Signs It's Time To Change Your Workout

I’m sure many of us can look back on that feeling when we first started a new workout routine — we felt excited and motivated. Whether you wanted to lose weight, tone up or simply live a healthier lifestyle, jumping into an exercise routine was probably very exciting at the time. Even though it may have been hard at the start, seeing results probably helped to motivate you to keep going and encouraged you to work to achieve your goals. 

Unfortunately, this motivation can sometimes wear off and you find yourself missing workouts and sliding back into older bad habits.

Signs It May Be Time to Change Your Workout Routine

If you’ve found yourself in a bit of a rut, or are simply coming up with more and more excuses why you can’t workout anymore, it may be a sign that it’s time to change your workout routine. Not everyone is a creature of habit, so if the signs I list below feel familiar, then it may be time to change your workout routine and shake things up a little!

You dread working out

Now hear me out; I know all of us have times when we don’t want to go to the gym or workout because we’ve had a busy day or feel tired. But we push through and try to do it anyway. I’m talking about a feeling of dread every single day when you think about training. If you used to feel excited and now you couldn’t think of anything worse, it may be a sign you’re bored with your workout. 

I want to explain that this is completely normal and can happen if we stick to the same routine for too long. When you reach this point, rather than giving up altogether, try and change your workout routine. For example, if you’ve started to hate cardio, try and change the environment. Get off the treadmill and start walking or hiking outside instead. Music can benefit your workout, so create a new workout playlist to get you moving, and to keep you motivated. These seem like small tips, but trust me, they can make all the difference!

Your workout is no longer challenging

When you first start working out (especially if you’ve never done it before), it can feel like a challenge. Even getting through the workout feels like a massive accomplishment (and it is!). Over time, you may notice the workouts get easier. The push ups you could never do on your feet are becoming easier and you’re getting through the circuits in no time. While this is a sign you may be getting fitter and stronger (yay!), it can also be a sign to change your workout routine. If you don’t find new ways to challenge yourself, it can eventually result in a plateau. 

Don’t be afraid to make things harder girls! When you first started it was all hard, and now you’re fitter and stronger, it’s time to find new challenges. This is important to help you grow physically and mentally. If 15 push ups on your toes now feel easy, try and do a few more reps. If you’re using weights, like dumbbells or medicine balls, try to increase the weight slightly. If there’s exercises you think you could never do, add them to your workout routine even if you can only manage a rep or two to begin with. Don’t be afraid to mix this up and swap exercises each week.

Parts of your body feel stronger than others

If you’ve been focusing on the same type of workout for a few months, you may start to notice that certain areas of your body feel stronger than other. For example, if you’ve been smashing out leg workouts, this could do wonders for your glutes and thighs, but you still might not be able to do a push up. If this is the case and you start to feel discouraged, it may be time to switch up your routine and give it some variety. I love to incorporate full body workouts into my weekly workout schedule because it means I’m working all of the major muscle groups in one go. 

If you only do one type of workout (such as cardio) or only train a specific area (such as legs only) and aren’t seeing results from your workout, try to incorporate different types of training. I recommend a mixture of cardio and resistance training to target different areas of your body. 

You aren’t seeing results

Wondering how often you should change your workout routine? Leading on from my last point, if you’ve been working out for months and not seeing results, this may be due to the type of workouts you’re doing. Now, before you quit training altogether, remember it does take time to see results. If you've been exercising for just a few weeks and aren’t seeing results, be patient and give it time.

However, if you’ve been exercising for a few months and aren’t seeing any results at all or you’re no longer seeing results from workouts like you were in the beginning, it might be a sign it’s time to change your fitness routine. Try changing the structure of your workout to add some variety. You can play around with reps, weights, exercises or intensity. One of my favourite ways to mix up my workout is to add 50 skips between each of my exercises in a resistance workout.

How often you should change your workouts is up to you!

If you like routine and don’t want to come up with new ideas each time, pick a couple of workout ideas and swap them every few days. Just as your body is getting used to the exercises, changing your workout routine will give it a wake-up call, which can help give you better results. 

These are just a few reasons why it may be time to change your workout routine, there are certainly many more! I think the most important thing to remember is if your workout is no longer motivating you to do your best, challenging you or helping you achieve results, it may be time to change it up. Change can be a good thing ladies!