Expand Your Horizons

Sometimes Your Workout Just Needs A Change

One thing that you will notice in the gym is that most of the regulars seem to have a routine that they are very comfortable with. Johnny Bravo over there lives by the workout he was taught by the football coach way back in high school... Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays are upper body, and Tuesdays and Thursdays are, of course, for the legs. Meanwhile, Trixie religiously does the stairmaster every morning for 30 minutes while Leisuresuit Larry watches from behind on his treadmill. Sure, they may change their workouts up once in a while, but for the most part, it may appear that their workouts are etched in stone. Why? Because they get into a comfort zone.

This comfort zone is not always such a bad thing. For the overweight guy or lady who was inspired by "The Biggest Loser" TV show or who may be going through a Body For Life 12-week transformation, the comfort zone may actually be crucial in encouraging a person to make it a daily routine. Some people don't care about all the rocket science behind building muscle and burning fat... they just want to be given a brainless routine that will give them the results they are looking for.

However, what happens when the regularity is there, but the results do not seem to be as profound anymore? What about when the body gets used to the routine and and the workout becomes lackidaisical? When you are standing on a plateau with your physical fitness, what do you do?

If this is you, then it's time to expand your horizons. And if you haven't reached this point yet, you should still consider doing so. Too often, we break "exercise" up into two categories: weightlifting and cardio. But there is so much more to it than just these two general areas. For one thing, there is absolutely no reason why weightlifting and cardio cannot be combined. Snatching a kettlebell for repeated sets will definitely give you the cardio workout you need while you are toughening up the meat. Second, the ways to add to your strength and conditioning efforts are only limited by your imagination. Why only stick to those Olympic plates or that fandangled machine? Have you ever swung a sledgehammer for an extended amount of time? Remember how you felt the next day? Why not add that to your list of exercises? If you like walking but feel it's time for a little variety, wear a weighted vest. If you want to make your abwork a little more challenging, trying doing situps while rolling one of those big, blue Pilates balls. Juggle medicine balls. Use some therapy rubber bands for some toning of the arms. Heck, just go ride your bike if you haven't done so in a while. You get the idea. My point is that variety is the spice of life... and sometimes it's good to take your exercise routine and kick it up a notch.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that you wil have great gains by simply following your whims and doing "whatever you feel like" for the day. You're better off planning your workouts still. It's always to your benefit to have a gameplan built with forethought. You need to see incremental progression and you won't be able to gauge such progress if you never do the same thing twice. You don't simply want a chaotic or too random a workout, with no rhyme or reason. You just want to keep your central nervous system (CNS) on its toes. If it gets in a rut, it'll get bored and you won't see as much progress as when you shock your CNS into saying, "Crap! What's going on???!!! Muscles, move it! Move it! Move it!"

We here at Kettlebell.com want to help you to add life to your workout. We're adding more and more new articles that will be discussing various ways of working out. Don't read only the kettlebell articles just because that's what you're "into". And if you're a body builder, don't simply skip all the cardio articles. Do yourself a favor and read every article. Consider it an intellectual exercise to take it all in. If you do so, you will find your workouts to be more enjoyable and more importanly, much more effective. If you're one of these people we described earlier with their set ways of exercise, isn't it time you've broadened YOUR horizons?

Tom Grow, editor of Kettlebell.com, has been a fan of the iron kettlebell and a student of Pavel Tsatsouline's training techniques for several years. Having recently lost over thirty pounds, he is now pursuing a career in personal training.

Click here to read more about Tom Grow and to read his other articles.