Hi,



I've heard that for weight loss, it's best to swtich up your routine. I'm a creature of habit, and I like to do the same thing. Could anyone give suggestions as to how often to switch exercises, and which are best to interchange with eachother?



thanks

It's just about the foundation that human's are highly adaptable. Our muscles and bodies learn how to do something, then they become specialized at doing that thing. The more specialized they are the more efficient they become the less work it really takes to do them. The first time you did aerobics or ran, or what have you, I bet it hurt like hell and you sweat like a crazy person. After the third month how long can you go, how little effort did it feel like? That's the body doing it's thing.



Luckily the body can be tricked rather easily. Changing the order of your routine, changing the variation or tempo of the exercise can all help stave off the curve and eventual plateau. When to do it though is generally an individual call. Just pay attention to what your body is telling you and as you feel yourself not being challenged start thinking creatively on ways to mix it up. The combinations are nearly limitless and the orders really don't matter. Instead of running go do an aerobic class, instead of an aerobic class do a bike class, instead of bikes jump on the eliptical, etc. For weights pick up a book on exercises you'll find that there are quite a few ways to do the same thing through a different method.



The only thing that order generally matters in weight loss is doing your cardio first. Once you start to form lactic acid through exertion/weights/circuit training your body loses a certain ability to convert fats into energy which means what does get converted is protiens/muscles since they can readily be used. (anyone have a citation for this? I can't find my old bookmark)



Just keep in mind that your body wants to be effective and efficient. If you can keep it guessing or give it something new to learn you'll have to expend more energy until it can adapt further.



GL,



-a

thanks, that helped out a lot!

very true Andy.....I don't switch up enough myself.



Mark

I use DVDs at home and I sometimes go to the university gym, but I do a different workout every day, but it's really to keep me from getting so bored I quit! I really enjoy getting new workouts from Netflix every so often, too.

Always a good idea to switch it up once in a while.

I find even varying my intensity (10 min medium, 5 minute hard) really makes a difference as well.

At least in regards to weightlifting/cardio combo (that's what I do, so that's all I can comment on) I try to switch it up every two - four weeks. I change the set/rep scheme of my weight training, or I put the cardio before weights instead of after (or vice versa).



So 2-4 weeks works for me. Yours may vary though.