I train in Canada, which means long sub-zero winters, but I still am a firm believer in training outside. Each season changes the body and mind in a different way if you are outside in the weather.
In the summer the heat helps your tendons and ligaments to loosen up. Everyone can feel this when they train in heat. The Chinese theory is that there is a connection between the tendons/ligaments and sweat, liver, and your spirit. When you open up the tendons/ligaments then you can open up the blood and qi, the liver, and the spirit. The reverse is also true, so if your qi or spirit is weak, you can help build them up by opening up the physical body. Sweating a lot helps you to do this, which is why the summer is best for loosening and opening up the body. In the summer you can safely practise the larger movements and work on flexibility.
In the autumn the tendons/ligaments start to feel stiff with the cold, but the qi starts to flow strongly. You can still practise the summer movements, but you have to be careful to do a full warmup with circle-walking plus slow careful movements. You might hurt your tendons/ligaments if you go straight to fali techniques, even though you were able to do that just a month ago.
In the winter, the Chinese theory is that training in the cold helps strengthen your tendons/ligaments and bones. As a Canadian, I also think that training in cold air strengthens your qi and spirit. In the winter you should do lots of circle-walking to develop your qi and strengthen your tendons/ligaments and bones. Fali movements (once you are well warmed up) are very strong in the winter. Also, nothing makes you prouder of your training that getting out there while others are cowering at home.
In the spring we get excited about training, coming out of a long winter of circle-walking. We can break out into the fancy movements. The feeling of replenishment and joy that comes with the spring spills over into training.
If you train indoors in the same conditions all the time, you don't stress your body in different ways, so it will not change as effectively. Aside from the tendons/ligaments/qi theory, if you are always doing the same workout you will go stale and possibly get bored. If you do not change the stresses on the body it will adapt and no longer change. If you allow the seasons to naturally change your training plans then the body will need to adapt. It is the body's adaptation between training sessions that changes it, and training is all about changing your body. You don't need to cross-train or find something else to do, since your actual workout and the feeling you get from the workout is never quite the same.
Andrea Falk
Quebec, QC, Canada
