Mixing Up Your Movement Routine Does The Body Good
The change in the seasons is the perfect time to get out of a workout rut and explore new and exciting fitness routines or yoga practices. I’ll be the first to admit that I have my favourite go-to classes when I need to break a sweat, but I’ve learned that stepping outside of my comfort zone always proves to be beneficial, and when time is at a premium it has to be good ‘bang for your buck’ with the time you have.
Hopefully, you’ve been able to try different style classes in my membership such as pilates, barre, conditioning, hatha yoga to name but a few – But if a regular workout routine works for you, why should you change up your style of class? Here’s why it’s important to mix it up every now and then:
You don’t want to plateau. Adding variety to your workouts will keep your exercises from becoming ineffective. If you run at the same speed on the treadmill every day for 20 minutes, your body will eventually hit a plateau. You will still be burning calories, but you’ll need to increase your resistance levels or speed if you want to really maximize results. This can be translated across to yoga by trying different styles to receive different benefits. The slower speed and more simplistic Hatha style might give you just enough space to connect a little deeper, or have a ‘lightbulb moment’.
Your body needs time to repair itself. If you do high-intensity exercise regularly you need to counter that. My classes are perfect cross-training for activities such as running or hiit workouts as they are mostly low impact and they move your body in different ranges to create balance. If you do the same intense workout each day, you won’t be giving certain muscle groups enough time to heal between each workout, and you increase your chances of being injured. Just make sure you have low-intensity movement days between your intense workouts to prevent your body from becoming overtrained.
Burnout prevention. The last thing you want is to get bored with something because you do it so much. Loved biking as a kid but now it only reminds you of your loathed spin class?! Here’s the thing: if you keep doing the same workout routine each day and your results start dropping, you’re more likely to get bored and give up on your fitness goals. To prevent this from happening, always keep your movement schedule mixed up so things don’t become repetitive and boring. My promise to you is that I will continue to provide a variety of classes every month so that we can continue to explore ways to move creatively together!