Mix Up Your Fitness Regime For Spring (To Really See Results)
We asked the experts how to change your exercise plans to see your fitness leap forward
As we head into spring, it’s the perfect time to reassess your fitness plans and shake up your exercise regime to make sure you continue to see improvements and keep your motivation.
We spoke to Scott Mackenzie, fitness manager at Fitness First to find out what happens when your body gets used to your chosen exercises, and how to mix it up for the best results.
“When we do things over and over we do them with more ease and without conscious effort or thought from our brains,” explains Scott.
“It’s basically autopilot. Your body gets used to what you’re putting it through, you gain muscle memory and you don’t use as much energy as you used to - which can lead to a fitness plateau.”
So if you’ve been very good with your New Year Resolutions and you’ve been knuckling down to your preferred activity, now’s the perfect time to switch it up. So if you’ve been running, why not switch to swimming? If you’ve been swimming, move onto cycling and so on.
“Doing different types of training benefits you in numerous ways,” says Scott.
“For starters it ensures your training doesn’t go stale. Your body needs variety or you’ll stop seeing results.
“Stimulating your muscles in various ways will ensure the fibres are continually being innervated, stretched, stressed and developed in various different ways, using different movements and with different loads making you all round fitter, stronger and quicker.
“Plus mixing it up reduces your risk of injury - performing the same exercise movements over and over means your body becomes conditioned to move comfortably within that movement, not others.
“So as soon as we stretch into a position with force or speed that our body doesn’t typically do, we can get injured.”
It’s not all about your body either. Mentally, variety is essential to keep you motivated, focused and improves your confidence to adapt to different types of session.
“Doing the same thing over and over can be mind numbing for even the most focused athletes, let alone the standard exerciser,” Scott explains.
The other area to assess is what your goals are. In January ‘getting healthy’ might have cut it, but as you develop your training, you need to get more specific to make sure you’re pushing yourself – and feeling rewarded when you knock a goal out of the park.
“Goals are everything,” says Scott. “But be specific. ‘Get fit’ is fine, but you might struggle to feel like you have ever accomplished it because it’s so vague.
“Think of measurable goals – what are the stepping stones along the way to your goal?
“It could be anything from being able to walk up 10 flights of stairs without being out of breath, to swimming 50 lengths of a 25m pool without taking a break, to running an ultra marathon.”
And when it comes to mixing your training up, goals are essential.
“If you mix it up too much you risk becoming a Jack of all trades. But as long as you keep your intentions and objectives clear in your mind, you should see a marked difference.”
So whatever you’ve been up to, why not switching in a new exercise, team sport, distance or weight and see how you get on. Classes are also a good try, because they mix up different movements than you might otherwise try, and combine them with weights, which is great for strength.
It might be just want you need to get over the March hump.
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