Though adjusting to exercise after bariatric surgery in Frisco, Dallas or Denton will be the first challenge in your workout routine, it should be far from the last. By their very nature, our workouts should always be challenging—the only way to continue building your body’s strength is to engage it in new ways, to keep pushing yourself harder, further and faster.
If you don’t consistently update your exercise routine after bariatric surgery, you’ll risk coming to a fitness plateau. Exercises that left you with sore muscles last week may not even make you break a sweat next week. When you feel your progress slow or come to a standstill, it’s a sign that you need to increase the intensity of your workout, which can be done in several ways:
- Try circuit training. If you move from one exercise into the next without a break, you can boost your strength and endurance with one efficient whole-body workout. During a circuit training session, the goal is to quickly transition between activities that work different muscles in the body and exercise each one without overworking any of them. Circuit training can include both aerobic and strength training exercises. Try stringing together 30-second bursts of cardiovascular workouts like jogging or cycling and 30-second bursts of resistance workouts like bicep curls and squats.
- Lose your balance. When we don’t have the constant support of solid ground beneath us, our muscles need to work harder to keep us upright. By doing simple exercises on a BOSU ball, wobble board or stability ball, you can engage more core muscles than doing those same activities on a stable surface. These tools offer countless different possibilities for your routine, so think about investing in one for your home gym or testing one out at your fitness center.
- Make strength training minimal. Weightlifting machines make strength training easy, but remember: easy isn’t always what you want. Much like the balance tools listed above, lifting free weights will engage more of your core muscles—you’ll be working to keep your body stable as you lift rather than relying on a machine.
These are far from the only ways to boost the intensity of your workout routine. What else has helped you keep your exercise sessions challenging after bariatric surgery in Frisco, Denton or Dallas? Share your strategies with us in the comments below!
