Move It Monday: Diversify Your Workout

From our friends at Move It Monday:

Mix it up! This Monday, stir up your exercise routine. Studies show diversifying exercise routines avoids stagnant results. If you do the same routine over and over, it could be time to explore some new work out options.

Targeting different muscle groups keeps your muscles on their toes. Unless you’re training for a race, repetitive exercise doesn’t reap the full benefits of varying your fitness routine periodically. With some planning, soon you’ll be able to reshape your shape.

Adaptation is Plateauing

Tricking adaptation is the key. Your body is so smart, it tries something a few times and gets the hang of it very quickly. It adapts beautifully. Muscles stop getting stronger, heart rates level, and you don’t need to work as hard as you were during the first few weeks of an exercise. Avoiding repetitive motions also decreases the likelihood of injury.

Whole Body Workout

When you design your exercise routine include upper body, lower body, and cardio to have a whole body workout. Make it fun. Mix up an exercise like jogging with some low-impact activities like crunches and squats. Or, swim for 30 minutes then do some lateral lunges to open up your hips and strengthen those muscles. Draw up a plan, put it on the fridge, and check off your weekly accomplishments. By the end of the week, you’ll be humming along with a perfect routine.

Spice it Up

Doing the same thing over and over also takes the fun out of doing it. If you like to walk, walk on the treadmill and mix it up with the incline settings. If you like to ride a stationary bicycle, try the elliptical. If you like to lift weights, take a strength training class. Or a dance class. Or a yoga class. Use this Monday to reset your routine to get stronger faster, build endurance, and trick adaptation.

By shaking up your routine this Monday, you’ll keep your body and its adaptive powers on its toes. Diversity makes you stronger but it also keeps things stimulating. Challenge yourself to get creative with your routine, you’ll be surprised by what you can achieve.