Have you ever been in the gym and notice that everyone seems to be stuck in their own routine?  You tend to see the cardio person, the weights only guy, the power lifter, the yogi, and the person who does interval training to name a few.

The truth is, fitness is a diverse discipline, and all of these practices are great.  However, if you want your best results, you have to diversify your practice.  You know the saying, “you can’t have too much of a good thing,” well in the fitness world, you absolutely can.  Focusing on one discipline too much can lead to plateaus and injuries.

I am not saying that you have to do everything, but diversifying your training will increase your results, prevent you from getting bored and burning out, keep you injury free, and improve your overall knowledge of kinesiology and movement.  Here are three things to start adding to your routines today to accelerate your results and take your movement to new heights.

1.) Dynamic Warm Ups

Let’s be real, most people in the gym seldom warm up, and when they do it seems to be a basic walk or jog.  Truthfully, the warmup should be taken seriously and last longer than five minutes as this has several benefits to you.  Having a solid dynamic routine will have your body feeling loose and ready to rock as well as get your mind in the right place to give it your all and attack your goals.

So, what is a dynamic warm up? Dynamics consist of foam rolling, quick active stretches that are held for two seconds, and athletic movements such as skip variations, footwork, and resistance bands.  Performing these components will remove lactic acid from your muscles, ignite all types of muscle fibers, and get you in a space where your risk of injury is low as you attack your workout.  Without dynamics, it is easy to develop muscle imbalances which will eventually lead to more serious injuries such as tendonitis, spinal compressions, and tears. 

For a dynamic warm up guide, make sure you go to our contact page and message us, we have you covered.

2.) Stability

Stability is a key component of fitness and necessary to accelerate your goals.  When lifting weights, you want to be able to control the weight in all 3 parts of motion, and stability is the key to achieving control.  With control, you will target the right muscles and prevent injury.

Also, stability training includes balance exercises which are a highly neglected component of training.  People take for granted their balance and in the long term a lack of balance is what causes random injuries and tears, a lack of mobility, and even falls.  We suggest that one of your goals for the long term should be balance because you will want to keep your world as big as possible for as long as possible.  Balance is what allows you to do the things that you love for longer into your life.

Lastly, stability training will activate your core in new ways.  You have to keep your core tight and perform exercises correctly to maintain your balance.  I don’t care how heavy someone can lift.  Sure, it may be impressive, but can they do it on one leg, or on a dyna disc, or with their legs in a tabletop on the bench? 

Message us for some stability exercises that you can add into your routines today!

3.) Static Stretching

Static stretching is different from dynamics because you are holding the stretches for longer… much longer.  The issue with this component is that people don’t stretch at all, don’t stretch frequently enough, or don’t stretch correctly.

Stretching is important because it improves your ROM, (range of motion, teaching acronyms here) elongates your muscles, prevents injury, and improves your mobility and posture.

It is crucial to spend at least 20 minutes on static stretching at the end of a workout, holding each stretch for 1 to 3 minutes.  Doing this will have you feeling great and drastically improve your post workout recovery process.

Check out our Total Health video streaming service to see stretching tutorials and yoga practices in our fitness series.

Training diversity can provide you with so many benefits, so we highly suggest that you explore more options to add to your training if you have not already.  Besides the above benefits, diversity can also help you encounter new methods of fitness that you may fall in love with, new challenges, and help you reach new heights.

Reach out to us any time through our contact page for help on how to reach your personal goals.  We look forward to hearing from you and thanks for reading.