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Health & Fitness

6 ways to refresh your workout routine—even if you're not setting a resolution

Make fitness more fun with these simple ideas.

Three people in a side plank during a workout class. Credit: Getty Images / Cecilie_Arcurs

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The new year is when many set ambitious goals to improve their health and fitness. But even if you’re not looking to make an official New Year’s resolution, having the same workout routine can get monotonous—or even stop giving you the results you want—and leave you looking to make a change.

Whether or not formal health and fitness resolutions are your thing, these great workout tips and fun ways to exercise can help refresh your routine while you’re breaking a sweat.

1. Try a new exercise class

A woman taking an online yoga class.
Credit: Getty Images / dusanpetkovic

Try a new exercise class with the help of our favorite workout app, Nike Training Club.

Checking out a new workout class can introduce you to a modality you’ve never tried, with guidance from an instructor so it’s less intimidating. Many workout studios have discounted first classes so you can give them a go before signing up for any membership. If you live in or near a major city, you may also consider trying a bunch of nearby options using ClassPass. With its month-to-month membership you can use credits for discounted sessions at options ranging from yoga and barre studios to martial arts dojos and rock climbing gyms—and your first month is free.Get ClassPass

Those who prefer to exercise at home may want to download a workout app to change up their routine. With our app of choice, Nike Training Club, you can enjoy high quality total-body workouts for free. For those who love a good yoga flow, Alo Moves is our favorite yoga app. It features thousands of classes, including fitness options like barre and pilates in addition to yoga and meditation sessions, all taught by motivating instructors for a fee—but the first two weeks are free.Get Nike Training Club Get Alo Moves

2. Give strength training a go

A woman squatting with a barbell at the gym.
Credit: Getty Images / kazuma seki

Strength training is easy to start at home.

Strength training can seem intimidating—but it doesn’t have to be. Just 30 minutes a couple times a week builds strength in your muscles and bones, protects your joints, and even helps you develop better balance. Instead of jumping into a noisy weight room, you can start with bodyweight exercises at home and see the benefits. Movements like squats, lunges, and push-ups work your lower and upper body, respectively, with no equipment needed.

When you're ready to make the moves more difficult, it’s easy to do that at home with a set of resistance bands or dumbbells. For a highly-rated set of resistance bands with varying levels of tension, try the set of handled tubes from Whatafit. It has a 4.6-star rating on Amazon from nearly 40,000 reviews, and users say these bands are good quality and versatile for making many exercises more challenging. Shop on Amazon

If you’re ready to add weight, you could grab a few sets of individual dumbbells or make a long-term commitment to getting stronger by investing in adjustable dumbbells. Our favorite, the Bowflex SelectTech 552, offer 15 load options from 5 to 52.5 pounds per dumbbell in a compact, easy-to-use package.Shop at Amazon

3. Find an exercise pal

Two men stretching before a run.
Credit: Getty Images / alvarez

Grab an exercise buddy for workout motivation.

Friends can make fitness more fun, so why not grab a buddy next time you hit the gym, cycle studio, or yoga class? Linking up with a like-minded person can make the experience more enjoyable, and it may help to have someone hold you accountable on days where you’re thinking of skipping your workout. You can also try some activities like hiking or biking together and make a day of it.

Prefer to keep things virtual? Strap on a Fitbit—like our best-rated fitness tracker, the Charge 5—and join any number of virtual step and workout challenges via the companion app. You can recruit friends you know or find online pals to help you reach new daily exercise goals.Shop at Amazon

4. Train for a race

A woman lined up at a start line on a track.
Credit: Getty Images / ljubaphoto

Training for a race like a 5k or mud run is a great way to challenge yourself.

The best goals have a deadline. Signing up for a race, mud run, or obstacle course and committing to a training plan gives you a finite goal to work toward and a strategy for how to get there. Plus, for most workouts, all you have to do is strap on a pair of running shoes and head to the local park, track, or high school cross-country course.

As a companion to guide you, a running watch from Garmin, like our top pick Forerunner 255, shows you your pace, distance, time, and heart rate right on your wrist. You can also find free training plans for common race distances on the Garmin Connect app and send the workouts to your watch to keep you on track.Shop on Amazon

5. Invest in some new home gym equipment

A woman using an exercise bike.
Credit: Getty Images / skynesher

Get excited to exercise with new equipment like a treadmill from NordicTrack, the Peloton Bike+, or the Tonal workout mirror.

To really advance your home workouts, you may want to consider some larger equipment like a treadmill, exercise bike, or connected workout mirror. For a treadmill that makes running enjoyable, we recommend the NordicTrack Commercial 2450. It has speeds ranging from 0.5 to 12 miles per hour, an incline ranging from -3% to 15% (that’s right, it goes downhill), and a spacious belt that makes running indoors comfortable. Even better: The fun workouts offered on NordicTrack’s iFit app look awesome and feel immersive on its 22-inch touchscreen, taking the dread out of the dreadmill.Shop at Amazon

If indoor cycling is your preferred workout method, you can’t beat the Peloton Bike+. This exercise bike offers a smooth and silent ride, and Peloton’s instructors made us look forward to each and every session in the saddle. It’s especially easy to follow along in class thanks to the bike’s auto-follow setting—which automatically adjusts your resistance to match your instructor’s—and the swivel screen, which allows you to seamlessly transition to off-bike workouts.Shop at Peloton

A workout mirror brings the studio experience into your home with its interactive streaming fitness classes. Our favorite, the Tempo Studio, offers an all-inclusive package of an oversized touchscreen display, weights for making certain exercises more challenging, and AI technology that keeps a virtual eye on your form and offers on-screen corrections in real time.Shop at Tempo

6. Find an activity that brings you joy

A group of people taking a dance workout class.
Credit: Getty Images / AnnaStills

Try a fun new workout like hula hooping, dancing, or trampolining.

Moving more should be fun, and mixing it up with some nostalgic exercises you enjoyed as a kid is a surefire way to bring joy to breaking a sweat. Local rec centers and parks often have adult playgrounds with equipment such as monkey bars and pull-up bars. And post-pandemic, team sports for adults have made a comeback—so why shouldn’t you, even if it’s been a minute since you last played soccer, softball, or kickball?

If you love to groove, signing up for a dance class is a way to improve your fitness without feeling like you’re exercising. For those who feel shy about busting a move in public, workout app Obé offers classes that are like having a dance party in your living room.Try Obe

Other kid-at-heart options include trampolining, or rebounding, which can give you a great cardiovascular and agility workout, and hula hooping, which TikTokers can’t get enough of. Jumping rope with a weighted rope, like CrossRope, takes that playground activity to the next level.Shop CrossRope

Finally, the gamers out there can try using new technology and video games like the Nintendo Ring Fit Adventure for the Nintendo Switch as a sneaky way to level up their fitness.Shop on Amazon

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