It is important to be ready for those times when you are experiencing boredom with exercise. The evolution of your exercise program should allow for variations as needed. I know I am continually evaluating my program and it is always changing. Variety in exercise is important for many reasons.
One reason is to avoid boredom with exercise. Did you ever have a plan to do some sort of exercise, to find yourself saying, “Ugh?! This is so boring!” I know I have, so what do I do? Well , I don’t throw the towel in and use boredom as an excuse to stop but as a reason to be creative or improvise. There are truly a multitude of things you can do to get yourself moving. If you are not up to one thing, try another. Just making some slight changes may be enough to keep you on track. Let me give you an example of how my program has evolved over the last 6 weeks.
Here was my weekly routine 6 weeks ago
Steady state running with one minute “fast pace” every 5 minutes for 6 cycles (30 min) plus lower body stretches 2X
Knee rehab 2X and shoulder rehab1X.
Essentrics(stretch and strengthen no weight) 2X
High rep full body muscle endurance online exercise class 1X
Moderate paced walk 2 times daily for 25 minutes to and from work.
It turns out that this past week was the most varied and challenging to date. I had to depend on my steadfast methods (get changed without necessarily knowing my plan for the day) and assumptions (any amount of intentional movement is better than none) to keep me on the straight but not so narrow path:
This week’s exercise and activity program
Mixed cardio (elliptical and treadmill) moderate intensity (30 min) 1X
Treadmill steady state moderate intensity jog (20 min) 1X
Knee rehab body weight and machine strengthening (30 min) 2X
Alternate knee rehab using different equipment for variety (20 min) 1X
Essentrics practice class (30 min) 2X
Essentrics full class 1hr 1X
Hip and Knee stretches 10 minutes 2X
HIIT online class (1hr) 1X
Upper body bodyweight workout (15 min) 1X
Walks to and from work daily (2X25 min/day) 5X
The mixed bag of goodies was required to avoid boredom with exercise this week. And just for fun, when you add up the time spent, I was moving at least twice the minimum recommended in the Canadian 24-hour Movement Guidelines for Adults aged 18-64 which includes:
Performing a variety of types and intensities of physical activity, which include
- Moderate to vigorous aerobic physical activities such that there is an accumulation of at least 150 minutes per week
- Muscle strengthening activities using major muscle groups at least twice a week
- Several hours of light physical activities, including standing
Want to know where you are are on the exercise and physical activity spectrum? Check out my “Are you evolving as an exerciser” post to see where you fit in.
Start with a thread of exercise. Don’t worry about the end result. Just know that what you give now you will benefit from later. The small parts will make up a whole and and even more. Allow for variety and last minute changes. When you apply yourself to do the simplest of tasks you will soon find yourself at a new level of fitness and abilities. Exercise evolution: one day at a time is all you need to get there.
Let’s GO!