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

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

Cooldown

  • After every workout
  • Decreases heart rate back to resting/normal rhythm
  • Redistributes blood to body
  • Loosens joints
  • Relaxes contracted muscles

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?

Alexandra Bollinger

by Alexandra Hoppman

Written by: Alexandra Bollinger

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