Welcome to afitnewyou! Today I would like to talk to you about the
importance of keeping your exercise routine fresh. The hardest part about getting into a regular
fitness routine is taking that first step.
People know they should exercise, but too often life gets in the
way. I stress to people that you need to
make exercise as important as brushing your teeth. We brush our teeth because of the need to
maintain our health. The same is true
for exercise, and I tell people to treat exercise like brushing your teeth;
make it a habit that you need to do in order to maintain your health. I explain that this is where the term
“routine” from. You need to make
exercise your routine. However, things
that are routine can at times become boring and stale. And, exercise that remains the same for an
extended period of time can lose much of its benefit. In order for muscle to change, it has to be
stressed. This is why you need to keep
your exercise routines fresh.
When I first started my personal
training career I worked at a training studio where I met Mavis. At the time, Mavis was in his mid-60’s, had
typical aches and pains, but had an otherwise relatively unremarkable health
history. When the head trainer of the
studio gave me Mavis’ file, he told me to follow his exercise regiment to a
“T”. Being a new trainer I had little
issue with that instruction at first; it was a simple and safe routine. While working with Mavis, he was plenty
comfortable with the routine, but he seemed to be going through it just because
he had to. After a couple of these same
sessions I asked Mavis how long he had been following this same routine. He said for most of the years that he was
training there. This blew my mind,
because there were no changes to the routine whatsoever. He did the same weight, the same reps every
single workout. It wasn’t his fault, but
the fault of the head trainer and training studio for prescribing this same
routine for so long. I explained to
Mavis that doing the same thing all of the time eventually becomes ineffective
for seeing improvement. I explained to
him the principles and needs of progression and overload for effective exercise
routines. He and I compromised by
keeping the same exercises to make the studio happy, but increasing either the
weights or repetitions each month. With
the fresh changes, Mavis increased the number of push ups he could do from the
15 he was doing for years, to 45 within one year! He had also decreased his body fat percentage
and reported less aches in pains in just a few short months. It was great that he had an exercise routine,
however he needed to freshen it up in order to continue seeing fitness gains.
Mavis is not a rare example. I have seen many members come into the gym
and do the same exact routine, day in and day out. While that is better than doing nothing, and
they should be commended for getting into the gym, they are also not reaching
their fitness goals. They do have the
making the exercise routine part down; now they need to keep it fresh in order
to see gains. If you have been going to
the gym for a long time, and do the same thing over and over again, but are not
seeing the results you are shooting for, maybe its time to freshen up your
routine.
A great way to keep a regular
exercise routine is to treat it like other healthy habits such as brushing your
teeth. However, it is important to make
the necessary changes to your exercise routine in order to continue to reach
fitness goals. Changing exercises,
increasing weight, or adding reps is essential to not only eliminate boredom
and burn out, but to effectively change your muscle. Progression and overload are just two
training principles that need to be met.
A personal trainer can help you know when the appropriate time is to
make these changes to your routine.
Having a regular fitness routine is healthy, but keeping it fresh is the
best way to create a fit new you!
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