Love the one you’re with

I absolutely love weight training. I really do. As I approach almost a decade of being involved in weight training, though, I’m starting to realize that maybe I’ve been too dogmatic in my approach to fitness. Maybe I need to step outside of my comfort zones a bit. The sad truth is that weight training has gone just a tad stale for me.

When a fitness routine stops becoming fun or challenging, we wind up simply going through the motions. Not only do we enjoy our workouts less, but we accomplish less and less. Eventually we may start skipping our workouts altogether. The body fat slowly creeps in on us, our health and happiness deteriorate, and we find ourselves feeling like a mere shadow of what we used to be when we still had that spark.

When these feelings start to take a hold of a trainee, they have two choices: succumb to the forces of the dark side and return to a sedentary lifestyle, or they can restore their enthusiasm. Obviously, the latter choice is highly preferable, but just how does one regain that spark? There are indeed numerous strategies one can employ, but today I’m going to focus on just one: shaking things up.

Chances are that boredom is the main culprit in a trainee’s loss of enthusiasm. I know that’s certainly been the case for myself. As much as I love weight training (and I don’t doubt that I will be engaged with it somehow for the rest of my active life), it is but only one way to increase fitness. Rather than continue to torture myself with halfhearted workouts, I’ve decided to replace a couple weight training sessions per week with other forms of exercise.

There are tons of options to choose from other than weight training. There are workouts that require no equipment at all, like running or jogging, or bodyweight exercises. There are several intramural sports available through PSU, including (but not limited to) basketball, indoor soccer and volleyball. There are Group X classes offered at Campus Rec. There are workouts one can do with minimal equipment (which I opted for in the photo).

If you’re an avid weight lifter reading this, you’re probably thinking to yourself, “Ha! None of that stuff is gonna make me big and strong, pal.” And you know, you’re right…on the surface, at least. Doing exercise with a just a medicine ball, resistance bands, a light dumbbell and a stability ball really isn’t going to provide the kind of stimulus that spurs on appreciable muscle growth and strength gains. It will certainly burn calories and enhance fitness, but the true meathead doesn’t so much care about his health as he does his muscle mass.

However, using these alternatives, I find that when I do return to my weight training I am invigorated. The alternative workouts, while certainly fun and challenging, make me miss my weight training. I find I am much more eager to hit the weights hard and heavy, whereas before I could barely get my butt in the gym. My knowledge of psychology is extremely limited, but I’m sure there has to be some sort of term that applies to this effect. I’m just going to call it the “Don’t Know What Ya Got (Till It’s Gone)” principle. For those trainees who find themselves in a rut, I highly recommend applying this principle to their workouts. If they’re anything like me, shaking things up a bit might be just what they need to get that spark back. ?