Tips to Bust Out of Your Usual Gym Workout Routines

Stuck in a rut with your gym workout routines? It happens to the best of us, but if you need a way to break free, it can just take a couple tweaks to your usual workout plans. Not only is change good for your mentality, but it’s great for your body too. Changing up your typical gym workout routines results in muscle confusion. Muscle confusion, which fitness fad P90X is based on, is the idea that working your body out in different ways results in faster, more plentiful results. Yet another good reason to switch things up.

Here are a few easy tips to bust out of your usual gym workout routines:

Mix up a new playlist.

Sometimes something as simple as new beats can inspire you to work harder and push yourself farther than you otherwise would have. By choosing up-tempo songs, your body will actually move faster. So aim for tempos between 125 and 140 beats per seconds.

Log your stats.

Science shows that tracking your progress actually helps your perform better. By aiming toward a goal, you’re likely pushing yourself farther and harder than you normally would. Sign up for a race or set high weight goals. Layout a workout plan to help you achieve those targets and use an app or old-fashioned pen and paper to document your progress as you go.

Go professional.

Have a favorite sport? Get certified in it. If you love practicing yoga, go for teacher training. If you’re into CrossFit, train to be an instructor. We love what we know and the more we know, the more interested we become, so learn all you can by going for a professional certification in your favorite sport.

Buy new workout gear.

Invest in a cool new pair of running shoes or that tennis racket you’ve been wanting for the past month. Buying new workout gear can often inspire us to hit the gym (and actually be excited about it). Plus, a new pair of tennis shoes could prevent future injuries since shoes should be replaced every few hundred miles or so.

Train with a friend.

A good friend will be there to drag your butt to the gym when you least want to go. Plus, often times, activities are more fun when you’ve got someone laughing, or enduring, by your side. Grab a workout buddy and designate specific times each week when you’ll workout together.

Completely revamp your workout.

Ditch every single exercise that was a part of your old workout routine for at least one week. Take boxing instead of your usual yoga class. Swim laps instead of running them. Do the elliptical backward. Workout in completely new ways so that you come to appreciate a few of your old favorites a bit more and maybe even find a few new exercises that you’d like to throw into you regular mix.

Sources:
-“17 Science-Backed Ways to Bust Out of a Workout Rut” Greatist
-“How to Break Out of an Exercise Rut” Boston Magazine
-“In a fitness slump? Science has approved these seven tips to help you break through” news.com.au
-“21 Ways to Bust Out of Your Workout Rut” Women’s Health