Female Fitness Blog

30 Days To “The Best Me Ever” - Day 27 - Changing It Up

Submitted by Fit and Female Blog

Ch…Ch…Ch…Ch…Changes, Turn And Face The Strain” ~ David Bowie
As I look around the gym each day, I am always taken by the number of people who have been doing the exact same workout, 3-5 days per week — for years.

While, I certainly applaud their commitment to exercise, I don’t think most of them understand the concepts of “adaptation” and “progression”.

“Adaptation” means that your body gets “used” to what ever you do on a regular basis. For example, you try spinning for the first time. You wake up the next morning with your upper back sore, your quads in a knot and your nether regions bruised from the seat. But after a couple of classes you don’t feel any of those things — you feel great. Spinning becomes easier. Your body has adapted to this new “training stimulus”.

That’s not to say that you won’t continue to get benefits from the activity (in this example, a great cardio workout) — but you won’t get the same degree of benefit that you did initially. Because your body has made all the changes that it needs in order to get the job done. Which leads me to the second concept, “progression”.

“Progression”, is the concept that you must provide your body with varied stimuli (i.e.; “different exercises” for you non-egghead types) for continued fitness gains. You need to change up something that you are doing, whether it is the type of exercise you’re doing, the frequency of the workout (sometimes less is more — but that’s a whole separate blog) and the intensity of what you are doing.

That’s why cross-training gets so much good press. Cross-training means engaging in a variety of fitness activities. With this type of exercise program you never get too much of any one thing, so that your body is never fully-adapted and must continue to make changes. Another important benefit is, cross-training helps prevent boredom and burn-out. Exercise becomes playtime with each workout being new and fresh.

So take a look at your fitness routine. If you don’t have a fitness routine, don’t worry about cross-training right now. To paraphrase the Nike Ad, “Just Do ANYTHING”, a 20-minute walk each day for a couch potato could decrease their likelihood of a heart attack immensely.

But, if you are working out regularly, ask yourself what you could try that would be different. Are you a distance runner? What about one day where you go shorter, but add some intervals? Are you a spinner? What about that Power Yoga class to loosen up those quads? Crazy about free weights? What about one day of body weight only exercises that emphasize your core?

The bottom line is, regardless of what some of us may feel about changes…our bodies really like it.

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