Wednesday, October 13, 2010 at 6:00AM | Amy C Adding Variety to Your Workouts
climbing at Smith Rock, OR
Are you bored with your workout routine? Suffering from a nagging injury? Or maybe you're training for a specific event and do the same type of workout or sport every day.
I’m guilty of this. I love running. It makes me happy and when I’m training for an event, my runs become my top priority and I don’t go climbing or biking or hiking as often as I want (or at all). I have to get my runs in.
While this is common, it doesn’t mean it’s smart.
workouts and cake—an unlikely partnership
It’s really easy to get stuck in a static workout routine (kinda like it’s easy to get stuck in a life routine). The same weight machines at the gym. In the same order. On the same days of the week. That’s what a routine is, right?
Well... yes and no. Think of your routine as a cake pan. Bear with me through this metaphor for just a sec (apologies in advance for those of you who have been craving cake recently—blame my grandmother’s offering-lemon-pound-cake-after-every-dinner habit). It’s the structure that holds your workouts together.
But to produce a tasty cake, you have to put a variety of ingredients inside. Exclusively running is kinda like only adding sugar into the pan. Sure, there may a couple of different kinds of sugar you can use, but it’s still sugar. And if that's all you're putting into your cake recipe, you're not really gonna get a cake out of it.
And yes, there are a lot of ingredients in cake (rich, yummy, flavory ingredients), but they’re the same ones every time. I know, I know. You’re about to point out that I’m contradicting myself here. Adding only one ingredient (sugar) is bad, but adding the same ones in the same combination makes for a yummy cake. Agreed.
But I don’t think you should eat lemon pound cake every time you eat cake. It’s like going to the gym and running on the treadmill, then going to do the same workout in the same order. You’re using different weights, sure, but doing the same ones in the same order is like eating lemon pound cake every time you have cake.
It’s boring. And you miss out on so much. And it’s not really that great for your body. My point? Explore new tastes and allow your palate to mature.
So, we're now eating different kinds of cakes and maybe some cookies, and even fruit (I know, I know... crazy idea!) for a sweet treat. What can you do in your workout to mix things up. And why? What’s the benefit?
benefits of variety
slacklining at Hanalei Bay, Kaua'iOther than it keeps things interesting, it’s actually really good for your body. Surprisingly good, actually. Here are just a few of the benefits:
- Decreases your risk of injury. Using all different muscles helps keep those repetitive movements (thus repetitive-movement-injury) under control.
- Helps keep you motivated. I’m always (okay, usually—I have my bad days, too) excited to run again after a day or two not running.
- Increases strength and mobility of muscles. Using all your muscles in various ways helps round out your fitness. Running isn’t really all that helpful in strengthening your triceps. Trains your muscles to adapt and recover more quickly. When you surprise yourself with the unexpected, you learn to adapt and react to new environments and situations more quickly. I swear I took far less diggers (ahem, falling headfirst down a trail running) when I was taking parkour classes. I was just quicker on my feet and better able to recover my balance before superman-ing into the dirt.
There is a quote from Born to Run that helps explain why mixing up your workouts and keeping your body guessing is critical to your overall body health:
“Runners are assembly-line workers; they become good at one thing—moving straight ahead at a steady speed—and repeat that motion until overuse fritzes out the machinery. Athletes are Tarzans. Tarzan swims and wrestles and jumps and swings on vines. He’s strong and explosive. you never know what Tarzan will do next, which is why he never gets hurt.
“Your body needs to be shocked to become resilient,” Eric explained. Follow the same daily routine, and your musculoskeletal system quickly figures out how to adapt and go on autopilot. But surprise it with new challenges—leap over a creek, commando-crawl under a log, spring till your lungs are bursting—and scores of nerves and ancillary muscles are suddenly electrified into action.
how to shock your body
running in Moab, UTNot the electric-kind-of-shocks. Surprises. Startles. How do you keep your body stimulated and guessing? I’m going to list a few things here, but I’d really love to hear from you guys in the comments on how you switch things up.
Speed. As a runner, switching up my pace once a week in an interval or lactic acid threshold workout helps keep my muscles in tune.
Sign up for a class. I signed up for a parkour class through Apex Movement last year and loved it. I was sprinting, bounding, leaping and moving my body in all kinds of ways, depending on the environment in front of me.
I’ve also found a lot of enjoyment from various yoga classes. The absolute concentration and discipline required during class always manages to offer a different perspective—on my body and in my life—every time I go.
mountain biking in Boulder, COExperiment. Find a new sport to try. Or join a friend in their favorite sport. I’ve been introduced to climbing, mountain biking, triathlon, snowshoeing and snowboarding this way. Well actually, running, yoga and backpacking would be included in this list, too.
And now I want to hear from you guys. What suggestions and recommendations do you have for cross-training and mixing things up? What’s worked for you in the past (and what hasn’t worked)? What’s your favorite flavor of cake?
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Reader Comments (4)
I recommend the book "Play as if Your Life Depends on It" by Frank Forencich. He recommends exercise that comes from our primal human origins as hunter gatherers, moving in all planes in all directions with all parts of our bodies. Today, we tend to look at exercise in such narrow boxes; kick boxing, senior exercise, weight training, distance running, ballet. We find our niche and train like the dickens for that one activity. We would be healthier if we did all kinds of movement, shake it up often and in a fun way.
As a personal aside, I'll add that one thing I like about my main form of recreation, the rock climbing "box", is that while it is a narrow discipline when considered in the realm of all the movement activities and sports that people devote themselves too, it does keep me moving in all planes in all directions. If you do lots of types of climbing, bouldering, roped routes, sport climbing, alpine, and ice climbing as I have, you get some balance even within the defined activity, "Climbing". I've added to that other recreation I enjoy like biking, roller-blading, skiing, hiking, and in particular, personal training twice a week. My trainer, Pat (www.patsgym.com) keeps my workouts fresh and varied, much like the movement Forencich recommends. I feel I am getting the body I was meant to have through my particular combination of climbing, other recreation, rest days, and personal training with Pat.
Back to Forencich's philosophy, though: if a fitness program is to be compelling and sustainable, it has to be holistic, he says. Human fitness should meet a few simple conditions: "It's got to have some relevance to human origins, it's got to speak to the functional performance of the human body and it's got to be fun. In other words, we need a paradigm for exercise and fitness that's primal, practical and playful." I find his emphasis on playfulness to be particularly refreshing since I am one of those adults who has a pretty accessible inner child. Make some mischief! -- "Play is not only enjoyable, it is fundamental to a life of sustainable, vigorous movement. Forencich gives ideas in his book that will bring movement into your life in a way that feels natural, satisfying and meaningful.
Anne,
Thank you for the recommendation and in-depth synopsis. I'm putting that book on my 'to-read-very-soon' list. I love the philosophy of making fitness playful and fun. Watching kids run around (have you noticed they generally run *everywhere*?) is always inspiring to me.
Sounds like your activities are well in line with Forencich's philosopy. :-)
Some great info here, and so important when it comes to keeping people motivated to stay fit. I am a creature of habit and routine and actually make it a "to-do" of mine to do something different on the exercise front (like try a new class like Zumba or sign up for a bike race) a few times a year to force me out of my comfort zone. It normally pays off. Thanks for all the information, your blog is very informative and so fun to read!
Angie - Welcome and thanks for taking the time to comment. Signing up for new classes or events is a great way to change up your routine and get your body moving in new ways. (And it could quite possibly turn you on to a brand new passion along the way!)