It’s normal to have a “go-to.” Whether it’s your go-to ice cream flavor, go-to Starbucks order, go-to treat, or go-to workout. As human beings, we usually have a favorite that we are naturally attracted to.
But, choosing a workout is far different than choosing your favorite cheat treat. It’s totally ok to love a particular workout, but too much of the same movement will lead you to a fitness plateau and uninspired feelings. Thankfully, there’s hybrid workouts that involve dynamic movement, stillness, strength, conditioning, stretching and balance, all designed to keep the body moving in different ways!
Hybrid workouts you’ll love
Hybrid workouts are essential for heightened fitness performance because they work different areas of the body simultaneously. When we repeat the same exercise over and over again, we are only training certain muscles and neglecting so many more. By incorporating hybrid workouts into your fitness routine, you are giving your body a full range of movement.
There are countless fusion classes that weave the best elements out of your favorite fitness classes, like:
- Barre, aka a hybrid yoga class with Pliates and ballet influences
- Buti yoga, incorporating cardio, dance, spiral structure technique and core toning
- Budokon yoga, involving martial arts, calisthenics, meditation and animal locomotive
- Non-Impact Aerobics, includes tai chi, martial arts, yoga, dance and aerobics
The best part? These are workouts that complement yoga, meaning you’ll be able to get deeper into yoga positions, hold arm balances longer and nail those advanced yoga poses by participating in different fitness activities!
More movement = more sweat!
If you’re wanting to sweat more, then high intensity interval training, aka HIIT, is definitely the way to go. All it requires is you and the space to jump, bend, squat and lunge, making it the most effective workout you can literally do anywhere. While the workout only lasts about 30 minutes, the idea of HIIT is to bring up the intensity of your workout for short bursts where you give it everything that you have before taking a rest.
HIIT workouts also incorporate a wide range of exercises. In one session, you can do burpees, weighted squats, ab exercises and dumbbell techniques. The exercises performed during HIIT are completely up to you, but you must exert as much energy as possible for the workout to bring results. A good place to start with HIIT is the 1:2 rule. Hit a set of reps hard for 30, 60, or 90 seconds, then rest for twice as long before starting back up again.
A win/win workout, it burns, tones and promotes muscle gains in its true challenging form. While HIIT is a great workout, it’s recommended to do it only 2-3 times per week while incorporating other forms of cardio into your fitness schedule.
Your body will thank you
You can improve your overall quality of life when you incorporate cardiovascular exercise regularly. Not only will you have natural energy that lasts all day, your mood will stabilize, your ability to manage stress, anxiety and depression will improve, and your immunity will strengthen.
Developing a hybrid workout routine provides the opportunity to try different styles of fitness while bringing some excitement to your everyday schedule. So, step out of your comfort zone and take that barre, spin or Pilates class you’ve been wanting to try!
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