Changing your workouts

When did you last change your program? If you have been doing the same routine for a while now, it is time to spice things up a bit and introduce some variety into your workouts.

The human body is incredibly efficient and will always look to do things in a way to save the most ennergy. Therefore, your body quickly adapts to exercise so that it has just the right amount of muscle to perform an action. The body also 'learns' how to do an action by setting up neural pathways.

To keep your body responsive to exercise, change your workouts every 4 to 6 weeks. Judge this for yourself by monitoring progress each week. If you notice that you can no longer progress with a particular exercise, then it is time to change to something different. Try throwing in an exercise which targets the same muscles but at a different angle or try using alternative training techniques such as pyramids or supersets.

Likewise with cardio. If you are able to run for miles on a treadmill at the same pace and no longer see any improvements, you need to start adding different variables to your workout. Try reducing your cardio session to 20 minutes but add short sprints for 30 seconds followed by slower jogs for 30 seconds. Also, make sure your don't stick to your favourite cardio exercise because it feels comfortable. Try a different machine or exercise for each cardio session.