It’s a familiar scene: You scan in at the front desk, drop your stuff in the locker room, and head to the same bench with the same Drake-fueled playlist to do the same three sets you did on chest day last week.
Don’t get us wrong, a consistent gym routine is one of the best habits you can have. But when you lock into the same old thing week in and week out, you set yourself up to plateau, burn out, or just give up.
To make sure your fitness routine isn’t as boring as your go-to breakfast cereal, we asked the experts to tell us how to amp up any workout. Here’s how to keep things fresh and keep the gains coming.
1. Make Way For the Warmup
If you’re a warmup skipper, you’re not alone. When you’re low on time, the first thing you’re going to ditch isn’t a key set of squats—it’s the intro work. The stuff that temporarily keeps you from the real work. But making time for a warmup can actually help elevate your effort on that key set by prepping your body appropriately for the upcoming load.
“Adding a warmup to your workout enhances your performance, and your recovery will be more efficient as well,” says Gabe Snow, founding trainer at Performix House. “We are elastic. Our muscle fibers react similarly to rubber bands. If you take a cold rubber band and pull it apart quickly, it snaps. We want to be as elastic as possible in order to increase performance and keep us injury-free and responsive.”
Tom WernerGetty Images
And a warmup can also be fun. This dynamic warmup routine will get you pumped and moving before it’s go time. Or, try this the next time you’re in the gym: Pick five different exercises (think bodyweight squats, spider lunges, high knees, arm circles, and leg swings) and put on one of your favorite songs. Do one movement for 30 seconds, then swap to the next, and repeat until the song is done.
2. Dress the Part
Deion Sanders famously said, “If you look good, you feel good. If you feel good, you play good. If you play good, they pay good.” With the possible exception of that last bit, the Sanders rule applies to you, too. Whether you’re hitting treadmill sprints or going for a new pull-up rep PR, wearing the right gear can help push you farther.
“Whenever you work out, you’re putting your body through some kind of discomfort,” says Terry White, co-founder of WOLACO, a New York City-based athletic apparel brand. “That’s why it’s imperative to find the right clothes that seamlessly work with you. You want to be comfortable, confident, and wear something that can handle the heavy amount of sweat your body is going to throw at it.”
Not sure where to start with the workout wardrobe revamp? Start with these picks from 12 activewear brands we love.
3. Attempt a Modification
If you hear the word “modification” and think “weakness,” it’s time to switch up your vocabulary. Modifying an exercise can give you a greater opportunity to move faster and smarter within your workout, which ultimately makes you stronger.
“By modifying, you preserve what you are trying to accomplish,” says Ben Sweeney, CrossFit-Level 3 certified coach at Brick New York. “By that, I mean if you’re trying to finish a workout in 10 minutes or less, then the weight shouldn’t be super heavy, or the movements shouldn’t be something you cannot do.”
Sweeney also praises modifications for their safety implications. “If you cannot safely move a weight or safely do a movement, it’s better to either bring the weight down or do a different movement that will give you the same result you’re looking for.”
ilbuscaGetty Images
4. Throw In a Workout Finisher
If you’ve never tried a workout finisher, then you’re totally missing out. Meant for those times when you’re gassed but know you have just a little bit left in the tank, a finisher is a simple, great way to turn up the intensity at the end of your sweat session. And a few minutes can go a long way.
“If you’re someone that isn’t able to make it to the gym 4 to 5 days a week, finishers give you an opportunity to get in a higher density workload (or, more work in less time) to make up for training volume you’re not getting by training additional days,” says Zach Murray, CSCS, Los Angeles-based trainer.
Finishers are also the perfect opportunities to insert some training tools into your program that you don’t reach for every single workout, like kettlebells, medicine balls, or landmines.
“It’s your chance to do something different,” says Murray. “Finishers can also allow you to utilize types of movements in planes of motion your traditional program may not, like frontal (side to side) and transverse (rotational) planes.”
Source: Read Full Article