Switching up your workout

How loyal are you to your workouts - do you swap and change sports often to ward off boredom, or work on trying to master the same one or two over time? Which approach do you think is best for fitness?

I switch between several, it keeps the boredom at bay and I'm not disciplined enough to maintain 1 form of exercise. It's good to switch it up a bit where fitness is concerned, if you focus on one form of exercise your body gets used to it, unless you're constantly pushing for improvement it's easy to slop into 'maintainence fitness', or even hit the stage where the exercise feels relatively easy but your fitness is slowly dropping off because you aren't pushing enough.

This happens to me if I'm getting bored, I can easily 'cheat' my way through a spin class by making it look hard even though I'm barely pushing my basic fitness. I HAVE to switch my exercise around to prevent this. Some people are much more disciplined! I just exercise to keep my body as healthy as possible and because I enjoy it, it doesn't really matter WHAT I'm doing, more that I enjoy it enough to keep active.

I prefer sticking to the same few things, mainly because there aren't that many forms of exercise that I enjoy so if I find something that I do I will stick to it! I might not get the same benefits as I would switching between different exercises but I struggle to get motivated to try new things so figure it's better to do something (even if it is just 'maintenance fitness') than do nothing.

I'm quite competitive and like to try to be the best at things (even if I know I'm never going to be!) so I prefer to stick with a couple of things and try to get better at them rather than switching around.

That's why there's no set rule for exercise :) we all exercise differently and for different reasons

That's true! I guess as long as you're keeping active it's best just to do what suits you!

At the moment I'm just running and going to the gym, will be ready for a change after the marathon I think.

Id like to try something new and outdoorsie - has anyone ever tried a boot camp?

I havent, I don't think I'd like a boot camp, I'm not very outdoorsie! Read lots of good reviews of them though, think would be worth trying if you like that sort of thing!

I'd like to think I would love it, and in my head I really do ... the reality is I know I would be crying after 15 minutes! :)

I'd really like to try one - I think it sounds fun - not sure if there's any local to me though.

I don't think I could handle a boot camp! Think I would quit and go home after about 10 minutes!

Not sure I'd like boot camp either, but I think I probably picture it quite different than it actually is? I have an image of being yelled at by someone to exercise, which doesn't sound all that fun!

I think that's what I thought it'd be like - a bit army style?!

Yeah, army style, that's definitely how I imagine it! Maybe it is like that then?!

It depends on the instructor. I know people who have been to some really fun ones, where you play lots of team games that work your body without you being too aware of the workout

I tend to stay loyal to running and I run an average of 5/6 times a week. Running is about the only thing I've managed to stick to long term. I do like to give other things a go now and again.

I'd love a go at bootcamp - someone shouting at me when I'm slacking is something I could probably do with. Only thing is, weekly bootcamps I've looked at are as expensive as gym membership. I don't wanna be forking out that kind of money really.

Same here - if someone was shouting at me to do something, I'd be more motivated to do it! How far are your runs? I started doing a bit of running last year, but have pretty much stopped now - need to get back into it really.

Depends, I try to vary my types of run. I try to do some Fartlek during the weekdays & some 5k's as I'm more limited for time. Of the weekend I grab my ipod and run as far as I can  I got lazy with my running last year when I found out i didn't get a place in the marathon again so I'm just building back up now.

Have you entered any other marathons! I think I need to enter a race or something for motivation - I think a 5K would be a nice target for the summer, especially now the weather's getting a bit nicer.