They say that variety is the spice of life, and that holds true for working out as well. The more that an individual can keep his or her body on its toes, so to speak, the more likely he or she will be to maintain their exercise regimen and prevent the types of injuries that can come about when a person grows complacent in their workout. If you’re looking to make alterations to your regimen, you could do worse than heeding some of the guidance in a recent report from People.
Considering that the temperature is dropping quickly in many parts of the country, now may be as good a time as any to switch up the locale where you work out. If you’ve been used to running for the past few months on the same route, avoid winter hazards by heading indoors to your local gym to run on a treadmill. Or, if you find a treadmill to be too boring, go running on an indoor track.
If you have the ability to do so, you can also help yourself by switching up the time of the day when you work out. The article lays out the strengths and weakness of the morning versus the afternoon. In the morning, you may be groggy, but that could be outweighed by the benefits of reduced blood pressure and the ability to more easily secure sleep. In the afternoon, you may be lagging from a day at the office, but on the whole, you’re more aware of your surroundings and could thus avoid an injury.
Alter your workout time if you can, running a trial to see what gives you the most satisfaction. If your job schedule is especially accommodating, you might try going in the late morning or afternoon. There will be fewer people at the gym at this time, and this might give you the boost you need to try out new equipment that can help you maintain a balanced exercise regimen and a healthy lifestyle.
That speaks to the next point, which is that it can be very beneficial to alter the workout itself on a regular basis. Running is great, but you should think about supplementing bouts of running with workouts on an elliptical machine or a stair climber. Rather than work out with weights that strengthen the same sets of muscles every day, use different machines and weights that can work out those muscles that don’t receive as much attention. Even something as simple as changing the size of the weights you’re using and the number of reps you conduct on those can help you avoid growing comfortable in the workout.
All of these things can help you get more from your exercise.
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