Keep Your Workout Challenging

Your body adapts in about six weeks

Variety keeps you challenged

Since your body adapts to any given workout in about six weeks, update your goals and ramp up that workout! Norris Muth of Kempton shows cross-training at its finest.

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Isn’t it enough to be up off the couch walking three times a week? “That’s a great start,” says exercise physiologist Joanne Koury of Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network. “But you need strength, flexibility, balance, agility and coordination as well as the cardiovascular fitness that comes from walking or jogging.”

What’s more, Koury says, your body adapts to any given workout in about six weeks—you can perform the moves with less effort, so you’re using less energy to do a given amount of work. That’s one reason why it’s vital to vary your workouts. Variety keeps you challenged and helps you burn more calories and build muscles and endurance. It also keeps you from getting bored!

Where to begin? Koury’s colleague, exercise physiologist Eric Witzel, offers these suggestions:

Figure out what you want to accomplish. Weight loss? More energy? Easing stiffness? Cardiovascular health? Having fun? Clarify your goals.

Get a professional assessment. When you know where you’re starting from, you can follow your progress by seeing measurable changes. A fitness professional can test your body composition, cardiovascular fitness, strength, flexibility and endurance, then help you design a gym- or home-based program based on your condition and goals.

Break long-term goals into short-term commitments and write them down. “I will take two yoga classes a week.” “I will lift weights Monday and Thursday.”

Schedule daily “appointments” for exercise, then keep those appointments as if they were business meetings.

Cross-train. Whatever your usual form of exercise, throw in something different. Try dancing, shooting hoops, cross-country skiing, tae kwon do, hiking, swimming or rollerblading.

Consider a team sport or group activity. Time flies when you exercise with others.

Pick up the intensity. If you’re lifting weights, add more repetitions or poundage. If you’re walking, try short intervals of running every few minutes. On a treadmill, change the incline. Your fitness professional can help you here.

Reward yourself. As you achieve each goal, treat yourself—maybe not to a hot fudge sundae, but perhaps a new pair of running shoes?

Want to Know More? For information on different exercise options or for an appointment with a fitness professional, click on the links in the column on the right side of this page.

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