[Tweet “A Change of Training Seasons via @TrainerPaige”]

Think about your current workout routine for a minute.

How long have you been doing it?

Do you look forward to your workouts?

Are you continuing to make progress?

Is going to the gym/starting your workout a chore?

Are you continuing to hit goals and make new goals?

In my personal and professional opinion, whatever type of training you’re doing, it should leave invigorated, goal hitting and seeking, and most importantly, add value to your life. If it does the opposite – something needs to be done.

While I don’t want to talk specifically about the type of training you choose – as long as you’re doing something active that you enjoy and are safe  – but rather what to do when that training becomes…stale.

Take myself, for example. I’ve been consistently and seriously working out for about 8-9 years now. I know that throughout the year my training changes pretty dramatically. It’s never the same day in and day out, and I make sure to make progressions week to week, but every 3 or 4 months, I do a pretty big overhaul on my training.

Why? Simply because it’s a new training season for me. In the fall and early winter, I tend to be really into hitting big lifts and PR’s. I’m all about those heavy deadlifts and squats. Then in late winter and early spring, my training takes on a more metabolic component to it. I still deadlift and squat, but I also focus more on HIIT and metabolic strength training.

Then, in the late spring, about where we are now, I back off of heavy lifting so much and start adding in more conditioning. Not only does this keep me consistently making new goals, hitting them, and looking forward to my training sessions, but it also matches my life seasons.

In the early spring I like to shed those extra few pounds that I typically gain over the winter, and then in the late spring I have my eyes on all things summer adventures. And talks of summiting a 14-er in the snow this spring are already in the works!

^My 14-er companions, including the lovely Mountain Lauren!

While I appreciate – and do – train for asthetics…I mean, I like to keep my strong curves – I’m all about training for life.

[Tweet “Training Seasons: I’m All About Training for Life! via @TrainerPaige”]

Last summer I changed training seasons so much in the summer that it almost seemed as if I had an aversion to training indoors! I was all about finding surfaces and tools outdoors – even for my strength workouts.

Sweat now, summit later baby!

On the flip side, in the late summer/early fall, I tend to give my body more of a break, including more rest days and less intense training overall. I also do this intermittently throughout the year when life gets stressful – or just gets in the way.

And you know what? That’s all completely OK! Actually, it’s more than OK – but encouraged.

I’m not saying that if you are currently enjoying your training, and have been for several months that you need to completely overhaul it. Instead, spend some time thinking about your goals, if you could use a change of focus, or even just add a new, small goal. It doesn’t have to be a complete overhaul to be a change of seasons.

If you’re a distance runner, and have been running the same 2 trails for every run, think about adding in a trail that includes some bigger hills. Or maybe changing out one endurance run for some hill sprints.

If you’ve been following an upper/lower body split, maybe add a full body day into the mix, or throw in a metabolic resistance training workout during the week!

It’s all about making your workouts fit and enhance your life – and not the other way around. As I discuss in this post, I may be a fitness professional, but I most definitely do not think fitness should be your life.

[Tweet “It’s About Making Your Workouts Fit Your Life-Not the Other Way Around #fitfluential”]

How often do you change training seasons? Does it coordinate with a change in your life seasons?

Pssst… I’ll be sending out more conditioning workouts to my email subscribers coming up – make sure you’re signed up for them HERE!