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Variety is Your Key to Success

By Daniel Remon

If there is one question that keeps coming back time and time again, it is how to stay motivated.

For me, variety is the key to adherence, and the key to achieving your health and fitness objectives. But variety is so important for so many different reasons. Variety in your program helps you cross-train so that you don't over-develop some body parts and neglecting others. Incorporating variety into your exercise routine helps to prevent injury, as the body is taken through more positions with different activities creating greater stimuli for the body to respond to.

When we try a new exercise for the first time we are not efficient at it, our coordination is poor and our body’s burn a high number of calories learning it. Over time we become more and more efficient, and begin burning less calories to perform the same exercise. A new exercise or activity is essential for changing that response, and ensuring our body’s don’t get lazy. A routine that incorporates variety prevents boredom. Can you imagine doing the same old activity, whether it be cycling walking or whatever for the rest of your life? Ideally, select a number of different activities that can help keep your exercise fun, enjoyable, and effective.

Just how much variety is also important to know. Variety should be included in all aspects of your exercise whether it be your home or outdoor exercise program and incorporate into all components of fitness; cardiovascular, strength, flexibility, core stability, speed and agility.

Adding variety to your fitness program, just remember the FITT principle. Read more of the FITT principle. Frequency, Intensity, Time and Type. If you normally walk for 3 days a week for 30 minutes, try walking 4 days a week for 45 minutes for a week. Or mix it up completely by walking for 20 minutes in the morning and 20 more in the evening after dinner. Intensity can be altered by working harder for a less time, or a lower heart rate for longer. If you always go straight to the bike on level 3 while doing the hill program, change the program to the interval program at level 5 or a manual program on level 5. Try changing the intensity by making your workouts harder or easier, or a combination of both through interval training occasionally. If you like to walk, try walking on an incline for a change, or on a dirt, or gravel road instead of the paved sidewalk! Small and subtle changes are all you need to make the body think differently and then adjust accordingly. Finally, the most obvious change that you can make is in the activity you do. With all the activities available today, there is bound to be a new sport you've been waiting to try! Cardio kick-boxing, 4-step, spinning, racquetball, hiking, rollerblading, water walking, and mountain biking are just a few on the long list of great activities you could try!

When strength training, add variety by using the following ideas: Weight, reps, sets, speed of movement, range of motion (ROM), body parts and the exercise itself and the order you do them – try them in reverse or completely rearrange them altogether. as well as more advanced techniques like super setting, drop setting, pyramid sets, negative sets or push and pull sets.

After the initial 4-6 weeks of weight training the body will plateau, and a good varied routine is necessary to see further improvements. Like cardio, there are many ways you can vary your program. First, try to vary the sets and reps you do. If you are used to 3 sets of 10, switch to 2 sets of 8 with a heavier weight. You can also vary the exercises that you do. I can think of over 6 different exercises just off the top of my head that will strength train the chest, and I know there are more! Each day you train, do a different exercise! Another way to vary your weight training routine is to vary the body parts you work. Instead of always doing full body 3 times per week, try splitting it into 3 days of upper body and 3 days of lower body. Maybe you would enjoy doing a push/pull routine, or something similar. You can also vary the way you train: pyramids, negatives, super-sets, super slow training, while these are all advanced training methods, they are great to do once in a while for variety. Finally, you might want to switch the times you train. If you are normally a morning trainer, try doing it during your lunch hour for a week. If you usually do cardio first, try strength training first for the next month. Subtle changes go a long way to making big improvements in your strength levels!

So you can see that not only is it important for your body to add variety, but it is also important for your mind. If you picture yourself doing now what you will be doing in 10 years, do you think you will still be doing it? Most likely the answer is no. If you need ideas on how to incorporate some variety in your routine, you might consider hiring a personal trainer for a single session, if nothing more than to brainstorm with you! Picking a trainer's brain for an hour on how you can change your plan for the better may be well worth the money, especially if it keeps you exercising long into the future!

Fitcorp Asia is the best place to start, and by joining for a 6 week program, you will learn all the tools and knowledge you need to make your exercise not only more enjoyable, but life long and more effective.

About the Author:

Daniel is the Managing Director of Fitcorp Asia. Asia's leading health, fitness & lifestyle company. Daniel is a contributor to many magazines, Master trainer for Technogym throughout the Asia Pacific, golf fitness and fat loss specialist. http://www.fitcorpasia.com, http://www.personaltrainingbangkok.com