have to disappear. Karri Bowen-Poole of Smart Playrooms joins Katy to discuss how indoor spaces can be designed to encourage movement for kids, teens, and adults. They share ideas for simple, versatile equipment that supports strength, coordination, and play, explain why visible and aesthetically pleasing setups matter, and describe how rotating movement tools over time helps sustain interest as needs and abilities evolve.
Enhanced Show Notes and Full Transcript
00:14 Discussing Cold Weather and Its ImpactÂ
01:19 The Dynamic CollectiveÂ
03:07 Practical Tips for Exercising in Cold WeatherÂ
03:43 The Importance of Balance, Slip Training, and Other Winter Exercise TipsÂ
10:45 Cardiovascular System, Cold Weather, and Snow ShovelingÂ
21:52 Cold Water Immersion and Its EffectsÂ
29:46 Listener question: Hallux Limitus and Foot IssuesÂ
36:02 Introducing Smart PlayroomsÂ
LINKS & RESOURCES MENTIONED
Katy’s 2025 Advent featuring Venn Designs Air Chairs
Smart Playrooms x Move Your DNA equipment picks
Smart Playrooms setting up a teen room
Smart Playrooms Sport Court section
CONNECT, MOVE & LEARN
Join Our Newsletter: Movement Colored Glasses
Follow Katy on Substack
Try Katy's Virtual Studio Free for 7 days!
MADE POSSIBLE BY OUR WONDERFUL SPONSORS:
Peluva: Five-toe minimalist shoes that move like you do—take 15% off with code NUTRITIOUSMOVEMENT.
Smart Playrooms: Beautiful playroom design and movement-rich equipment—save 10% on monkey bars and rock-wall items with code DNA10.
Movemate:Â Active standing boards with smoothly articulating wooden slats. Designed to keep you moving without interrupting your focus.
Ikaria Design: The Soul Seat® offers height-adjustable, multi-position sitting—get 10% off new chairs and desks with code DNA10.
Venn Design: Beautifully upholstered ball-shaped Air Chairs that encourage dynamic sitting.
My Happy Feet: Toe-spacing socks that gently realign toes for comfortable recovery—take 20% off with code MYDNA.
Thoughts/questions email us at podcast@nutritiousmovement.com
Your Voice on the Podcast: Read The CreditsÂ
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is the Move Your DNA podcast, a show where movement science meets your everyday life. |
| 0:09.1 | I am Katie Bowman, biomechanist, and author. |
| 0:13.3 | And I am Dr. Jeanette Lorham, biologist, and movement teacher. |
| 0:17.1 | All right. |
| 0:17.9 | Today we are talking about exercise and cold weather, cold conditions. |
| 0:25.8 | Mostly how they affect the cardiovascular system, but we're going to throw in some other stuff too. |
| 0:30.7 | What's the temperature where you are? |
| 0:32.9 | It's starting to warm up slightly. It was about minus two, hovering around zero, which in Fahrenheit is about 28 to 32. |
| 0:42.7 | But it's warmed up a little bit today. It's got to a hive about three or four, which is, I think, about 39 Fahrenheit. |
| 0:49.0 | Yeah, and we're about the same, Jeanette here in Scotland than I'm in the West Coast, Washington State in the United States. And it's about the same. It's about the same Jeanette here in Scotland than I'm in the West Coast, Washington State in the United |
| 0:54.9 | States. And it's about the same. It's about the same. Yeah, we might get a little bit of snow |
| 1:00.0 | tomorrow, but it's definitely cold for this Californian. Yes. We haven't got any snow much to |
| 1:06.0 | my kids' disappointment, but lots of ice, really icy. And in fact, my eldest son missed an exam |
| 1:11.2 | this morning because we couldn't actually get down the hill. It was like sheet ice. Did he miss it? |
| 1:17.3 | No. He'll just have to do it another time. Exactly. He's like, I'll make it up later. |
| 1:21.5 | Yeah. Well, before we get into the meat of the episode, we want to thank our wonderful sponsors |
| 1:26.6 | who support the Move Your |
| 1:28.5 | DNA podcast. The Dynamic Collective is a group of movement-focused companies whose products |
| 1:33.1 | help us bring more natural movement into your everyday life. The Dynamic Collective is |
| 1:38.4 | Ikaria Design, creators of the sole seat, a height adjustable dual platform chair that gives you |
| 1:43.6 | options to vary your sitting |
| 1:44.9 | position from cross-legged to crouch or squat. My Happy Feet creates toe alignment socks, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Nutritious Movement, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Nutritious Movement and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.