Cardio Rut? Does the thought of another treadmill run make you want to pull your hair out?! Do you yawn just picturing stepping foot on that elliptical? Or can’t imagine yourself pedaling even one more time on that stationary bike?! If you answered yes to any of these questions you may be heading down a dangerous road of being stuck in a cardio rut!
Getting stuck in any fitness rut is a sure fire way to lose the motivation of sticking to your fitness regimen. It happens to the best of us: we start with the best intentions of wanting to get and stay fit, we start out well and keep on track, and then we get bored losing that excitement.
Well we all know the importance of cardio and weight training for optimal fat loss, you can’t have one without the other if you are expecting to see and reap any results. So how do you keep yourself from falling into this cardio rut trap and losing the motivation?! Switch things up, bring back the fun in your fitness regimen!
Remember growing up you’d run out to recess to go play kickball or basketball not thinking of it as an aerobic exercise or how many calories you’re burning, but just having fun. Try bringing back that attitude, have fun with your workouts and don’t focus on them as a negative thing you are forced to do if you want to lose the weight. Instead think of it as a fun “recess” and not so much as a “have to do” workout!
Here are a few changes to help you get the fun back into your workout and break free from the cardio rut:
Change Up Your Workout
Switching up your cardio workout in itself can give you a new sense of excitement. If you usually stuck to the fitness equipment day in and day out, try a new cardio fitness class at your gym instead or buy a DVD. Zumba is a great fun way to break a sweat and get in your cardio, available both in gyms and DVD’s. Shape.com has a fun list of ways to Break Out of Your Cardio Rut which you can check out here. It includes things like inline skating, tennis, basketball, and a fun “Sock Skate” workout. Research online new fitness articles of workouts to try to fit your personality!
Change Up Your Equipment
If you like the machines, but are just bored of the one you’re with, date around. If the treadmill is usually your main go to then maybe you should try switching it up next time with the elliptical or stationary bike. They still give you that cardiovascular aerobic exercise, but switching up the equipment can give you a new sense of change. Switching up the machines not only gives you a new scenery with every new machine, but keeps you moving from machine to machine you don’t focus so much on the exercise in itself. You can also find out which cardio machine is more to your liking this way!
Change Up Your Attitude
Again don’t think of this as a negative time, working out can be fun. Many people enjoy and look forward to the time of day they get to break a sweat. Think about the positive affects working out does for your body. If you are lacking the enthusiasm to work out, try to remember how good you feel after your workout, because we all know no one ever regrets a workout. A workout should leave you with a feeling of accomplishment, focus on that feeling after every workout and remember it again when you are losing the motivation to get up and exercise
You can find loads of information online on how to be healthy to help you break free from you cardio rut, you just need to make the effort! Know it doesn’t have to be thought of as a daily chore, have fun with it! Do what makes you happy and what you know you’ll stick to! If you get bored again, switch it up. Don’t think you have to stick to one workout to get any results, switching it up has actually been proven to show faster and quicker results.
Just remember to have fun with it and find a workout that fits your personality! You a competitive type? Then grab a group and go play a game of basketball. Are you a shaker than to hit up a Zumba class. Find a workout that you look forward to, bring the fun back into it and you’ll stop looking at it as “exercising” and start looking at it as your “recess”. You’re more likely to stick to any fitness regimen that you enjoy, so switch it up and try new things!