I have clients in Louisiana, that love the variety offered in our workout videos. It helps them prevent boredom. There’s another reason to mix up your workout and that’s to avoid plateauing. At one time or another, everyone has faced plateauing. It can occur for a number of reasons, including lack of variety in your workout. It also can occur when you lose weight, which causes you to burn fewer calories, since you’re not carrying around all those extra pounds like weights on your body.
What causes plateauing?
Plateauing occurs when your body becomes efficient at doing any exercise. Even though efficiency is normally good, when you’re talking about burning calories, it’s not. It requires fewer calories to perform the same action, so you won’t create the calorie deficit you had previously from the same workout. By switching your workout every month or so, you can avoid that and keep those calorie burning fires burning at their peak.
You’ll avoid overworking certain areas of your body.
When you mix up your workout, you’ll also ensure all muscles are worked on all planes. It can help you build symmetry and ensure that each muscle group is strong, which can help avoid injury, especially if a smaller muscle has to do the work of a larger one. It’s important not to work one muscle group too often or too hard, it can cause stress that leads to injury. There are over 600 muscles in the body and it should be your goal to work them all.
Learn a new physical activity and boost your brain as you improve your body.
While doing traditional exercise regularly is important to ensure you get adequate exercise for all muscles, you can benefit from other types of exercise, too. For instance, learning a new physical activity, like a new dance style, can help boost your brain power. It increases neural pathways and boosts the growth of brain cells by increasing BDNF—brain-derived neurotropic factor—in the brain and causes an increase in executive functioning. The more you vary your activities, the more you lower your chances for dementia and Alzheimer’s according to a study by The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the University of Pittsburgh.
- If you’re doing strength training, it’s important to give the muscles you worked a rest for at least 48 hours if you’re working at high intensity. The way to avoid a problem is by alternating muscle groups you’re working.
- Have fun with the kids, family and friends. Getting fit is all about getting more out of life. Take a day away from working out to do something active like biking, running, dancing or swimming.
- If you’ve done a routine for a long time and are switching to a new one, take it slower at first. Make sure your form is perfect, since doing an exercise wrong can diminish the benefits or even cause injury.
- When judging a workout, use the acronym FITT. It stands for frequency, intensity, type and time. If you change at least two of those factors in your present workout every six weeks, it can help keep it fresher and aid in weight loss.