Move Well
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Go the distance with your fitness You may be hitting the gym, doing a yoga class every week or going on your usual walk during lunchtime to prevent you from feeling unfit, but the chances are that if you've been doing this for a while, you may only be maintaining your fitness level rather than improving it.

If you want to keep your body in tip-top condition, it's a good idea to vary things every so often to prevent the body from becoming used to a particular workout that it is not really working out.

Rich Leigh, weight loss expert and founder of fatfreefitness.co.uk, said recently that he often sees people in the gym who are stuck in a rut and added that this can be a reason for them giving up - they are unlikely to be seeing results this way. "It's key that you change your routine. Physically, you have got to have some progression in your training," he stressed.

Advice provided by Health and Fitness Tips for Beginners corresponds with this, pointing out the old adage "no pain, no gain". Although it’s agreed that you certainly shouldn't be in agony each time you work out, the website explained that "it should be hard and it should burn".

First, when it comes to upping your intensity in the gym, try adding extra weights when you do toning exercises, as this will stop the muscles getting used to your usual load and going on auto-pilot. You could also try altering the speed at which you do reps when you perform things like lunges. For instance, 20 in a row at double speed will get your heart rate up, while 20 straight afterwards much slower than usual will make those muscles really work.

"A very fit person will need to increase their intensity every three to four weeks," said Health and Fitness Tips for Beginners, adding that it may take newbies up to three months to hit a plateau.

However, don't forget that you can up the intensity of fitness training outside the gym too. If you are a walker, why not try changing your route to incorporate more hills? You could even start rambling, as Maria Castellina from the Ramblers Association points out that a good, brisk walk for a mile could burn off at least 100 calories straight away.

Joggers might want to incorporate short sprints into their daily run to achieve similar effects, while swimmers may benefit from changing, for instance, breaststroke to butterfly or front crawl.

If you always finish your workout feeling as though you've really worked hard, then you may be OK as you are. However, if you manage to have a chat with your pals as you do it and secretly think you could have tried harder, then follow these tips and step things up!