A routine can be defined as a “regular, unvarying, habitual, unimaginative, or rote procedure.”  Not a very positive sounding bunch of words, is it?  You need to constantly provide variety during your training sessions to avoid getting into a rut. 

The concept of “routine,” as it applies to your training program, should be limited to the fact that you train 3 or 4 days per week.   

I’ve always disliked using the word “routine” in relation to a training program.  The connotation is that regular workouts are ordinary, unremarkable, nothing special. 

This is the exact opposite of how I feel about my workouts and the workouts of my clients.  Every time I exercise or plan a client’s workout I include something different, something that they’ve never done before to make that day’s workout different from any session that they’ve ever done or ever will do.  

This may sound like a daunting task, but it really isn’t.  The “something different every workout” plan doesn’t mean that you have to have your toughest workout ever every time you train, especially if you’ve been training for a long time.  There are plenty of simple wrinkles that can provide variety.   

For instance, anytime I include push-ups in a routine I add something different to the mix.   Instead of doing 4 sets of 15 push-ups and being happy with the status quo, do 4 sets of 20 push-ups, or one set of 35 push-ups and 3 sets of 15, or 10 sets of 10 push-ups, or one set of push-ups to failure and then 3 sets of 10.  Do you get the idea?  

Another trick is to mix and match exercises together in unique ways to make the workout both more challenging and different. Can you do a pull-up?  You should be able to.  But that’s another story.  But for those of you who can do just one pull-up, do your pull-up and then “chase it” with 10 push-ups, rest for 30 seconds and repeat.  Do this “chaser” 4 or 5 times and you’ll give your bod plenty of stimulus.  

You can also vary your rest periods.  Instead of going through a workout with about 90 seconds in between sets, cut that down to 60 seconds and don’t change any other variable.  Going back to the push-ups example, do a regular push-up “routine” and take half of your usual rest time.  

The point here is don’t get stuck doing the same old same old.  Too many people tell me that they do the same 3 or 4 workouts consistently without changing anything.  Approaching exercise in this manner is a sure fire way to ensure that no real progress will be made and can result in dropping out of exercise all together.   

The body is very adaptable and if stimulus, in this case exercise, isn’t varied the body will cease to recognize this activity as exercise.  

Break out of your “routine,” so your routine is anything but.

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