When you go to the gym every week and continue to do the same workout, you can feel bored or even start to slack off. This can mean reduced productivity, making it harder for you to attain your gym goals. To prevent this from happening, you can always start to switch up workouts and target a different area of the body.
For instance, if you typically do abs on Tuesdays, you can switch and do your legs that day instead. There are several benefits to switching up your routine, which can include the generation of new muscles, along with building endurance and being able to partake in a variety of different sports. If the exercise requires more skill, then your brain will thank you later! We all know that exercise has great implications for your brain and changing up your routine to incorporate another exercise that you are not aware of can have double the benefits! These workouts can include a challenging hit cardio class or joining your Sunday Zumba class for a week to test it out. Always remember not to overdo it, since you don’t want to strain your muscles!
Changing up your routine can also prevent muscle strain and injury. If you continue to do the same repetitive workout routine on the treadmill or bench press, you are more likely to injure that particular muscle (known as repetitive strain injury). This can lead to more fatigue, missing workout sessions, and cause you to gain more calories as you recover from the injury. To prevent this you can alternate workouts: do abs one day, the next day is chest day, etc. Switching it up allows you to let certain muscles relax and relieve them of strain, while you exert other types of muscles via a different workout.
Something we all struggle with involves endurance and stamina. You can try building up stamina and endurance by trying new cardio regimens, such as the 12-3-30 exercise. This exercise really helped me improve my stamina. This workout comprises of an incline of 12, speed of 3, and 30 minutes in duration. You can also tweak the speed to be faster or slower depending on your own personal preferences. You can check out a video on this workout here.
If you notice your workout routine still suffering after switching it up, then you can definitely try taking a break from the gym. Give yourself a day (or several) to sleep in or watch shows on Netflix. Take some time to reflect on your gym goals and why you might be feeling burned out. Then during the next few days, you can try varying and tweaking your gym routine to boost productivity. Remember to set small weekly tasks that will allow you to accomplish your goals – it is a marathon, not a sprint!