Why you need to change your workout

DON'T exercise on a picnic table

It’s a mistake I see people making consistently through the years I’ve been working out.

That is: doing the same workout week after week after week.

Men do it. Women do it, too.

You get comfortable doing certain exercises, so you do them repeatedly. In the same order. Week after week. Worse yet, using the same weight. For the same number or repetitions (say, always stopping at 10 reps).

Bad idea. Your body gets adept at performing these movements, so the energy cost (the amount of calories you burn while performing these exercises) goes down and your ability to increase muscle (a good thing!) also fades with time.

Better idea: Change things up fairly frequently

I change my entire program every 4-6 weeks.

But if you’re just starting out, you may be okay with following a specific weight-training program for up to 12 weeks.

There are so many things you can change:

1. Change the days on which you perform certain exercises

For example, I often do shoulders and triceps on Monday. But right now I’m doing shoulders by themselves on Friday. And triceps after chest.

2. Change the order of exercises

Do you do a full body routine–and you always start with chest and end with legs, then abs?

Change that up. Start with legs. Do back before chest, if you usually do chest before back. Sneak abs in between sets of chest and back.

The only caution is to perform exercises for your smaller muscles after your larger body parts. So, do biceps and triceps after performing exercises for back and chest.

3. Change the number of sets.

I usually perform 3 sets of each exercise. But sometimes I change my program so I perform, say, 4 sets of the first two exercises. And sometimes I only perform 2 sets of an exercise. That’s usually at the end of my workout for a specific body part.

OR, I might superset 2 exercises, which means I perform them back to back. In this case, I might stick with just 2 sets of each exercise.

Similarly, if I decide to use dropsets that day, I might also do just 2 sets of a specific exercise.

For example, I may do one set of DB shoulder presses for 10 reps. Then, the next set, I might only get 8 reps using that same weight. But I’ll put the DBs down, immediately pick up lighter DBs, then get as many more reps as I can get using the lighter weight.

4. Change your rep scheme.

By this, I mean do higher reps sometimes and lower reps sometimes. You can also vary this within a single workout. For example, within a shoulder workout, you might do 8-10 reps of a DB shoulder press. Followed by 12-15 reps of DB side laterals. Followed by 10-12 reps of BB upright rows.

Naturally, you’ll be reaching for different weights, depending on how many repetitions you’re going for. If you do low-reps day for shoulders, you’ll use heavier weights than you would for a high-reps day.

5. Change your equipment.

If you’re working out at a gym, you should have a variety of equipment at your disposal: BBs, DBs, Smith machines, cables with various attachments, and the usual strength-training machines. Use them all–or, at least, use those that feel good to you!

In other words, try not to keep going to the same biceps curl machine. Try not to always do alternating DB curls–as great an exercise as that is. Try an EZ-curl bar. A straight bar. (Change your grip on those, for even more  variation.) A preacher curl bench. Do curls standing. Do curls seated. Use a straight bar on a cable. I could go on…

You get the idea.

When it comes to working out, change is good.

In fact, change is necessary if you want to keep seeing improvements.

(That goes for cardio, too, by the way.)

And, what’s nice is, change keeps things fresh.

You could even change back and forth between different gyms, if you like. I’ve done that myself. And it helps!

So when things get stale and you’re dreading your workouts, switch things up a bit.

It’s good for your body. And it’s good for your brain, forcing it to make new connections.

A girly confession here: When I want a boost, I go to Old Navy and buy some new tank tops in different colors. Last time I went, they were $4 each. It’s a small thing, but it makes me feel happy getting ready to go to the gym!

• What do YOU do to change things up?
• Do you have any little tricks that make going to the gym more fun?