As a person, I’m always open to people having their own opinions.  Nobody should tell another person what is right or wrong, because their mind is wired different from that person.  What I mean is that I feel everyone is free to their own opinion regardless of the topic. Such as politics, marriage, race or how to spend your days and years.  What I always like to say is “You do your thing”.

With that said, it’s hard to believe how often I see the same gym goer do the exact same workouts day after day.  With the amount of time I spend in the gym, about 50+ hours a week, I can literally predict what some members next move is going to be.  I’ve seen a majority of gym members at my gym over the past 5 years do the same workouts and look the exact same.  Now, in my opinion I see that as somewhat of a waste of time.  I understand they are getting some benefits and they would have been a lot worse off if they didn’t come at all, but you should be seeing physical changes in the body and I know deep down that most of those people want to look better and move better.

I’m not going to get all scientific with why you should change workout styles and modes of exercise, I’ll just say one thing.  If you’re not changing up your types of exercise or breaking from you’re typical routine, then your body will not change.

You need to change it up.  You can still jog on the treadmill to get that runners high and clear your mind, but you should try changing it up with intervals, more intensity or running outside.  You can still do bench press, sit-ups and lat-pulldowns, but you should try changing up the order of exercises, rep schemes, base of supports, tempos, grips, machines and again more intensity. You can still do group exercise classes such as yoga, boot-camps and spin.  You can change that up by trying a different instructor, a different time of day or stepping up your intensity.

Changing it up is very important to be all around fit, you have to remember the 5 components of fitness. Muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, cardiorespiratory and last but not least, body composition.  All of the areas of fitness should be emphasized in your program.  Notice I did not use the word routine, because routines are somewhat bad, and they eventually become easy, and anything easy in the gym will not get you the results you are looking for.  Do not be afraid or shy to try something new in the gym.  I would much rather see someone getting out of their comfort zone trying something new, then walking to their  same machine and doing the exact same thing they do every week.

Being environmentally fit can sometimes go hand and hand with changing it up.  Overall, being environmentally fit means taking the stairs instead of elevator, parking a little bit farther in the parking lot and not waiting for the closest spot (lazy), and getting up off your butt and being active every day.  Make normal activities you might do outside into a workout. Such as curling your bag of groceries as you walk, doing step-ups or dips on the park bench while your kid is playing, or best of all ride your bike or jog to work if possible. These little changes in your fitness lifestyle will make a big difference in your overall life.

Next time you go to the gym you will notice some of the fittest people there are doing a mixture of exercises. Not just lifting weights or just cardio.  They switch it up and always keep the body working to adapt to the stress you are putting it through, and I bet you will see them out in the world being active as well, changing it up.  Live fitness lifestyle 24/7, always be thinking about it so that when you are out having pizza with family or enjoying your vacation you won’t have to worry about it then.