What’s Missing From Your Workout Routine?

Are you at a plateau in your fitness journey or unsure how to schedule your weekly workouts?

For optimal performance, add diversity to your workouts. When planning your workout routine, it is important to balance all workout styles to make sure muscles and joints stay healthy and strong.

No matter your exercise goal, you should always prepare your body with a proper warmup and relax it with a cooldown to ensure your recovery process will be ideal.

Below, you’ll find the components of a balanced workout routine, why each component is important for optimal performance and a few examples and resources.

	When to Do This	Why Is This Important?	Examples and Resources
Warmup	Before every workout	Increases blood flow and body temperature Muscles begin to engage and prepare to perform	Dynamic warmup: full body movement in all planes of motion (front to back, side to side, rotational) Foam rolling: rolling each area for 30-60 seconds or as needed Flexibility resources
Strength Training	2-3 times per week depending on your goals and what you’re training for	Protects and strengthens joints Increases mobility and balance Increases bone density, strength and muscular strength/endurance	Can be bodyweight strength exercises or exercises with weights added Strength resources
Cardio	2-3 times per week depending on your goals and what you’re training for 150 minutes or more per week	Increases heart strength and efficiency Increases muscular and cardiovascular endurance	Walking, running, cycling, swimming, playing cardio-based sports, using cardio machines or taking cardio-based fitness classes. Cardio resources Audio workouts
Yoga	1-2 times per week	Increases flexibility and breathing regulation Boosts mental health Decreases stress	Yoga and Pilates resources
Cooldown	After every workout	Decreases heart rate back to resting/normal rhythm Redistributes blood to body Loosens joints Relaxes contracted muscles	Static stretching: holding a pose for 45 seconds or more Foam rolling: rolling each area for 30-60 seconds or as needed Flexibility resources Static stretching examples

When building your weekly workouts, remember the importance of recovery and rest days. Proper recovery can and should be completed between your workouts. This includes regular stretching, moving gently (e.g., a short walk) and foam rolling.

Foam rolling can help alleviate any trigger points, activate nutrient secretion in your muscles and keep them flexible and ready to operate at their best capacity.

How can you add diversity to your workout this week?

by Alexandra Hoppman

Written by: Alexandra Bollinger

Leave A Reply: Cancel Reply

SEARCH BLOG

Most Commented