Often people ask me what type of workout is best for them. The truth is every workout provides different results. Depending on your body-type and goals, choosing the right fitness routine varies from person to person. Ask yourself a few of the following questions prior to committing to a workout:

Is this workout fun?

Is it challenging?

Is it giving me results?

Is it working the right areas of my body?

Will it help me to achieve my goals?

Everyone has different goals. For some, that may be weight-loss. For others, it may be muscle-gain. I highly recommend meeting with a personal trainer to understand how these goals can be achieved.

For heart-heath, try cardio-based workouts like Zumba (dancing), walking, running or cycling.

For muscle-gain, the focus should be on lifting weights. This can easily be achieved by using free-weights in either fitness classes or stationary equipment at a gym.

Body awareness is extremely important in any form of exercise. For some, understanding how to breathe properly during movement is quite challenging. If your goal is to find that mind to body connection, then Pilates and Yoga are the two kinds of training I recommend. The strong focus on technique and breath will only help you to understand your body further. In addition,  ballet-barre is another technique-based workout that requires that mind/body connection. It’s also a great way to learn body alignment and focus on smaller muscle groups. In sum, Pilates, Yoga and ballet-barre classes all incorporate flexibility, balance and isometric exercises which all help to promote lean-muscle mass.

If you’re looking for a real challenge, then endurance type training like HIIT (high intensity interval training), Tabata, Bootcamps or Cross-Fit, are workouts that really try to push you past your limits. If you’re just starting out, I don’t recommend these. While these workouts are great to infuse in your routine every so often, I don’t encourage them to be a part of your day-to-day exercise routine. The constant repetition along with high intensity levels tire the muscles out a lot faster, which can in turn make you more prone to injury.

Workouts that use your own body-weight, and incorporate higher levels of intensity with the use of bands to create more resistance, are great for building strength. The TRX system and the Pilates Reformer are good examples of these.

If you don’t have many hours to spare in your week, and you’re looking for something that gives you a little bit of everything, I highly suggest an aerobic-type class. Classes infuse all aspects of fitness; Cardio, resistance-training, floor-work and stretch. Ultimately, they are a great calorie-burn and a good way to get everything condensed into an hour. I especially prefer classes because they are appropriate many fitness levels and for people with busy lifestyles.

In an ideal world, it would be great to be able to do a variety of workouts throughout your week. Ultimately, you have to do what you enjoy, what gives you results and what will realistically fit into your lifestyle.