Variety Is the Spice of Life — and Movement

You know the phrase, “Variety is the spice of life”? The one people use to encourage you to try something outside your usual routine or comfort zone?

Fun fact: the original line — "Variety's the very spice of life, that gives it all its flavor" — comes from a 1785 poem by William Cowper, and the idea still holds up: trying different things enriches your life. 

And there may be no place this is more true than in how you choose to move your body. 

That movement, with the warm spring weather, may have you excited about more miles, more pickleball, more golf, more … more … more of your favorite way to move. Wait, you might be thinking, isn’t more exercise better?  

Exercise is great, but it’s not necessarily about doing more – it’s about changing it up. 

A major long-term Harvard study recently tracked more than 111,000 adults for 30 years and found movement variety predicted longevity better than movement volume. People who mixed up their activities outperformed heavy exercisers who did the same thing every day.

Your body was built to move in many ways, and when it loses that variety, that's often where pain, injury, and limitation begin. 

The good news is that your body is incredibly adaptable. Learning new ways to move challenges your muscles, coordination, balance – even your brain – and helps you build resilience that carries over into everyday life. 

Your Body Was Designed for More Than One Type of Movement

Think about the activities you did while playing outside as a kid: riding bikes, running around for tag or running bases, climbing monkey bars or trees, playing catch, wiffleball, hopscotch, shooting hoops in the driveway, hide and seek, walking the edge of the sandbox, lying on your back looking for shapes in the clouds. 

The variety of movement allowed you to do all the human body is actually designed for: rotate, stabilize, balance, accelerate, decelerate, navigate uneven ground, push, pull, reach, recover.

Over time, most of us narrow our activities down, and our bodies adapt to one familiar pattern, maybe two. You become a “runner,” a “golfer,” a “pickleball player” or a “gym-goer” focused on strength training. So your body becomes efficient at exactly what you asked of it.

But when your body loses movement variety, it also loses adaptability. 

• You can run but can’t change direction without pulling something.

• You can lift weights but can’t navigate a rocky trail without turning an ankle.

• You can swing a pickleball paddle but can’t lift a heavy pan into an overhead cabinet. 

It’s not that you’re out of shape or need to do more. Consciously adding variety to your movement patterns will help your body become more resilient. 

Even if you can’t squeeze in a game of tag after dinner or climb a tree on your lunch hour, the good news is your body never stops adapting to the movement you regularly expose it to, and there are still plenty of options for us as adults. 

Variety Doesn’t Mean Starting Over

Let’s be clear that this does NOT mean you need to give up your favorite movement or exercise. You’re good at it, you love it, you’re familiar with it, and genuine enjoyment is a good thing! 

But most activities naturally train the same movement patterns over and over again. Runners put in more miles. Golfers work on their swing. Pickleball players spend more time on the court. And while repetition can improve performance, the body still needs other types of movement to stay adaptable and capable long term.

That’s where movement variety comes in. A runner who adds balance work and strength training to their routine can move more effectively and be less sore. A pickleball player who does Pilates for stability can move more confidently on the court. A dedicated strength trainer benefits from the recovery, coordination, and body awareness that yoga, dancing, or hiking can offer. 

The goal isn’t just to get stronger or do more. It’s to build a body that can handle whatever you ask of it, including the unexpected.

Think about the moments that test your body: the split-second pivot in pickleball that lets you reach a shot without tweaking your knee. Landing safely at the bottom of a steep trail. An improved golf swing that comes from having the mobility and stability in your spine and hips to support it. Carrying groceries while turning sideways through a doorway or stepping off a curb without thinking twice.

None of these moments are about strength alone or repeated practice of one activity. They’re about your body having the ability to react, adjust, stabilize, and recover in real time – the kinds of skills that help you move well. The more movement options you give your body, the more resilient and capable it becomes. You’ll see the benefits not just in the gym or on the court, but in the life you’re actually living. 

And the bonus is that trying something new might just lead to a new hobby: something else you enjoy, not because you “should” do it, but because you feel good and have fun in the process. 

Movement Variety Trains Your Brain

Movement variety doesn’t just help your muscles and joints. It challenges your brain, too. 

It’s not just your body learning new skills. Every time you learn a new movement pattern, your brain also has to show up.

Coordination, balance, reaction time, and spatial awareness are all trainable. And if we stop challenging them, we can lose them.  When movement becomes purely automatic and repetitive, the brain gets less of a workout than it could.

But when you try something that’s new to you – not necessarily harder, but different – it asks your brain and body to problem-solve together, which builds the kind of adaptability that repeating the same old activity simply doesn’t. Variety actually helps build new pathways in your brain and makes your body more resilient.

That’s part of why activities like dance, yoga, hiking uneven terrain, balance work, or even learning something entirely new can feel surprisingly challenging at first. Your muscles are involved, but so is your focus, timing, coordination, and awareness of where your body is in space.

Over time, that challenge is part of what keeps both the brain and body adaptable. And adaptability is one of the biggest keys to moving confidently and independently as we age.

Conclusion

This spring, when everything around us is already embracing new growth, it’s the perfect time to try something new without overhauling your entire routine or replacing your favorite activity. Maybe it’s as simple as trying a yoga class, walking a new trail, adding balance work, dancing in your kitchen, or saying yes to something your body hasn’t done in a while.

Your body was designed to move in many ways. And often, feeling stronger has less to do with doing more and more to do with moving differently.

Sometimes, the body gives us clues when it’s missing that variety: the same tight spot that keeps returning, the same minor injury that never fully resolves, or the feeling that your body just isn’t moving the way it used to.That’s worth paying attention to. It doesn’t mean you need to push harder or do more. Sometimes it means your body is ready for a different approach, and that’s exactly what we help people figure out at Restore. 

If you’re curious about what your movement might be missing, a free discovery call is a good place to start.

Variety really may be the spice of life after all.