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Revamp your fitness routine
To keep on achieving results from your fitness routine, it's important to
mix it up and keep the workouts interesting and productive. You can adapt some
of these tricks indicated below for your own fitness routines, whatever your
goals.
Cross Training
 In
cross training you engage in two or more types of
exercises either in one
workout or in successive workouts. For example, you might play football one day
and swim laps the next. The great thing about cross training is that it keeps
the workouts interesting, develops your entire body, and distributes the
training load among different body parts. This reduces the risk of injury.
Running 30 minutes a
day and
riding a bike 30 minutes the next day is far less likely to cause
injury than it you did both every day for 15 minutes.
Cross training allows you to continue training when you're injured, as long
as you avoid using the injured area. If you sprain your wrist, you can still
take a long walk.
Interval training
 Another
thing to have in your bag of workout tricks is
interval
training, which is a method of varying the intensity of your workout
session. Interval training entails alternating short bursts of intense activity
with a less intense form of exercise. The secret to interval training is to
exercise beyond your comfort level, but only in brief spurts. You can interval
train with any
aerobic
exercise. You go all out for a minute, then you return to your normal
pace. Then you go all out again at a high level of intensity, and return to your
normal pace again. Interval training helps build muscle rapidly. Mix it in once
or twice a week with your regular exercise, and you'll leap over that
exercise
plateau.
 When
you start out, your interval to rest ratio should be about 1:3 so if you run
fast for 20 seconds, walk for 1 minute. As you improve, decrease your recovery
periods slowly so that your interval and recovery times are the same. You should
also increase your
intensity and the number of short bursts you do as you get better.
Increase the pace
 An
easy way to incorporate interval training into your workout is by spontaneously
revving up the speed in whatever you're doing. If you're on a walk, walk for a
while at a regular place, then walk as fast as you can for a minute or two, then
walk slowly again. You can play games like running as fast as you can to a
certain tree or lamppost, then walk for a few minutes and do it again. This type
of exercise is sometimes called fartlek training.
Fartlek training (fartlek is a Swedish word that means 'speed play) is a
kind of interval training. Unlike regular interval training, fartlek training
doesn't involve accurately measured intervals. Instead, how you feel determines
the length and speed of each interval.
I like fartlek training because I'd rather listen to my body instead of
keeping my eye on a watch. I think it's more fun to suddenly sprint until don't
feel like sprinting any more, then jog lightly until the next spontaneous
outburst.
The hard-easy principle
 The
hard-easy principle is a standard training method that was created by a
long-distance-running coach, It's a method that is often used by runners, but
can be applied to any exercise programme. The hard-easy principle dictates that
in order to attain higher levels of fitness, a person should exercise intensely
two or three times a week, and less intensely on the other days. So it's two or
three hard workouts separated by easier recovery days. This is based on the same
theory that requires 48 hours between exercising muscle groups to give them time
to recover.
 On
the hard days, the exerciser should overload (you should exercise long and hard
enough to cause muscle ache) and on the easy days, underload. This will build
speed and endurance. Follow that with an easy day where you don't push yourself.
You can incorporate the hard-easy principle into any fitness routine. For
example you could sign up for an intense class like cardio kickboxing that meets
2 days a week, and on the other days, take a long
walk, brisk
jog or
swim.
Circuit training
Circuit training is another excellent way to simultaneously improve mobility and
build strength and stamina. The
circuit-training
format uses a group of six to ten exercises that are completed one right after
the other. Each exercise is performed for a specified number of repetitions or
for a prescribed time period before moving on to the next exercise. The
exercises within each circuit are separated by little or not rest intervals, and
each circuit is separated from the next by a longer rest period. The total
number of circuits performed during a training session may very from two to six
depending on your level of fitness and energy.
Supersets
  A
superset is a method that is used primarily for strength training. In the
superset method you do two or more exercises in a row, then rest. Normally, if
you were to perform three sets of
biceps curls, for example,
you would rest before moving on to the next exercise. In a superset, after your
set of biceps curls you go do the next exercise without stopping.
When you're doing two exercises in a row, it's important to train opposing
muscle groups. Some exercises that go together in a superset are biceps curls
and
triceps dips,
upright
row and
bench press, or
leg extensions and
ying leg curls.
This method of strength training condenses exercise time and builds muscles
quickly.
Try cross training, interval training, the hard-easy principle, circuit
training, and supersets, and you'll be exercising like a pro.
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