We know that doing the same workout time and time again can send you in the WRONG DIRECTION for weight loss. It can have all sorts of hidden dangers – and not only because of repetition.
Yes it’s true that doing the same workout time and time again for ages is not only damaging, but it also might make weight loss harder for you.
BOREDOM is the first thing that will happen if you repeat too much. And something being boring and/or predictable is a common reason why people stop exercising.
Always the same class.
Always the same things in the same order.
Always the same words.
Yawn. (My clients love what I do because it’s always changing).
Always the same things in the same order.
Always the same words.
Yawn. (My clients love what I do because it’s always changing).
FORM.
How you actually do the exercises can be affected. Once you’re bored your brain might start to drift. You’ll stop consciously thinking about “how do I do that?” and carefully place your body as instructed. Instead, your brain will take shortcuts, and you’ll start to do exercises the easiest way…. which may not be the right way. You might injure yourself … read on for how.
BRAIN DISENGAGES
Once your stop concentrating on what you’re doing, and how you’re doing it, you are 100% more likely to get RSIs and/or have accidents. Fact.
STRONG MUSCLES TAKE OVER
Sure, if you do something time and time again, the prime mover muscles for that exercise will strengthen. This can be good. But if they get over-developed that can be an issue.
Your stronger muscles will happily take over the control of the exercise, leaving the weaker ones to just tag along. These may weaken further if the form is poor. These weaker muscles may be the ones that “fix” another joint in place for example.
If we have overdeveloped muscles in the front of the thigh, for example, it can throw our back posture out, leaving us with a back issue.
Imbalances like these usually cause pain somewhere.
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Your body is like an orchestra. It’s a wonderful work of the partnership of its individual parts. All those muscles, joints, ligaments, soft tissue, and bones all work together to create something fantastic.
But let’s say the trumpet is too loud or off-key … it sounds terrible!
Same thing with your body.
The lunge is a prime example. I see people pushing with just the moving leg, taking weight onto it without care or posture placement. This can over-use your quads over time, resulting in tightness which can lead to knee/hip/back pain. The lunge should use both legs, with the balance usually in the center. You should take care with the placement of the front leg, hold your spine tall, anchor the back foot with the heel directly up, keep both knees neutral without twisting, relax your shoulders, drop your chin to neutral, stabilize your ankle …. and more!
“JUST GETTING IT DONE”
But if you’re bored, you just want to get the 20 lunges done fast, every day, and you might stop thinking about the “how”. Fully understandable!
If you’re bored and just going through the motions, it’s likely that you’ll either stop completely. Or you’ll injure yourself through lack of concentration or muscle imbalance, and that will stop you. Either way, it’s the wrong thing to do for weight loss.
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All of a sudden you need to FEEL your workout again.
Remember how it felt the first time? Reconnect with it.
Try to make some changes that make it feel challenging, interesting, and engaging to your brain again. This way you will build lovely balanced muscles to fuel you with energy.
Here’s what to do
Choose a trainer, and a set of workouts, with as much variety as possible. You want exercise which follows the principles that a PT operates under. Get variation in …
- speed
- direction / plane
- intensity
- type of exercise
- duration
If you don’t regularly change these variables you can actually LOSE fitness and cause damage, even when you think you’re doing yourself good. Some muscles strengthen at the expense of others.
It’s all about the Principle of Specificity. We get very good at the stuff we do a lot. We exercise, and our bodies adapt and get fitter. The exercise gets easier.
In fitness this principle becomes extreme – you can get good at holding a certain weight, at a certain angle. But change that weight, or the angle, or the way you move it, and it becomes very different.
So in your own day-to-day activity…
⭐Get variety.
⭐Include walking.
⭐Use weights if you’re able to.
⭐Use bodyweight.
⭐Give your heart a workout too – get puffed a couple of times a week.
⭐Sometimes work fast / hard / slow / easy.
⭐ Find workouts and activities that you LOVE!
If you need support you can get that in spades from me. I love to chat and help people. Just give me a shout here and tell me where you’re at with weight loss or fitness, and what you really want to achieve.