Ben Lucas – Owner of Flow Athletic, Trainer and former NRL player
Mix it up and Have Something to Train For
If you were to do the same circuit or pump class every time you went to the gym, of course you are going to get bored.
If you are someone who likes variety, I would suggest signing up to several different classes per week. Perhaps do Spin Monday, Barre Tuesday, Strength Wednesday, Yoga Thursday, Running Friday for example.
Mixing up your training is not only fun but it also it gives you different markers to reach each day of the week. Try to schedule your least favourite or the hardest classes at the start of the week as no one likes Monday anyway, then towards the end of the week book into your favourite classes as people can tend to lose motivation towards the end of the week.
Alternately, some people prefer to have something to train for as seeing progress in performance can be very motivating. If that is you, why not sign up to a fun run and do run specific training for 3 months leading to the event? Once the run is over, then sign up for an obstacle course and change up your training again.
You can also make your performance related goals less event specific such as learning to do 10 unassisted chin ups with a specific program that will help to make you stronger.
There is nothing like seeing progress to keep you motivated!
Try a different counting system next time you do a circuit
There are so many fun ways of doing circuit workouts, so next time you train lets shake up your boring old routine with something new and fun.
A Countdown workout means that each time you do a round of the circuit you drop reps. For example, you may start by doing 12 reps of each exercise, followed by 10, 8, 6, 4, 2.
Try this workout tomorrow starting at 12 reps:
- Burpees
- Jump Squats
- Mountain Climbers
- Alternate Lunges
- Push Ups
- Squats
- Reverse Crunch
- *add 200 m sprint after each set if you are feeling up to it
You can also try a ladder circuit, which is where you start with low reps and add 2 reps to each set as you go along.
Change your Playlist
Sadly, not everyone gets as excited about a workout as I do and therefore sometimes we need something extra to get us motivated.
Changing up your playlist can be a fun way to get you into the gym. In fact, sometimes my Pandora playlist is so entertaining that I don’t want to stop training because I want to find out what the next song will be.
When I am in the gym I often listen to a playlist, but when I am doing a distance run I will often switch to a podcast.
I struggle to sit for long periods of time to listen to podcasts, but I find that I get a lot out of them so I have decided to slot them into my running time. Win, Win!
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