You say you get bored easily with your workout routine. Varying your workouts will provide more than just a break from the same old daily grind. Cross training can provide better results, delay plateaus, prevent injuries and burnout.

Here are 5 tips to vary your workout:

•    Vary the exercise. If you always warm up on the treadmill, try a rowing machine one day and a stair climber the next. Or head outdoors. If you run daily, substitute a bike ride or swimming once a week. In the gym, change up the order or patterns or sets.

•    Change the duration. Long bike ride one day, short the next and medium another day. In the pool try 10 sets of 100 yards, the next time 4 sets of 400 yards and another time 2 sets of 1000 yards.

•    Switch the Intensity. Plan easy, moderate and hard days. If you are runner incorporate speed work or interval training. If you have a hankering for heavy iron, lighten the load and go for more repetitions. Whatever the exercise, push yourself just beyond your comfort zone once a week. That may mean running faster, lifting a little more weight or doing more reps or sets. Overtime what was once uncomfortable will become comfortable.

•    Alternate locations or equipment. If you ride or run flat, incorporate hills. For walkers or runners find a new path or venture out on trails. At the gym substitute dumbbells or cables for standard machines or vice versa. Use a stability or a Bosu ball. Try a boot camp instead of lifting weights. If you swim in a pool daily, head to the lake on the weekend.

•    Train with a variety of friends or groups. This is a sure fire way to keep workouts from getting stale. Other people can help push you to new levels. The camaraderie keeps exercise from turning into work and drudgery. Especially for longer workouts or repetitive movement, like walking or running, the time goes by quicker and seems more enjoyable with company.

A trainer once told me, the best workout is the one you have yet to do. And that is oh so true. Remember those words and you will not get bored.

Sue Berliner
The SWEAT Princess