Flip Up Your Routine
Habits of the New Year’s resolution wearing thin? Simply reached a plateau with your exercise regime? Now is the perfect time to make sure you’re still gaining benefits from your weekly exercise routine.
Stalling on your routine is normal when it comes to exercise. If we do the same thing for a long period of time, things can soon get boring, and we’ll find a reason to stop. That’s why it’s important to introduce some change to take things to the next level or stay on track.
What are the benefits of mixing it up?
- Reduce the risk of injury from overworking/ underworking a certain element or muscle group
- Avoid boredom
- Learn a new skill or sport
- Challenge yourself
How often should I change what I’m doing?
Whilst change is good sometimes, we need to do something long enough to see benefits. So, how long should we wait? This varies depending on the type of exercise that you are doing, but a general guide would be to add an element of change or progression every 4-6 weeks. And this change could be as simple as increasing reps, adjusting intensity, or swapping an old exercise for a new one (Klein, 2025).
Why should I change my exercise routine?
You’ve plateaued, or in other words you are no longer improving your speed, strength, or endurance form this exercise. Your body has now adapted to this particular routine and so has nothing new to learn (Fuchs, 2024).
4 ways to flip your exercise routine
1. Focus on a new element of fitness
Why not add a new element of fitness to your routine that you could be missing out on? Why not try stretching for 5 minutes at the end of your workout to increase flexibility or improve cardiovascular fitness by adding a 10-minute run to one of your workout routines. Focusing on different areas of fitness can improve our overall health and adds a good element of variety to a routine.
2. Try a new exercise
There are lots of variations on work out exercises in the gym and a variety of sports to try your hand at! Local community exercise groups are also a great way to meet people and try something different. Whilst attempting a new exercise can be daunting, you might discover something that you really enjoy doing! There are countless new sports that are taking over from our traditional football such as paddle or pickleball.
3. Increase the intensity or difficulty
If you’re finding your exercise routine too easy, then it’s a good chance that you’re ready to take it to the next level! Doing this can increase the sense of reward you get from working out and also improve the results that you will see. Increase the intensity and difficulty by reducing rest time, increasing the weights, going faster or going for longer. It is however important to make sure that these changes are gradual and over time to reduce your chance of injury.
4. Set some SMART goals
Goals are a good way to keep us on track, but it’s important that we make them smart. That means:
Specific: To what you want to achieve.
Measurable: How are you going to track progress towards it? Set a way that you will know when this goal has been achieved.
Achievable: Is this goal challenging yet still achievable?
Realistic: Consider any obstacles that you might come across and make sure it’s something that you’re capable of.
Time framed: Set yourself a deadline and hold yourself accountable to it.
References:
Why You Should Change Your Exercise Routine—And How to Do It | TIME
