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Why you should avoid the same workout every day

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While sticking with the same workout might seem the easiest way of staying physically active, it could work against you in the long run. PHOTO/SHUTTERSTOCK

Consistency is key when it comes to getting in shape. After all, you cannot get fit if you do not work at the gym.

But are there any benefits to doing the same workout day in and day out? Some influencers say there are, claiming that doing the same workout for years has been the key to their fitness success.

While this might sound appealing to those of us who have trouble sticking to a routine, the truth is that if we do not challenge our bodies enough, eventually, this strategy could work against our aim of getting in shape.

In order to improve your fitness, you need to disrupt your body’s homeostasis. This is the process by which living organisms maintain a stable internal environment despite changes in external conditions.

In relation to exercise and fitness, the external condition could be lifting weights at the gym. This puts stress on the body, altering our internal environment – and thereby disrupting homeostasis.

Stress is what causes our body to respond and adapt. When the stressor that disrupts this homeostasis is exercise, the response is fatigue due to the way it disrupts our normal, internal environment.

The more stress the exercise places on our body, the more fatigue it induces. Only once the stress is removed, for example, when we take a rest day between workouts, does the fatigue start to dissipate.

The secret?

Fatigue is the secret to physical adaptation. The greater the fatigue, the greater the potential for adaptation and the more your fitness will improve. On the other hand, if the exercise stressor does not disturb homeostasis, you will not become fatigued enough to see any physical adaptations.

Just be careful not to fatigue yourself too much, as this can lead to poorer performance and potential for illness.

When we physiologically adapt, we adjust our homeostatic “set point”. This means the minimum amount of stress our body needs to in

duce a fatigue response increases. So, to continue improving our fitness levels, we need to start changing up our workouts to continue causing our body stress and fatigue. This principle is known as “progressive overload”.

There are three basic ways progressive overload is achieved; increasing the intensity of the exercise, increasing the frequency of training sessions, or increasing the duration of each workout.

The principles of biological adaptation are a complex intermix of these components – although workout intensity is considered the primary driver of adaptation. 

To increase the intensity of your workouts, you can either increase the demands of the exercise or manipulate the recovery period – such as by decreasing recovery time between workouts.

Just remember it is during the recovery period, not the actual workout, that adaptations take place. So, if you do increase the intensity of your workouts, aim to make them shorter overall to avoid exhaustion.

It is also important that you do not do too much too soon. You do not need to make each workout progressively harder. Depending on your fitness level, you might only need to bump up the intensity of your workouts once every four to eight weeks.

A word of caution, though. Simply doing high-intensity exercise is not the answer to improving your fitness and health. You need to do a combination of low-, moderate- and higher-intensity exercise to foster a range of physiological adaptations.

Consistent workouts

So, what would happen if you maintained the same workout routine day in and day out?

There would of course be an initial period of adaptation due to the new challenges being placed on your body. But unless progressive overload is applied, these changes will only ever at best be maintained. And in some instances, it could even lead to a loss in fitness gains, eventually bringing us back to where we started.

There are also psychological benefits to using a more progressive approach to training. People often stop exercising over time due to various personal and environmental factors, such as a loss of motivation if you are no longer interested in or enjoying your workouts. 

Incorporating new exercises or adding variety to familiar routines are great ways to help you stay motivated and enjoy your workouts.

When to change

While sticking with the same workout might seem the easiest way of staying physically active, it could work against you in the long run.

If you want to keep fit, change up your workouts every four to six weeks (either by boosting the intensity or adjusting the exercises), do a mix of different activities (including weight training and cardio), and keep track of your fitness, so you know when it is time to change your workout again.