4 Signs You Need To Change Your Old Workout
You finally found that one miraculous routine which works for you. And you do it over and over, and get better results, and then it stops. Why is it not working? It might be time to change your old workout. Here are a few tell-tale signs that show you when it’s absolutely necessary to change your old workout if you want to get any progress done.
When Do We Need To Change Our Old Workout?
1. The Obvious: No More Results!
When you do the same exercises with no variation for a longer period of time, your muscles get accustomed to it. This is what leads to plateaus – and we all know how frustrating those can be. You don’t get the same benefits, your lifts start to progress a lot slower, and you feel like you’re going nowhere.
Don’t ignore the signs! You definitely have to change your old workout. This way, your muscles can be challenged again and you can easily sweep right through your plateau and into your next weight loss or muscle building adventure!
2. Are You Bored Of Your Workout?
When you do the same routine, motivation suddenly becomes a scarcely available resource. Every time you go to the gym it seems to dwindle. In order to prevent this, and to make sure that you don’t quit your training routine out of sheet boredom, you must change your old workout. That can mean tweaking the number of sets and repetitions, adding new exercises, or completely revamping your routine.
Boredom is one of the clearest signs that something needs to change, and unfortunately many people think that it means they don’t have enough will power. That couldn’t be further from the truth, everyone gets bored of their old workouts, even professional fitness competitors, if they don’t change their routine every now and then. Try it and you will see the rebirth of all that motivation you thought you had lost.
3. You Don’t Feel “The Burn” At First, And Then When You Do, It’s All You Feel
You know that you need to change your old workout when your training session does not leave you with any sore muscles. So you are tempted to push harder and harder, because your muscles do need a challenge. But just because you don’t feel the burn while you work out it doesn’t mean your muscles aren’t under a lot of stress from all the training.
So if all of a sudden you feel fatigued and sluggish, you might be overtraining. Instead of pushing yourself to working out for 3 hours at a time because your usual 1.5 hours don’t do the trick anymore, why don’t you try changing your old workout for a few weeks or a couple of months? The movements will be new to you so a “burn” of some sort will definitely happen, and besides, who doesn’t like something new in their life?
4. You Want To Kickstart Your Metabolism And Change Your Looks
When you do the same old workout, your muscles get used to the movement and they get more efficient. That means of course that you can progress, you can lift higher weights or run for longer distances. But sometimes if you want a real and fast kickstart, you need to change your old workout. Instead of aiming to do lateral raises with a higher load, for instance, you could aim to do a different shoulder exercise, such as a shoulder press. Or if you want to keep running but need a change, try adding some sprints to your workouts.
If you recognize any of these signs, then you need to change your old workout.
Let us know in the comments below how you can tell when it’s time to switch up your fitness routine.
