Give your health and fitness a spring upgrade

by Christopher B. Robrahn

Fitness Columnist

Welcome spring! Last month, I talked about the importance of changeups in your

fitness routine. It is an absolute necessity to periodically change up your fitness workouts to keep things new and fresh and put fresh challenges on your muscles.

Without changeups, we run the risk of falling into stagnation and even workout burnout, which comes in many different forms. When you reach plateaus, feel boredom in your routine, experience physical and mental fatigue or see lack of motivation, these are signs of burnout.

Don’t let your exercise regimen may cause you to go from breaking a sweat to breaking you. Workout burnout can easily never happen to you if you have a proper fitness plan and change up regularly. It will ensure you never fall into a fitness funk.

It is always important to remember regular efforts to improve your health through exercise is only one component among many that need to be considered for a successful fitness venture.

In a previous column, I mentioned changes in seasons (temperature and light) and how we mentally and physically react to those changes. There, I wrote about the holiday season and how mental perceptions are so important to success.

Wait, mental? I thought this was an article on health and physical fitness?  

Remember, improvement in your health through exercise needs to be done with your mind behind it. Without, you fall into useless resolutions, and your mind will direct you to other things. Exercise will go by the wayside. Changing up your fitness routine and varying your workouts with the new season will condition your mind to remain diligent in this endeavor.

Fitness is about the body, mind and spirit!

Spring is here. What are you doing to change up your fitness?   

As I mentioned last month, adding some outdoor exercise like walking, running and some simple sports can add greatly. Personally, I add some outdoor resistance training on my deck and some cardio exercise, like step cardio early in the morning (so long as I don’t disturb my neighbors!).

Remember, doing a little exercise each day can add to your long-term health and fitness. Spring is a great time to get active!

This is the second of two parts. Read part one in The Gayly March issue, online at www.gayly.com in our “archives” section.

The Gayly. April 13, 2018. 3:33 p.m. CST.