What's the Importance of Following Routines?
Training is an activity that you should perform regularly in order to achieve a goal you’ve set in advance. To do so, following routines is important, in accordance with such goals, which must adapt to the physical and psychological needs of each person.
In spite of this, many people around the world tend to engage in physical activity or exercise without any kind of planning. In other words, without establishing a routine. What are the advantages of having a well-planned routine?
What do we mean by following a routine?
In general terms, a routine is a habit that you acquired by doing a series of repetitions regularly. It’s a habit and it depends on each person whether the routine is positive or negative.
With respect to sports training, a routine is an organized sequence of exercises that share a specific purpose. We should modify it after a certain period of time so that the body doesn’t become stagnant, taking into account the gradual progression.
Each routine depends on the person who’s going to execute it and on the professional who’s in charge of designing it according to the needs of the subject. Routines should be a positive tool for the body. However, poor planning and execution can turn them into something harmful for the person.
Following routines, an important point
It’s not only about elaborating the routine and doing it, but also about monitoring the progress of each body segment. If you have an established routine, you shouldn’t follow it forever, but, rather, look for modifications that really contribute to your progress. In short, it’s a matter of following routines according to the body segment and structuring them according to your needs.
It doesn’t make much sense not to follow routines, because then you won’t see the progress of what you previously planned. These mark the steps that you’ll follow and how you’ll execute it.
Training time
Routine is synonymous with planning and organization. And sports training is built on a broad base of order and structure. For that reason, the two go hand in hand.
To begin designing and following routines, you need to take into account training time. That is, determine how much time you’ll exercise per day and per week.
Based on this, you’ll have to distribute the days to train each body segment. And, at the same time, you need to include resting days. Remember that muscle recovery is just as important as exercise stimulus and should be part of your routine.
Following routines to progress
You can’t claim to be exercising if you don’t really follow a routine. You can even do it three times a week and practice a sport, but if you don’t have a properly planned structure, progress will be imperceptible.
The main argument for the importance of following routines is progression, which we’ve emphasized above. So, how can you follow a routine in a timely manner?
Planning
In order to follow routines, the first thing you must do is plan one. The goal is to sit down with a professional to design the training routine, which should be tailored to your physical and psychological conditions, specific goals, and the time you have available to train. At this point, the professional will give you the guidelines and will guide you in every aspect where you require advice.
Respect the routine
If the routine was properly planned, under advice, taking into account the conditions and objectives, it must be respected at all times. Of course, the routine must be motivating for the person and, above all, have rest times between segments.
Monitoring and modifications
Before following routines and training methods, you should make sure that they’re constantly monitored by the trainer and your family doctor. Even if the professional only helped you to elaborate the routine but your training isn’t personalized, you can consult at the moment you think you need an evaluation.
The idea of monitoring your training arises from the need to verify if the exercises are gradually improving your condition. In addition, you also need to modify the routine from time to time to increase loads, volumes and include different exercises.
Can you follow routines on your own?
The main recommendation always revolves around professional advice. However, you can also develop and follow routines on your own.
To do this, you’ll first need to acquire good knowledge about training, nutrition, and rest. In addition, you should research basic concepts of sports training, go from the simple to the complex, and above all, get to know your body as well as possible.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
- Issurin, V. (2011). Entrenamiento Deportivo Periodización en bloques. Entrenamiento Deportivo Periodización En Bloques.
- Borao, O., Planas, A., Beltrán, V., & Corbi, F. (2015). Efectividad de un programa de entrenamiento neuromuscular de 6 semanas de duración aplicado en el tobillo en la realización del Star Excursion Balance Test en jugadores de baloncesto. Apunts Medicina de l”Esport (Castellano).
