We all want a chiseled body and fitness like our favorite models and actors. To get in shape and fit, you have to choose your workout routine and be consistent in seeing it through. But, often, there can be times when a single monotonous routine, when repeated over a few weeks, can tire you out, cause injuries, leave out specific muscle groups, and even bore you out at some point in time.
It is natural for someone to hit plateaus in your workouts and lose motivation. It is necessary to change things up a little bit now and then to take things to the next level or hit the gym with fresh enthusiasm every day. In this article, we will be seeing why and how often should you change your workout routine,
Is It Bad to Do the Same Workout Routine Every Week?
As mentioned above, workout routines are meant to get you into shape and improve upon it. Every workout routine focuses on a set of muscles with the concept that continuous exertion of the muscles will help in shaping them. But, doing the same workout routine for many weeks has risks that need to be addressed.
Raises Chances of Injury
Following the same workout routine, every day for weeks can be harmful. When you follow a routine, there might not be enough time for the muscles to rejuvenate and can risk overuse and, subsequently, injury. Overusing muscles can cause pain during and after workouts, swelling, and even damage the tendons, bones, etc. It can result in injuries and can make you temporarily unable to work out.
Miss Out Certain Muscle Groups
When you focus on a single workout routine for a long time, you may miss out on a few specific muscle groups or areas. This can cause some muscle groups to develop faster and risk losing asymmetrical fitness throughout your body. Changing the workout routine now and then helps you to focus on different sets of muscle groups and hence helps you to build a visually appealing and symmetrically developed body.
Boredom
If you follow the same routine time and time again, it can eventually bore you out, and you may start to lose interest in following the routine and even demotivate you from workouts entirely. Monotonous routines can kill your motivation and should be avoided at all costs.
Hence, we can conclude that it is necessary to change it up a bit now and then in the gym to stay motivated.
How Often Should You Change Your Workout Routine?
There is no written rule, but it is recommended to change your routine every 8-12 weeks. One can customize their workout programs according to their target muscle groups. But, for maximum efficiency, one has to customize the workout routines according to their efforts, experience, time spent, etc.
If your workout plan is well balanced and the results are showing, good for you. You can continue as long as you detect a hint of a drop in motivation to work out. Once you feel demotivated, it is time to change the workout routines and add newer exercises while removing some of the older ones.
Changing the workout routine doesn’t necessarily mean changing every single exercise on the list. It depends upon the goal of your workouts, your area of focus, and other activities like swimming, riding, etc. you are doing as it consumes time and changes muscle structure. There is no problem in sticking to exercises that tend to have higher results. In such cases, other exercises can be changed frequently from 10 to 12 workout sessions.
How to Change Your Workout Routine?
If you are a beginner, it may take time to create and adjust to each workout routine. It will even take weeks to get the neuromuscular coordination and joint positioning of the body just right. Leaving out room for errors, you can change your routines anywhere from 8-12 weeks. You have to find exercises for the muscle groups you want to focus on and allow a little time for the overall development of the body.
Changing the workout routine doesn’t mean that you have to reorder the existing workouts without adding anything new. One of the best ways to change it up in the gym is to change the loading scheme. The loading scheme determines the intensity of the workout. You could change the intensity of each exercise to have better results.
One has to focus on recovery as well as workouts. You have to build in time for rest according to the exercises in the workout routine. It is imperative to have your body completely rejuvenate your muscles and your nervous system after a workout for best results.
You can try many small methods to change your workout plans, including changing equipment and making small tweaks. It can include a transition from dumbbells to kettlebells, resistance band, medicinal ball. You can also change a small aspect of the workout. For example, you could try changing the grip for your weight-intensive training.
It is not easy to create a new workout routine every few weeks, especially for a beginner. It can get quite overwhelming, and let’s face it, time-consuming. It would help if you researched exercises and the target muscle groups and assigned enough reps to each exercise according to your priority.
A workaround to this is to follow the workout routines of your favorite celebrities, athletes and bodybuilders. Look for such workout programs online that suits your schedule and fitness goals. Dr Workout, for example, has a database of free workout routines that you can download. Find a good one and tweak it. This saves you a lot of time.
Final Thoughts
If you don’t feel challenged every day in the gym, your results start dropping as the mind and body set into the comfort zone. It is important to stay out of the comfort zone so your mind and body can adapt better and get fitter in the process.
Workout routines determine the focus of your training. If you continue the same workout routine, it can cause boredom during workouts and ultimately lack workout motivation. Even a well-balanced workout routine may forget specific muscle areas and can prevent symmetrical growth.
