More often than not, we find a workout that we enjoy and tend to stick to it. What most of us do not realise is that after a point, it stops working. The thing is, our bodies are made to adapt to situations, so, when you do the same workout everyday, your body adapts to it and makes your workout ineffective.
Strange right? So how can you achieve your fitness goals when this happens? It’s simple. Switch your workout! Mix up your yoga with a Zumba class or a dance class or try kickboxing or any form of martial arts (it’s good to know how to defend yourself too). Besides helping you achieve your fitness goals, here are a few amazing things that also happen when you mix up your workout!
1. You can prevent the plateau: By mixing up your workout, you’re ensuring that your exercises don’t become ineffective. Your body adapts to the workout after a point, therefore causing your progress graph to plateau. For example, if you are a runner, try yoga or HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training). Mixing up your workout also helps improve your overall fitness and performance.
2. You will stay motivated: Most humans are stimulated by variety and turned off by monotony. Most people ‘love’ their workouts initially but then get bored of it – which also makes you lose that motivation to get out and get in shape. Cross training helps break that monotony and gives you so much more to be excited about.
3. You can avoid injury: Mixing up your workout is a great way to prevent injuries because you aren’t constantly working the same set of muscles throughout the week. If you do the same intense workout each day, you don’t give certain muscle groups enough time to heal between each workout. When you mix up your workout, you focus on different parts of your body, giving your muscles time to heal. Always remember, the real development and shaping of your body actually takes place when its resting and healing.
4. Your brain stays healthy: Exercise is key for keeping your brain sharp and helps prevent memory loss. Did you know that learning new skills helps keep your neurons working better?
Therefore, learning a new exercise that is skill based, for example, zumba or ballroom dancing, benefits not just your brain, but your health too! The key is to choose activities that involve memorising the routine and keeping you engaged.
5. You push your body and get better results: When you perform exercises from different disciplines, you push your body more than you usually would with a traditional, straightforward approach. By doing more with your body, your physical fitness levels grow. With mixing up your workout, you can gain muscle and lose fat and condition your body to excel in the sport/exercise you like faster than when you do the same workout over a long period of time.
And most importantly, it’s so much more fun!
(This article has been written by Sahil Kukreja, Founder of fitness app, Fiticket.)
Image courtesy: Shutterstock
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