If you’ve ever shown up to a winter training session feeling a little stiffer than you did in the summer, you’re not imagining it.
When the temperature drops, your body prioritizes keeping your heart and vital organs warm, which means pulling blood flow away from your arms and legs. The tiny vessels in your limbs tighten, circulation slows, and your muscles and joints get less of the oxygen and nutrients they rely on to move and recover.
Muscles contract more slowly, overall strength drops, and your nervous system has to work harder to fire motor units the way it normally would. Tissues like fascia and tendons stiffen and become less responsive. Reduced circulation also means nutrients and immune cells arrive more slowly, which can raise injury risk and slow recovery.
In this article, we’ll help you understand what’s happening so you can continue to train through winter and protect the strength, power, and speed you’ve worked all year to build.
Muscle Function in the Cold
Cold isn’t just uncomfortable—it directly affects how muscles contract, fire, and produce power. Understanding these changes helps you adapt your training on colder days.
Muscle contractile speed and strength drop
Cooler muscle temperatures reduce how quickly and effectively muscle fibers contract. That means lifts feel heavier, explosiveness drops, and sprint efforts feel duller.
Your nervous system has to work harder
When muscles are cold, your nervous system ramps up activation just to maintain the same force, which increases fatigue during submaximal efforts.
Motor unit recruitment becomes less efficient
Cold shifts recruitment thresholds and firing patterns, making high-intensity efforts harder. Starts feel slower, accelerations feel delayed, and strength work can feel “off.”
Cold increases stiffness
Lower tissue temperatures stiffen muscles and connective tissue, reducing flexibility and limiting shock absorption. This increases the risk of pulls, tweaks, or strains—especially if you skip a proper warm-up
Joint Pain in the Cold
Nothing kills motivation and momentum like waking up to cold weather feeling like your joints have cemented overnight. Cold weather doesn’t create new joint problems overnight, but it does change the environment your tissues operate in—and that has real consequences for how your hips, knees, and shoulders feel and perform.
Thicker joint fluid makes movement feel heavier
The cold changes the physical properties of the fluid inside your joints. Synovial fluid, which normally lubricates cartilage, becomes more viscous, and surrounding tissues become less compliant. This combination increases resistance inside the joint, which is why the first few minutes of training can feel stiff or sluggish—especially in the morning or after a rest day.
Cold nerves amplify pain signals
The cold lowers the threshold for activating pain receptors, so nerves fire more easily. Some cold-sensing channels in nerve cells become more sensitive, meaning movements that wouldn’t normally hurt can feel sharper. Slower nerve conduction and reduced circulation mean aches feel sharper and more persistent.
Prior injuries often feel worse in the winter
Old injuries and irritated tissues are sensitive in the best conditions—add stiffer tissues, slower circulation, and heightened nerve sensitivity, and those areas can feel like they’ve taken a step backward. Even without arthritis, colder weather can make joints and tendons feel achier or less willing to load.
Much of this comes down to slower nutrient delivery, reduced oxygenation, and tissues that stiffen more quickly in the cold. Scar tissue and previously overloaded tendons also tolerate load less well when temperatures drop, which is why they’re often the first to complain.
Why Winter Is High-Risk for Injury & Why Old Injuries Heal Slower
Cold weather doesn’t just make joints feel stiff—it changes how your body absorbs force, how tissues repair, and even how well your brain senses position and movement. That’s why minor issues linger longer in winter and why slips or tweaks hit harder than they should.
Reduced blood flow slows healing and prolongs inflammation
Cold-induced vasoconstriction limits circulation, slowing the delivery of oxygen and nutrients needed for tissue repair. With less blood flow, immune and repair processes take longer to kick in. A minor strain that would normally settle quickly can linger, and post-training soreness may stick around.
Cold nerves make injuries feel more painful
Increased nerve sensitivity in cold conditions can make injuries feel worse even without additional tissue damage. Athletes may guard movement, which adds stiffness and raises the risk of secondary issues.
Stiffer muscles and tendons reduce load tolerance
Cold muscles, fascia, and tendons are less elastic and absorb less force. That means tissues fatigue sooner and strain more easily, which can feel like tightness that doesn’t ease up even after stretching.
Reduced proprioception increases missteps
Cooler muscle and nerve temperatures slow neural signals, affecting balance, coordination, and foot placement. Movements feel slightly ‘off,’ increasing the risk of slips on icy or uneven surfaces.
Barometric pressure changes can make old aches flare
Lower barometric pressure with cold fronts has been linked to increased joint discomfort and stiffness. Subtle shifts in pressure may alter tissue stress enough that athletes with sensitive joints or past injuries feel more discomfort.
Environmental factors: ice, snow, and hidden hazards
Winter training adds real-world risk: icy patches, slippery sidewalks, and uneven terrain hidden under snow. A small misstep that might be nothing in summer is more likely to turn into a roll, tweak, or sprain in winter conditions.
6 Things You Can Do
Winter brings a few extra challenges, but here are a few things you can do to make them easier to overcome:
1) Extend and upgrade your warm-up
You should always warm up, but in winter especially, a dynamic warm-up is essential—it raises tissue temperature, improves circulation, primes muscles and connective tissue, and reduces injury risk. Warming up also primes your nervous system, improves tendon and connective tissue flexibility, reduces stiffness, and pre-activates muscles for explosive efforts—all of which help you perform better and lower injury risk in the cold.
2) Use heat strategically
Applying heat before or after training helps counter cold-induced vasoconstriction, improves circulation, and reduces muscle and tendon stiffness. Whether it’s heating pads, a hot shower, or warm-water immersion, warming tissues increases flexibility, primes muscles and connective tissue for movement, and can lower injury risk—similar to the benefits of an active warm-up.
3) Layer properly
Keeping extremities warm preserves neural responsiveness and keeps tissues functioning. Moisture-wicking base layers help maintain a stable temperature around the skin.
4) Hydrate like it’s summer
Cold blunts thirst, but sweat and fluid loss still happen. Schedule hydration intentionally—don’t wait until you’re thirsty. For more on this, check out our suggestion for 8 Strategies for Year-Round Hydration.
5) Lean into indoor mobility and cross-training
Indoor mobility flows, yoga, cycling, or strength sessions let you keep volume up without overloading stiff or cold tissues. Alternate high-intensity outdoor days with indoor work when needed.
6) Use supplements that support winter performance
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HMB: Helps preserve muscle and reduce training damage.
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Vitamin D: Supports muscle function and immunity, especially when sunlight drops.
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Creatine: Helps maintain strength and power when cold temperatures reduce contractile efficiency.
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Tart Cherry Juice: Supports recovery and reduces stiffness between sessions.
That’s all for this week! If you learned something new and are curious to know more, head over to the Blonyx Blog or our growing list of weekly research summaries where we help you further improve your athletic performance by keeping you up to date on the latest findings from the world of sports science.
– Train hard!
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