Fitness Goals for The New Year

What kind of training do I need? 

Generally speaking, there are two kinds of training we differentiate between: strength or resistance training and aerobic training.

Aerobic training is any kind of activity that increases your heart rate. When your heart beats faster your breathing becomes harder in order to keep up with your body’s increased demand for oxygen. The oxygen you inhale gets passed on from your heart and lungs into your bloodstream to be used by your muscles to sustain the activity.   

As the name suggests, strength or resistance training on the other hand uses resistance (dumbells/bodyweight etc.) to your muscular contractions. By consistently challenging your contracting muscles with resistance, your muscle size, strength and endurance will increase. 

These two forms of exercise are not mutually exclusive and often go hand in hand. There are benefits to be gained from both.  

As a Personal Trainer, I generally suggest that anyone who is just getting started focus more on their resistance training (as an actual scheduled training session) and compliments that with creating a “cardio routine.” 

Cardio routine can mean anything from taking a walk with your partner, going on a bike ride with your kids, taking an aerobics class with your friend or swimming a few lanes after work. Walk whenever possible. Try and get your heart rate up at least a couple times per week and do it consistently! The benefits of aerobic training are numerous but the most beneficial one would be increased heart health (which in turn comes with a plethora of other benefits). Increasing your heart rate on a regular basis makes your heart stronger and more efficient. The blood flow throughout your body will improve and with consistent aerobic exercise you will likely notice a lower resting heart rate (because your heart doesn’t have to work as hard anymore to accomplish the same work as before). 

Resistance training on the other hand focuses less on an elevated heart rate but more on an increase in muscle mass. Muscle mass shapes our appearance and given the fact that muscle is much more dense than fat, it is not uncommon to see a change in physique without seeing any changes on the scale. Furthermore, an increased muscle mass will not only change the shape of your body, but will – over time – lead to a decrease in fat mass. How? By ramping up your metabolism.