When it comes to fitness it takes years of experience under one’s belt in order to be able to differentiate between methods of training, and structuring a diversified workout regimen. Familiarity has a way of becoming boring. For someone who is stuck within the same workout routines for years, repetitiveness eventually ends up killing both drive and will power.
So what can you do if you are in this perpetual cycle of starting your fitness journey only to step out of it before the month comes to an end?
Introduce diversity and flip between various training methods
As world renowned coach Tony Horton will tell you, tackling one’s weaknesses is a surefire way of becoming fit and improving overall body conditioning.
Structuring many of his programs, he aimed for diversity and variety.
To paraphrase his words, diversity makes adaptation harder thus ensuring constant stress and improvement.
Testifying with my hand over my experience in fitness, I cannot agree more. Not only do diversity and variety tackle the weaknesses, but they continually provide a way to train your whole body with different levels of intensity, and under very different circumstances.
In order to update your fitness routine, I’m sharing a list of ideas that will keep you out of boredom and plateaus for years ahead.
Pay attention to each one, and try to be open to variety.
How to migrate between training methods
If a couple of years in fitness have taught me anything, it is that your training routine should never follow a straight chart. If you are a strong believer in the mantra of Monday being chest day, what you are about to read won’t make any sense.
Between the number of rest days you chose to allow, everything else might change according to taste and progress.
In light of keeping things fairly diverse and varied, so you can never get bored- choose three or four different methods of training and place them throughout the week. Or just subscribe to Beachbody on Demand and stream different workout programs.
Bearing in mind that this is more useful for fitness beginners as opposed to those who have their sleeping blanket and a pillow in the gym’s locker, I will try to pay additional attention at making things more pragmatic and less of a drag.
So let’s start, shall we?
Calisthenics
An insanely hard training method right off the bat. And don’t worry; I can see the question marks floating atop your head.
Isn’t calisthenics supposed to be hard? Well, it depends.
If you are incorporating few movements here and there, it can well be the basis of your fitness program, and a very decent method of progressing further.
Keeping an eye on being pragmatic, all you’ll need is a chin-up bar and maybe a set of parallel bars as well.
If you live in an urban city, and one that pays enough attention to fitness and health, you won’t have trouble finding a park full of bars for calisthenics.
Start with a series of chin-ups, and then you will be able to try pull-up variations as well. The best way to make fast progress is to train the negative part of the pull-up exercise- meaning going up with a jump, and slowly descending one second at a time.
Incorporate calisthenics once per week, and you will quickly notice significant increase in strength. Most of all, it is a fun alternative to your repetitive and familiar routine.
Dancing workouts
In the grand scheme of fitness, dance is nothing but having fun. But you will have to look closer at what the benefits of dancing workouts are. Just take a look at dancers- they must know something that we don’t.
Dancing routines, it turns out, offer a unique way to stay in check with your cardio, while relaxing from the familiar repetitive routine you were dragging for years. They are perfect for the fitness beginner, but also a great way of having fun while training with your partner.
My fiancée spent one month doing Cize workout improving her overall fitness by a noticeable degree. To paraphrase her words, a dance workout was the only thing that had the ability to make her sweat after years of abstinence from fitness.
So, if you are a beginner, consider including a dance workout routine once per week. Or at least something like the Piyo workout.
Mock yoga
If you are the type of person who thinks that holding yoga poses won’t amount to much, just take a look at professional yoga instructors. They are all toned and muscular without doing a single rep of body resistance workouts, or weightlifting for that matter.
And this doesn’t need to be a straight out yoga class. You can slowly shift between a numbers of yoga poses, in a circuit pattern starting from the top once you finish the last one.
Incorporate this training method once per week, and not only will you see significant increase in flexibility and balance, but you will also make a huge stride forward towards recuperating your body and relaxing the muscles so they can be ready for the next day workout.
Resistance workouts
If you are the type of person who loves running, changing gears and slowing down a bit just might be the best thing that ever happened to your workout regimen.
Resistance workouts put a serious stress on the muscle, so the bone structure of the body chips in as well, helping you push the envelope.
Incorporating resistance moves, even if it’s only bodyweight we are talking here, will have a dramatic impact on your strength and muscle endurance. I also help increase bone density and the strength of joints and ankles, making injuries less probable.
You can skip between push-ups and sit-ups, and do variations of squats in order to strengthen the lower part of your body. In order to be more creative, you can add slower reps, as to eliminate momentum and ensure constant load.
Blended with cardio, these types of exercises can be the perfect way of transforming your body. For the runner, they can be the missing part of the puzzle, adding strength and more power.
Dumbbells are all you need
Dumbbells, if you were not familiar, are not only for performing biceps curls. Their applications can be far beyond dozens of different exercises and moves, that work to target all parts of your body.
Have you tried working on your calves with a set of dumbbells in your hands?
Yes, the possibilities are endless.
Use them for kettlebell swings, while doing squats, and for various press and fly movements. This might be particularly hard for beginners, but the fact that you can start with lighter weight only to increase the load, speaks volumes about the role dumbbells can play in progressive conditioning.
Shoulders, biceps and triceps were never trained better than with a set of adjustable dumbbells.
Pyramid workouts
Tell me more about being creative.
Pyramid workouts, as the title implies are to be performed in a sequence that continually expands in both rep and exercise numbers.
The basic premise is to start low and repeat each move by adding another on top.
Bodyweight exercises are perfect for this type of training, since you can easily structure patterns which take a lot of time to complete while still being able to work your way through.
Experiment with rest between sets and reps, and slowing the reps to the point of holding yoga poses, and you can go a long way with this.
I hope this list gave you enough ideas to consider when low mood strikes and you are making your mind whether to exercise or not. Having your workout routine varied and diversified will ensure constant escape from boredom, while at the same time quickly progressing in almost every fitness vertical.