Dear Amantha:
Great question! We all have days when we don’t feel like going to the gym. Work and family obligations don’t make getting there any easier. I believe the gym is a place to not only to build our bodies but to relax our minds. It’s no coincidence that doctors are now prescribing exercise to treat depression.

Working out can be fun if you find different ways to make it interesting. However doing any work out routine for too long can become boring and cause us to loose motivation. As people we tend to be creatures of habit. Let’s face it we like things that are familiar to us. However our body’s way of dealing with the stress of working out is to quickly adapt to any work out routine we are doing. That’s why I try to change my work out’s up every four to five weeks. Adding changes here and there helps to keep my clients physically and mentally fresh.

Nothing says we have to stick with the same routines day in and day out. There are many ways to make things interesting. Some days we train heavy, some days we train light, and some days we take long rests while others there is no rest at all. Sometimes we work out inside and others we work out outside.

There are days we do only super sets. Super sets are doing two exercises with two opposite muscle groups back to back without any rest -an example would be doing bicep curls and tricep pushdowns.

There are days we do only giant sets. Giant sets are doing two or more exercises at the same time for one body part without any rest-an example would be doing standing barbell curls and seated dumbbell curls.

There are days we do drop sets. Drop sets are doing a certain amount of repetitions of a particular exercise and then quickly dropping the weight and repeating the process for several sets. The idea is to have little to no rest in between each set- an example would be doing the bench press with 200 pounds for 8 reps, 160 pounds for 8 reps and 140 pounds for eight reps.

However there comes a time when each and every one of us needs a break. I don’t care how hard you work, if you don’t allow your body and mind time to rest you will never reach your potential. I try to schedule 1-2 week breaks every six to eight months. This gives my clients time to relax and take care of other obligations without worrying about getting to the gym. Remember staying in shape is a lifestyle not a job.

Frequently changing your routine will help to keep your body from getting burned out as well as your mind.