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Battling gym boredom is something that almost every man faces at one time or another. It is hard to consistently stay motivated when your life gets busy or when you have other interests that seem more enjoyable than slaving away at your usual routine. Luckily, if you know how to make your workouts more interesting, you can fight back and stay on course to realize your fitness goals.

Here are some great techniques you can use to beat boredom.

Reverse the order of your exercises

This is a great tip not only to beat boredom, but also to really challenge yourself. Your typical routine likely consists in starting out with your major lifts, and then moving toward more isolated exercises. For the next couple of sessions, try performing your isolated exercises first. This will incorporate the principle of prefatigue into your workout. When you move to the major lifts, you will have already used up some of your strength and you’ll have to work harder to really give your muscles a run for their money. However, you will probably need to lift a slightly lighter weight, and you should always use a spotter on the heavier lifts in case your muscles fail.

Do a cardio circuit

If your main goal is to burn fat, it’s no secret that you need to do cardio. Rather than slaving away for hours on the same machine, however, break it up into 10- to 15-minute intervals. Go from the treadmill to the elliptical, and then to the bike. Not only will your workout seem shorter since you won’t be performing the same movement continuously, but it will also help to prevent overtraining and work a wide variety of muscles.

Make it a competition

The best way to give your workouts an extra kick is to challenge a friend. Bet on who will achieve a certain goal first, such as increasing your bench press by 20%, running a seven-minute mile or standing on top of an exercise ball with no balancing aids. The loser has to buy dinner.