Variety in workouts is important. Having a wide range of options for exercises, volume, pace, and other variables can:
- Lead to better progress
- Ensure full body fitness
- Keep things interesting
- Avoid mental and physical burnout
How it can Lead to better progress
Variety can lead to better progress by giving the body varying stimuli and less chance to adapt to the same stimuli over time. It can also lead to less physical and mental burnout from repetitive activity, which can lead to better progress since you will be more physically and mentally energized. Also, it can ensure you are working the full body in a complete manner, which can help reduce imbalances, weakness, and injuries, which will help you train longer and safer.
Ensure full body fitness
People can get caught up in doing the same thing over and over. Sometimes this is a good thing as repetition is a part of progress. But, it is a bad thing if people do the same thing over and over at the loss of working on the overall body. Doing chest day every day, only running, always doing circuits, or otherwise sticking to one approach will not lead to the best progress for full body fitness. By varying the specifics of the workout, you can help build a fitter and healthier body.
Keep things interesting
Boredom is a common cause for workout burnout, if the person has mental and physical energy for the workouts. By regularly varying the details of workouts, you may keep things more interesting and be more engaged as a result. Engaged workouts are generally more productive, and the more productive you are over time, the better your results will be.
Avoid mental and physical burnout
Mental and physical burnout means a lack of mental or physical energy to complete workouts. Think of it as exhaustion, though degrees can vary. While activity in general wears down the body, pushing too hard in one type of work can cause this in a more specific way. Switching things up changes the type of stimulation you receive, and can lead to less burnout. Some of this is strictly due to the body not being under the same type of stress, but also due to the fact that trying something new, or something you have not done in a while, typically means less intensity, which means less general stress on the body.
Workout variety matters. This is something I have covered before and will again. I engage in regularly varied workouts that include everything from running to powerlifting to gymnastics to CrossFit to Olympic weight lifting and beyond. I use a variety of tools, paces, volume, etc.
But, what is variety and how important is it?
Variety is the regular changing of stimuli to the body by any singular or combination of methods. This can mean changing the exercise but can also mean changing the volume. It can mean changing both of these, but can also mean changing the pace. It could mean all three of these, but it could also mean changing tool(s) used.
Variety does not mean one specific thing. It also does not mean that repetition should not occur. In fact, a lack of repetition is a bad thing. To get better at something, you must work on that thing, and that only occurs through repetition.
Variety matters to overall fitness. Fitness is the ability of the body to do varied work. The more varied the work a person is capable of, the fitter that person will be. This is part of the reason why I do the variety of work I do.
However
To get better at a thing, you must do that thing, and that means repetition must occur. For example, this year I got my first strict ring, l-hang, and bar muscle-ups. This did not happen by training each movement once, twice, or even 100 times. Okay, maybe 100 times, but you get the idea.
Building these movements was the process of repetition over time. I really started working on the muscle-up at the end of 2020. In 2021, I had my ring and l-hang muscle-ups. There was no kip, but I still pulled fast, that is, I used aggressive movement/momentum to get to the top.
By March of this year, I had my slow and strict ring and l-hang muscle-ups. By May, I had the bar version. This occurred through repetition.
Variety still matters. Even when pursuing the muscle-ups, I used different versions of the movement. I broke the movement down into sections; worked on technical aspect in each area; adjusted volume, pacing, and other areas as needed; completed assistance work such as high pull-ups and deep dips; etc.
Variety and repetition mattered in getting the different versions of the muscle-up. This matters even more in building overall fitness. Variety and repetition are equally important in the long term acquisition of goals.
So, keep you program varied to
- Lead to better progress
- Ensure full body fitness
- Keep things interesting
- Avoid mental and physical burnout
But also remember to get in enough repetition on movements to see progress in them. Not sure how to do this? I can help.
And that is it. Have questions? Let me know on social media. You can click the links here, or just look up Nathan DeMetz Personal Training on Facebook and Instagram.
Nathan DeMetz holds degrees in Exercise Science, Business Administration, and Information Technology as well as certifications in strength and conditioning, sports nutrition, run coaching, and other areas. His credentials come from organizations such as Indiana Wesleyan University, Ivy Tech College, Utah State University, and the ISSA College of Exercise Science.
Nathan has 20 years of personal and professional experience in the health and fitness world. He works with people from across the globe, including locations such as Kuwait, Australia, and the USA.
To work with Nathan directly on your personal training goals, contact him today!