4 Reasons To Switch Up Your Fitness Routine
Your standard exercise routine may seem like a hardy and reliable workout, but if you've been following the same circuits for months now, it may not be benefitting you anymore. If your body has adjusted too much to your current workout, you may find that your gains have stalled, your workouts no longer challenge you, and the entire process seems too easy. You may be proud of breezing through what you once struggled through, but it means your fitness routine isn't adequately pushing your body. Without resistance, muscle exertion and an increased heart rate, your workout will be ineffective. Try switching up your exercise routine to get things in gear again and make your visits to the gym worthwhile.
1. Keep your workouts interesting
If you're hitting the gym and going through the exact same routine every few days for weeks or months at a time, you're probably going to get bored really quickly. When you start a new routine, you're teaching yourself a new pattern, learning to think about how to improve and develop new moves and figuring out a new rhythm to fall into.Becoming too acquainted with your workout can make exercising seem like a massive, unstimulating chore. If you're getting bored working out, you may lose interest entirely and find your visits to the gym become less and less frequent. Prevent workout boredom by introducing a new routine into your schedule and ditching old ones to encourage more excitement about your exercise.
2. Focus on different muscle groups
When you exercise the same muscle groups, you encounter two problems. First, you aren't doing anything new to your muscles, instead your teaching them to be very efficient at the movements you're performing. For example, if you spent the last 12 months doing the same chest routine on Monday (National Chest Day) you may find that your body would've adapted to that routine and become very efficient at that and as soon as you throw a different movement into the mix it blows your mind how messed up your chest is the following day.
Secondly, the muscle/joints you're not training will be neglected and will in turn become weak and not very efficient. Changing your routine allows you to change your focus, which provides new stimulation to your body. Even a well rounded periodised routine using all the cool movements we see these days need to be switched up to add new stimulus to the muscle.
3. Jumpstart your weight loss again
Following the same routine over and over seems like the right way to build muscle—after all, repetition is one of the key aspects of muscle development. But if you do the same thing for too long, your improvements will eventually plateau. Even if you keep pushing the weights and reps, your body will eventually become extremely familiar with the same motions. You will no longer develop the micro tears in your muscle that help build strength, instead finding that your muscles have learned to accommodate those movements.By giving your body something new to adjust to, you force it to move in new ways and to begin from total inexperience again. When you're feeling too confident in your workout, switch it up. If you feel like an awkward gazelle trying out a new routine, you're doing it right.
4. Prevent overuse injuries
If you use the same muscles over and over again, you run the risk of developing an overuse injury. Some of the things that men buy for fitness training and sports can lead to overuse injuries. Your knees, elbows and other joints need adequate rest to recuperate from exercise, and over time you can develop strains that aren't immediately apparent. Prevent yourself from abusing your muscles by switching up your routine. This gives you a chance to work on new muscle groups and ligaments, giving your overused ones time to recover from overuse, heal and strengthen.Don't let a familiar routine become a permanent one. Switch it up every couple months—or once you start feeling like you've become quite comfortable with your current one. By keeping your exercise fresh and original, you keep workouts fun and your muscles adequately challenged.
