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The biggest mistake exercisers make is to do the same workout over and over for weeks or months at a time. The muscles can get used to an activity and begin to work more efficiently, thus fewer calories are burned. For those of you looking to drop pounds, this is not a desired response. It is important to change and vary your exercise routine. If the weight loss plateaus or you need a jump start, variety is crucial to keep the body and muscles guessing. Progression of an exercise program is the easiest way to keep challenging your muscles and necessary to build strength, fitness and overall health. Progression is the act of gradually adding to the amount or type of stimulus applied to the muscle during each exercise. Knowing how to incorporate both progression and variety can be confusing. How do you change your workouts so that they are effective? Remember that progression can come in a variety of ways: change your intensity, speed, duration, repetitions, or weight. Here are some tips to maintain progression, interest and safety during your workouts.

Add something new: One simple way is to add exercises to vary your current exercise program.

Find what works for you: Do not be afraid to experiment with different training practices or techniques to find out what is more comfortable for you. And remember that the more fun you are having, the more likely you are going to continue to engage in the activity.

Start slow and know your limits: Exercisers should start their program slowly and gradually progress to more intensive training levels. If a problem develops, it is good to reduce the intensity of training for a few days (or check with your physician).

Exercise Reminders Check with a physician before beginning a new exercise program. Start each exercise session with a warm up and end each session with a cool down. Check your heart rate and know what a safe range is for you. Have a variety of exercise programs– cardiovascular, strength, and flexibility.

Take it two weeks at a time: A general rule is to progress an exercise program every two to three weeks.

Try interval training: Interval training, alternating fast bursts of intense exercise with slow easy activity, allows you to increase intensity without over training. For example, if you are walking on a treadmill increase and decrease the speed and incline every three to five minutes. For those walking outside, alternate between walking fast for a few houses (or one lap around the track), then walking slow for a few houses (or one lap around the track).

Extend duration of an exercise: Duration, the amount of time exercising, needs to be increased as tolerated. If someone is new to exercise, it is crucial to start with short bouts of exercise (five minutes a day, three days a week) and increase as able. A good, reasonable amount of time to increase would be five minutes per week. For example, to start with five minutes a day, three days a week then increase to ten minutes a day, three days a week. Then start adding more days in the week, as tolerated.

Add reps. before weights: If you are doing exercises with weights, first increase the number of repetitions before you increase the amount of weight. For example, start with one set of ten repetitions with one pound, then do two sets of ten repetitions with one pound. Once you can do three sets of ten comfortably, then increase the amount of weight and decrease the number of repetitions (for example, one set of ten with two pounds, two sets of ten with two pounds, etc).

Try a new machine or class: For those who work out at a gym, try to vary the machine used, if able, between the treadmill, stair climber, elliptical, rowing machine or bicycle. If you attend exercise classes, try some different classes. Group exercise classes are a great way to experience new forms of exercise and maybe even meet a workout buddy. This will also challenge the body and muscles in different ways.

Focus on fun: Exercise should always be fun and not something dreaded. Try and develop a repertoire of activities so exercise will not seem boring or routine. Sometimes just changing the music listened to while working out can help with motivation. An exercise professional can give specific advice or recommendations to help get out of an exercise rut. Remember it is a great idea to change things up on a regular basis so that your muscles will continue to be challenged, you keep seeing results and as a bonus, you will not be bored.

A way to keep track of activities and to make sure you have a well balanced activity plan is with the Activity Tracker on obesityhelp.com. This allows you to input exercise programs and gives ideas on different exercises. This way you can see how much time you are spending on cardiovascular strengthening and general activities. Everyone is different in what will work for them and how they got into a rut to begin with. Some suggestions from patients include: having a workout buddy, joining a gym and trying different classes, or making a goal to work toward. Have fun!

* Article courtesy of the OH Support Group Leader Team
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