Today is a great day for a fitness challenge that will kick your workout into high gear. Whether you have been working out for a long time or just getting started it is always a good time to kick your workout up a few gears. It takes six to eight weeks for your body to get used to the exercise program you are doing. When you stop seeing results or you do not feel challenged it is time to shake things up. There are many ways to change your workout and I am going to give you a few ideas.
During your cardiovascular exercise, whether it is running, elliptical or biking, you can make changes that will challenge your body. Adding more distance to your run is challenging and running on hills or using the incline on a treadmill will provide a change to the routine which will help burn more calories and use different muscles. The elliptical trainer has resistance and incline that can be changed for more difficulty and to use different muscle groups. Biking has gears that can be changed to give more resistance making it harder to pedal. All of these are great ways to add more of a challenge to your workout.
One of my favorite ways to challenge myself is to do interval training which gives variety to my cardio workout. I do a warmup for a few minutes and then change the resistance to make it harder to pedal and I keep that resistance for 3-5 minutes. Then I go to less resistance and pedal as fast as I can for 3-5 minutes. This is a great way to keep motivated and to get my heart rate up to burn more calories and to increase my endurance. It is also a way to keep from getting bored with the same routine every day.
Whatever type of exercise you choose to do make it challenging and fun so you will look forward to working out the next day. By making small changes in your routine you will see fast results and feel great because you are always challenging yourself.
Love and best wishes,
Tracy