7 Easy Ways to Revamp Your Exercise Routine
Wondering how to switch up your workout routine to keep it fun and effective? Here are 7 easy ways to revamp your exercise routine!
Hi there – my name is Chantal. Welcome to my site!
I’ll start by saying that I’m a mom of two, certified personal trainer and a certified nutrition coach as well.
Hopefully that gives you enough background to help you understand where I’m coming from when I talk about exercise, but you can learn more about me here.
I have been a NASM certified personal trainer for five years now, but I have been exercising *mostly* regularly for nearly ten.
After getting my personal training certification, I started designing home workout programs, nutrition coaching courses, and experimenting with exercise programming in general.
I have tested workouts and training styles on myself, on family members, and women all over the country!
From personalized exercise programs to pre-built workout plans, I have been learning the ins-and-outs of fitness for quite some time.
Why ways to revamp your exercise routine?
That being said, even I get bored with workouts and lack motivation sometimes. Luckily, I’ve learned a few tips and tricks that can help you stay on track.
In today’s post, I want to share with you some simple ways to revamp your exercise routine so that you can continue on a healthy trajectory.
If you want to know how to switch up workout routine, this is for you! Learn a few new ways to change your physical activity for best results below. 🙂
7 Easy Ways to Revamp Your Exercise Routine
1. Change Workout Frequency
This is a great way to easily change up your workout plan short term.
Even as a personal trainer, I never work out more than five times per week. (And that’s on a super motivated week.)
However, my “sweet spot” seems to be 3-4x per week. If you’re training too often consistently, you’re likely setting yourself up for burnout or injury.
I highly recommend lifting heavy or more intense training 3-4 days per week over mindless workouts 5-6x per week.
Improve your workouts by focusing on intentional and meaningful exercise instead of constant exercise. You’ll recover better and probably feel better mentally, too.
If you’re working out 2-3x per week and not seeing results, try 4 workouts weekly for 3 months and see what happens!
Related Reading: How To Make Working Out A Habit
2. Go Up In Weights / Increase Load
If you aren’t seeing a lot of results in your workouts, you’re probably too comfortable with your weight training.
If you want to start seeing body composition changes and want to feel stronger and leaner, it’s time to pick up some heavier weights.
In personal training, “progress overload” is the ultimate goal. That is, you should be increasing the load over time.
Related Reading: 50 Different Types of Fitness Goals To Work On
Choose weights that greatly challenge you within your last 2-3 reps of each set. (I recommend sets of 8-12 depending on your level and training goals.)
Continue to stick to that weight in each training session. Once those weights feel “easy” or “light” in your last few reps or sets, it’s time to go up in weight a little.
Aim to go a little heavier every 2 or 3 weeks!
3. Try HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training)
HIIT, Tabata, and Fartlek training are all known for yielding maximum results in a very small amount of time.
In fact, studies show that you can get the same or better results in 4-20 minutes of all-out effort than 30 or more minutes of low-intensity cardio.
The key is to “give it all you’ve got” for the entirety of your workout. (You want your heart rate way up!)
If you are looking for weight loss and cardio improvements, high-intensity is an easy way to get it done – super valuable!
Read all about high-intensity interval training in this post and try it out!
4. Increase “Time Under Tension”
Time under tension refers to the time during which you are activating a muscle in strength training.
(If you are doing a bicep curl, the tension occurs when you are lowering and raising the dumbbell.)
To increase the time under tension, you can either slow your reps down (which increases difficulty), complete isometric holds, or increase sets or reps.
Isometric holds force you to continuously engage the muscle for a longer period of time – read about them here!
5. Increase Workout Time
This seems like an obvious thing to change up your fitness routine, but so many people overlook it!
Yes, you can have a great workout in 30 minutes. But have you thought about what adding just 5 minutes could do for you over the course of a year?
Try adding 5 minutes of work (lifting, running, etc.) or just spending an extra 5 minutes on core work at the end of each workout.
(An easy way to do this is just increase your number of sets during a workout.)
You’ll improve your overall health over time without too much extra effort. Thank me later for this simple but good idea!
Related Reading: Dumbbell Upper Body Workout For Beginners
6. Try A New Style
If it isn’t obvious by now, I’m into lifting / resistance training. But I also love Zumba, the occasional run, hiking, and cycling.
Have fun and try new things until you figure out what you enjoy. Changing up your workout routine entirely could be just the thing you need!
(Working out is just never going to be consistent if you don’t enjoy it!)
This can take time – so allow yourself a year of trying new things if you haven’t already discovered workouts that you enjoy. It will pay off in the long-run!
This is such a simple way to switch things up in your training routine, so don’t overlook it.
Related Reading: 11 Indoor Cycling Tips for Beginners
7. Hire A Coach or Personal Trainer
Hiring a personal trainer can help you in so many ways. I know this firsthand, as I was a non-sporty chubby kid growing up.
I hired my first personal trainer after having my first baby in 2014.
In that year alone, I learned so much about exercise science, mindset and workout programming that I actually fell in love with fitness.
I not only became a personal trainer myself, but I still use that foundational knowledge almost every single day!
It may seem like a big investment, but a coach or trainer can help you with so much. The beauty of it is that you can take that knowledge with you and use it well after your time with a trainer ends.
Who knows – you may love it so much that you decide to become a trainer yourself!
Either way, hiring a trainer is a good way to learn new things and hopefully reach a new fitness level while doing it. 🙂
Related Reading: Top 10 Benefits of Hiring a Personal Trainer
There you have it friends! I know that some of these suggestions seem insanely simple – but trying crazy things just isn’t always sustainable or effective.
Changing up your workout routine doesn’t have to be extreme.
Learn how to switch up your workout just a little and you’ll be more consistent and motivated in no time!
I hope these simple ways to revamp your exercise routine help you out!
If you have any other tips on how to switch up your workout, feel free to email me at ironwildfitness@gmail.com! You can also find me on Instagram (@ironwildfitness).
-Chantal
