Is your exercise ‘well seasoned’?

Is your exercise ‘well seasoned’?

Well, hello spring! It’s one of my favourite seasons, thanks to the warmer weather it brings after winter, and the promise of the longer days that are just around the corner, if you’re living in a daylight savings zone. Both of those things can suddenly make getting outdoors to be active easier and more enjoyable to do.

But, while spring is lovely, just the fact that we’re at the beginning of a new season can be really useful for your exercise routine, all on its own. Here’s why.

When it comes to continuing to enjoy the benefits of exercise and improving your fitness, changing your routine up on a regular basis is essential. In technical terms, it’s called ‘progressive overload’, where you up the ante by either increasing the duration or intensity of your exercise, to get more out of your physical activity. You can read more about that, and how to make it work for you, here.

Plus, introducing an element of change every now and then can also be an effective strategy for helping you to stay motivated to exercise.

The thing is though, remembering to switch up your exercise habits can be challenging, particularly when life gets busy. Suddenly six months has passed and you’re still doing the same activity, day in, day out. Or, you got so bored with it, you quit doing anything on a regular basis months ago.

One thing I’ve found that works well for me around not just knowing that it’s time to mix my exercise routine up a bit but actually putting that thought into action, is to link it to the change in seasons. New season? Time to do something different. It works as a mental trigger because seasonal shifts occur without any input from me – it doesn’t matter what’s happening in my life, seasons always change! And, because it comes around every three months, it’s the ideal timeframe, too.

How to mix things up now that spring has arrived? There are so many options! You might consider introducing a new outdoor activity, something like bike riding or signing up for an outdoor fitness class. It can even be as simple as heading outdoors for a walk or to attend an open-air yoga class, in place of your regular gym session or indoor yoga class.

But even small changes count, like running through the exercises in your usual workout back to front or choosing a different route for your morning walk.

So, what will you do differently to mark the arrival of the new season?

 



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Martha Lourey-Bird | Sports & Exercise Scientist will use the information you provide on this form to be in touch with you and to provide updates and marketing.