Let us ask you this: Are you moving your body on a daily basis, and if so, are you making sure you’re switching things up regularly? Chances are, unless you’re an avid and/or experienced athlete (our definition of athlete here is someone who has a well-informed, structured approach to exercise), it’s possible that you tackle this vital piece of the weight care puzzle with… well, monotony. As always, this is a judgment-free zone. Frankly, the very fact that you’re finding time in your busy day to get those buns moving is already worth celebrating. But let’s take it up a notch and look into why it’s so crucial to switch up your workout routine. 

For starters, remember the proverbial  “variety is the spice of life”? Very applicable in this case as well. Workout variation is essential to your growth because creating new stimulus for your system will push it to adapt, create new cognitive and physical pathways and decrease the risk of injury (through improvement). Sounds desirable, no? Let’s dive in a little deeper.

Here are five benefits of changing your fitness routine. 

Exercise is incredible for cognitive health. When you add slight changes to your routine or variations to moves, it challenges you to adapt. You have to keep thinking, reasoning, and learning each skill. This helps improve memory, judgment, and overall cognitive function. This is one reason why working out every day helps people living with conditions such as Alzheimer’s. Studies show that it’s possible to stabilize, decrease or even reverse some symptoms with exercise.

Switching up your workout routine reduces the risk of overusing the same muscles. It is essential to move every day—and it’s also important to change the focus and hit different muscle groups from day to day. For example, you wouldn’t strength train your legs every day because they need time to recover. Why? When you exercise, you put your muscles under stress, which creates microtears in the muscle. Time off allows for the muscles to repair themselves

. Suppose your workout routine is focused only on lower body exercises. In that case, you may be missing some of the pieces to the puzzle. Even if your legs are a part of your body you’d like to work on, remember you’re more than just legs! It’s important to challenge your whole body because you use your entire body—from lying down to standing up, walking, picking up groceries, or carrying your kids. These daily activities engage all of your muscles, so make sure to train with a plan that helps you maintain the functional fitness that makes everyday movements easier. Someone new to physical activity often sees results quickly, partly because their body burns energy coping with the new activity. But over time, the body adapts to the movement, becoming more efficient and burning fewer calories. Switching up your routines can give your body a new experience again and help you get past a plateau. For example, you can change the type of movement you do or how often you do it.

It’s hard to continue any routine if you find it boring. Changing your mindset on what moves to do or even how to perform a movement is a great way to keep things fresh!