Mix it Up! 7 Reasons To Change Up Your Exercise Routine
Are you creature of habit? Does part of this habitual effort extend into your workouts? For many of us, we fit our workouts in, in the limited time we have available. We may or may not put much effort into planning our workouts, as we have so much other planning to do throughout our busy daily lives. However, putting a little extra planning into our workouts, either the night before, or on Sunday night to plan for the week, can make a big difference in the benefits we receive from our hard-earned work. Listed below are 7 great reasons that you should consider mixing up your workouts.
- Boredom: One of the top reasons people do not participate in daily exercise is because they think it is boring. Challenge yourself to do something different on one day of each week. If you always walk, try riding your bike. If you always do a water aerobics class, try a step class or a yoga class! If you always run 3 miles, and always take the same route, simply go the opposite direction. Completing a hike, run, bike ride, etc, in the opposite direction than normal will allow your muscles to work in a slightly different way. You may see things along your route that you don’t normally notice as well.
- Challenge your Brain: By challenging yourself to do something different, you not only give your muscles a different workout, you give your brain more stimulation. We know this to be true for other areas of our lives, that trying something new is good for our brains. It also holds true for exercise. Sign up for a Nia class at your local dance studio. Try a spin class. Go canoeing on a calm lake! Even doing your regular resistance training routine in a different order will challenge your brain to think differently and even to stimulate new muscle growth!
- Work different muscle groups. Trying a new or different fitness activity can aid in stimulating new muscle growth. One of the main goals of any fitness routine should be to have good overall strength to complete any activity of daily living without limitation or injury. By training different muscles groups, we equip our bodies with the necessary strength and foundation to carry out these necessary tasks that we may encounter on any given day. Try a different piece of cardio equipment at the gym. Change your grip on strength exercises. Switch from machines to bodyweight exercises that allow for a more functional, full range of motion.
- Shock your muscles: Practice makes perfect, right? The human body adapts and improves the ability to be able to accomplish certain tasks or activities over time. As a basic need for survival, we become more efficient to conserve energy in our daily routines. This is a good thing from a survival standpoint. However, most of us would rather not conserve, but to burn as much as possible in the time given, correct? There are always exceptions to the rule of course. If you are an athlete training for a marathon, you will want to train to become very efficient at running to conserve energy to use throughout the entire race. But, if you want to continue to burn as many calories as possible during workouts, you need to break out of the routine. By doing something different, we “startle our muscles” and make them work harder to accomplish a different goal.
- Avoid Injury (or recover from one): Repetitive motion over long periods of time can lead to overuse injuries. Often times we tend to migrate towards the activities we love and then stick with them. This is an important part of lifetime fitness. However, by only doing that one thing, we can also over-do it. Choose one day a week to incorporate something different. If you typically enjoy running or hiking, try swimming or bike riding. By using different muscle groups and joints, you give those well-used body parts a rest.
- Meet new people: Do you always see the same people at your exercise class? Try a different time. Have a favorite running buddy? Try finding someone different to go on a hike or bike ride with once a week. Even though we may love our current exercise companions, it never hurts to meet someone new and to develop a new connection. This is also good for our brains!
- Life-long Commitment: This could be the most important reason to continue to change up your fitness routine. By continuing to try new things, you continue to challenge your brain, muscles, and social skills, thus creating more interest and subsequently more commitment to a lifetime of health and fitness.
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