Vary your workouts
There are also many different variations to exercises that target same muscle groups. BENEFITS: GIVES BODY NEW CHALLENGES
When you start a workout routine and you follow it accurately and precisely, you’ll start noticing some change, be it in shedding weight or gaining muscle. This is because regular exercise routines pay off.
However, after a few months, you start to stagnate at the same weight, even if you do the same amount of exercise and you stick to your diet plan.
The reason for this is simple and something that isn’t considered by many. With repetition of the same type of workout, your body simply adjusts to the exercise routine and ultimately consumes less energy.
So you should absolutely consider varying your exercise routines for two important reasons.
Firstly, to prevent the boredom associated with doing the same workout and secondly to avoid reaching a plateau in performance and subsequently in your results.
A plateau is a time where you are no longer progressing in your workouts. Furthermore, if you change the exercise routine, your body (and mind) will be continually challenged.
I have learnt that stepping out of your comfort zone always proves to be beneficial, so vary your routines to involve other training styles.
There are several ways you can spice up your current workout routine, one of which is the intensity of your workouts.
For instance, if you walk or run, try incorporating some intervals of jogging or sprinting or adding more hill work to your routine. You can also cross train and perform different activities to provide your body with a new challenge.
A nice alternative for resistance training exercises involves changing the sequence in which you perform the exercises.
For example, if you perform a bench press then a back exercise like a seated row, during the next set try to perform the seated row exercise first?
By fatiguing the muscles in a new order, you are requiring them to adapt to a new training style and therefore shocking the muscle into developing further. There are also many different variations to exercises that target the same muscle groups. For example, modified push-ups on your knees versus standard push-ups.
Alternating exercises is an effective way to make your routine more fun and interesting. Changing the exercises can be as simple as doing barbell bench press one week and dumbbell bench press the next. Another effective way is changing the sets and repetitions you do each week.
If muscle growth is the desired goal, then routines with exercises in the one to three repetition range are not best as this is primarily used for strength training. However, if you always perform three sets and eight to 12 repetitions on each muscle group and reach a plateau try doing four sets of six to eight reps.
I would suggest that you look into changing up your routine every four
to five weeks. You can start setting certain weeks as low repetition muscle growth weeks and other weeks as high intensity high repetition to “shock” your muscles. After four to five weeks, change the exercises. This assists with continued development. It’s also far more interesting.
So with all that in mind and if you need some help in freshening up your gym routine, I would advise you speak to a personal trainer. They can work around a new or revised plan according to your fitness goal.
Remember to keep moving!