6 tips to adapt your workout routine and keep your body active

The idea that physical activity only delivers results when it involves long, intense workouts is giving way to a more realistic approach: “possible movement”. Rather than pursuing the perfect workout, the aim is to find ways to stay active that fit each person’s routine, available time and circumstances.

According to Rafael Uliani, a Sports Science graduate, former athlete and CPO at ZiYou, a company specialising in performance and wellbeing technologies, the benefits of physical activity are increasingly linked to frequency and consistency rather than intensity and performance alone. “The best workout is the one that can actually happen,” he says.

In practice, this means viewing exercise as something that can be adapted to each person’s current situation without losing sight of their goals. Shorter sessions, for instance, can be an alternative for people with limited time and may make it more likely that they will continue.

Here are 6 tips for adapting your workout to your routine and keeping your body active:

1. Be consistent

When the aim is to look after your health and build habits, frequency is an important factor. Although the expected outcome determines the training strategy, following a consistent routine is generally more sustainable than doing long workouts only occasionally.

Sessions lasting 20 or 30 minutes, for example, can be easier to fit into everyday life. When completed regularly, they can help reduce sedentary behaviour and support physical fitness and cardiovascular health.

2. Match the intensity to your pace

One of the main advantages of making consistency a priority is adherence. The more physical activity fits into a person’s routine, the more likely it is to stop being an occasional task and become a habit. Intensity remains important, but it should progress in line with the individual. When someone can maintain frequency over several months, results are likely to be more consistent than in cycles of major effort followed by long breaks. In addition, packing too much intensity into isolated sessions may raise the risk of discomfort and injury, especially for people who have not yet established a physical activity routine.

3. Leave behind all-or-nothing thinking

The “all or nothing” mindset can make it harder to maintain physical activity. People who believe that working out is only worthwhile when they have an hour available or can complete an intense session may end up skipping it on busier days.

One example is the so-called “weekend warrior”, who goes several days without exercising and then tries to make up for that inactivity in a single intense session. In this case, the lack of regularity can make it more difficult for the body to adapt to exertion. For that reason, a flexible routine that allows for progression and adjustments is likely to be more sustainable than a rigid plan.

4. Build up movement throughout the week

International guidance generally recommends around 150 minutes of moderate physical activity per week or 75 minutes of vigorous activity, spread across the week. What matters most is not simply how long a person works out on one particular day, but how well they can remain active over the weeks and months. Short sessions can also form part of this process when they are performed regularly.

5. Use the opportunities you have to move

A busy routine does not have to prevent exercise. Instead of waiting for a large block of free time, it is possible to adapt activity to the time available that day. On some days, that may mean 20 minutes; on others, 40. More movement can also be incorporated into everyday activities, such as walking further, taking the stairs or doing short exercise sessions at home. Small choices made repeatedly can contribute more to building a habit than major efforts made only from time to time.

6. Start with an achievable goal

For those returning to exercise, setting a realistic target can make it easier to establish a routine. Training for 20 minutes three or four times a week may be more sustainable than planning hour-long sessions every day and being unable to meet that goal.

It is also worth lowering the barriers to getting started. The easier it is to begin an activity, the more likely it is to happen. “Discipline does not mean rigidity. Creating a sustainable routine means understanding that there will be more productive days and more difficult ones. The important thing is to maintain continuity. Results are a consequence of that consistency,” Rafael Uliani concludes.

By Gabriela Andrade