Exercise and routine -- those are two words you frequently see paired together. It's a good thing to make a habit of exercise and to schedule time in your day for your workout. But you shouldn't make your routine too, well ... routine.

Think of it like this. If you knew how to play the piano, you might find a particularly challenging piece of music. At first, playing it would be difficult but as you practiced, it would become easier and easier and eventually you'd be able to play it by memory. Your muscles are no different -- a workout that was once very challenging can become easy after time; muscles have a memory of sorts.

But if you vary your routine, you can keep your body guessing and working as hard as you want it to. Divine Caroline has some great suggestions for varying your workout. Variety in your exercise program will prevent your body from hitting a plateau and, as an added bonus, variety also prevents you from getting bored.