Change is good

I’ve been struggling lately with my workouts. Could I be in a bit of a workout rut?

I know that’s an odd thing for an exercise junkie like me to say. My friends and family know I’m almost always working out! Whether I’m hitting the track or heading to an exercise class, I generally exercise every day.

And I don’t just do one thing, either. I attend two strength training classes a week, do Pilates and yoga once a week, take some outdoor walking classes once or twice a week and run on all the other days. But lately, I find myself getting a bit bored. Even though I’m “changing it up” on a day-to-day basis, I’m also doing a lot of the same activities over and over again. Is it time for a change?

According to Paul Plakas, a personal trainer and star of Slice Network’s X-Weighted, changing it up is really the key to fitness success. In our feature article, “Workouts that work,” he says if you want to continue seeing improvements, you need to start changing up your fitness routine.

It’s good advice, and I think it applies to all of us, even people like me who are doing a wide variety of activities. If we don’t continually change our workouts (and our workout venues), we eventually get bored and our bodies start to plateau. What’s worse, we may even give up exercise altogether because it just won’t seem worth it anymore.

Personally, I don’t ever want that to happen, which is why I think it might be time for a change. I’m certainly not going to give up the activities I love, but I will be more open to switching it up every once in a while.

I’ve started by swapping out a power walking class with an indoor spinning class. Since it’s the dead of winter, what better time to take my workout indoors for a new, fun and challenging workout?

I’ve also started looking at activities the whole family can do to introduce something new and exciting to my workouts. My husband and I haven’t been skiing in years, but we’re thinking this may be the year to introduce our kids to the sport. We’ve also committed to going skating at least once every two weeks as a family, and I’m even looking into family rock climbing lessons. I figure every new activity I try will keep both me (and my Healthy Body) from getting bored of the same-old, same-old.

Of course, I will certainly not stop running, weight training, yoga or Pilates – I just plan to branch out a bit and see what other new and exciting forms of fitness I can do. After all, it’s a long winter – I might as well make the most of it!