What is Your Fitness Type?

Please note that the following is provided for information purposes. Please confirm with your physician that you are capable of beginning activities aimed at improving your fitness. 

Whichever exercise activity appeals to you, we encourage you to start at low levels of intensity for short periods of time and progress from there by increasing either the duration or intensity of effort, but not both at the same time. This tortoise vs hare approach will help ensure the consistent use of good form and prevent injuries, so that you won't miss your next session. After all, you have to able to exercise to obtain its benefits.

Aerobic vs Anaerobic

Aerobic, "aer" meaning "air" in Latin, refers to exercise in which your muscles use oxygen. This exercise is usually of a lower intensity, such as walking or jogging. When you go on a walk, your heart rate rises above your resting rate (beats per minute when your body is at complete rest) causing your heart to pump a little harder to send adequate oxygen to your myocytes (muscle cells) via the bloodstream. Your myocytes will take the oxygen from the bloodstream and undergo a process called cellular respiration. Long story short, glucose (simple sugars from food) with the help of oxygen turn into ATP, or adenosine triphosphate, a direct source of energy for your body.

But what happens when the intensity picks up? 

Your body then turns to its anaerobic processes; "an" + "aer" = "without air." Yes, your heart will pump even faster and yes it still circulates blood. However, your body takes sugar from your muscle's glycogen stores (short-term glucose storage) and converts it into lactic acid without oxygen. This lactic acid buildup may lead to a cramp-like feeling familiar to those who regularly sprint or go all out in a particular exercise.

Strength Training: Bodyweight vs Weights

Strength training is a fantastic way to gain and maintain muscle, improve bone density, and overall stay fit. By slowly increasing the intensity, one can build muscular strength and endurance in a healthy way.

But how should you go about it? Are weights worth it? Do bodyweight exercises even yield results?

The answers are: it depends, it depends, and yes.

Let's touch on bodyweight exercises first. The name kind of reveals the whole idea: using the weight of your body to exercise! go figure. But it's a lot more complicated than that. Doing 3-5 sets of 8-14 reps each of various exercises that target each major muscle group is ideal. This can be push-ups, pull-ups, squats, lunges, crunches, etc. But the rule of thumb is diversifying your movements to make the most of your work-outs. If you have access to a nearby park or gym, you can even utilize many pieces of equipment to advance your workouts. This can be seen by upgrading from pushups to inverted rows, or even pull-ups. Or perhaps starting to do triceps dips on a bench and eventually advancing to bar dips. But don't feel intimidated, these developments can take years and years for most.

A common grievance many have with bodyweight exercises is plateauing. Because you aren't adding weight in addition to your body's mass, assuming you don't intermittently gain weight, you can only increase the amount of reps you do or perhaps the level of difficulty of an exercise. For many, this is enough; they don't need feel a need to lift heavy or any weight to get fit or maintain their ideal fitness. But, for the rest, they may turn to weight lifting for a more intense workout.

To explain weight lifting, I'm going to use a hypothetical: 

So, let's say you want to weight lift. This is a fantastic way to get fit, gain muscle, increase your metabolism, and increase bone density for improved longevity. Before beginning you should research proper form for exercises to avoid injury, as it's easier to tear or twist something when extra weight is loaded on a certain joint or muscle. Now let's say you are researched and ready to hit the gym. Just like bodyweight exercises, you will need to employ a variety of movements to hit every major muscle group (you may be familiar with "upper body" and "lower body" workouts as well as "hitting" chest, back, core, or the dreaded leg day). Of course, if you are seeking aesthetic goals, you can focus on certain parts of your body with heavier weights, but you should be sure to exercise every muscle group at least once a week. It is very important that you take it slowly. Like I said earlier, unlike bodyweight exercises, weight lifting can lead to injury, one of which is overuse injury. Begin with lighter weights, maybe just 5-10 lbs for upper body, or 20-30 lbs for lower body (note: these are random examples, take it slow and don't compare yourself to this hypothetical version of you). You'll want to perform 3-5 sets of 8-12 reps of each exercise. As you advance, increase the weight and decrease resting periods in between sets. You may even start super-setting different exercises in the same muscle groups, but don't get ahead of yourself. 

Both weightlifting and bodyweight exercising are excellent ways to boost self-esteem -- feeling stronger with every last leg extension or push-up at the end of your workout, going home satisfied and ready to get back at it a day or two later. And both approaches can leave you too sore to comfortably sit on the toilet; be sure not to underestimate the effectiveness of a good bodyweight leg day. All in all, it comes down to personal preference and personal goals. And, if you're unsure, you can always integrate elements of each method.

Below are some of many, many, bodyweight and weightbearing exercises you can explore! 

Interval Training vs Endurance

If you follow internet fitness trends, I'm sure you have either heard or seen the letters "HIIT" once before. But what does it stand for? And how does that compare to it's opposite, endurance?

HIIT = High Intensity Interval Training

Just as the acronym suggests, it is performing an exercise over a short period of time at high intensity, resting for a smaller interval, and then performing the same or a different exercise for that same initial duration, resting, and so on and so on. This is an excellent way to get your heart rate high for a quick workout, as it is only suggested to perform HIIT for 20-30 minutes before it becomes aerobic (and more like endurance). Exercises commonly included in HIIT workouts are included below, typically things like jump squats and burpees. HIIT is anaerobic, meaning your body doesn't use oxygen to produce energy to perform the exercise (more on that at the beginning of the article). This means it's easy to feel that not only will your heart explode, but your limbs will fall off due to lactic acid build-up (don't be frightened, I overexaggerate). But it also effectively increases cardiovascular fitness by increasing your heart muscle's efficiency when pumping blood and thus lowering your resting heart rate. Frequent HIIT-ers (is that the term?) can attest to the endorphin release post-workout as well as the joy of doing the same HIIT workout and noticing how much longer you can go without feeling winded. 

Endurance is performing the same exercise over and over for an extended period of time at a medium to low intensity. Experts include professional cyclists and marathon runners. Amateurs include cyclists and marathon runners too, oddly enough (though they don't get paid, nor are they performing at elite speeds). In endurance sports, one's cardiovascular fitness increases tremendously, too. By having your heart work harder than it does when you're sitting around for hours, your myocardium (heart muscle) gets way stronger and more efficient at pumping blood to the rest of your body with fewer heart beats. When you exercise, you also lower your cholesterol and help clear up those blood pathways in the heart and throughout the body, which in turn helps your heart's efficiency even more. 

I know I know, endurance is good for you, but how do I know if it's right for me?

Excellent question! I like to say that endurance is something anyone can do. Even professional sprinters find themselves running 3-5 miles regularly. If you struggle to run two miles, one mile, or maybe even a block, take it easy. Just like every other exercise I already mentioned, it's all about progressive overload. Start with that first block. Then next time try to push yourself to do two blocks, then three, then a mile, then two, etc. Before you know it you'll be next to Eliud Kipchoge on the marathon starting line. I'm serious. It might take months, it might take years, heck, it might take decades! But the benefits and endorphins can serve as motivation alone, alongside the encouraging running community and feeling of accomplishment. Running isn't the only type of endurance, though. Swimming, cycling, hiking, and more can become excellent endurance exercises if you do it at the right intensity for the right amount of time. 

Much like weight lifting to bodyweight exercising, endurance can have higher rates of injury than HIIT, so be sure to use proper FORM *cough cough* (especially when running), proper shoes, proper fueling, and proper application of progressive overload. There are so many platforms out there, in addition to our own, that can help teach these critical proper components of endurance exercising.

I personally recommend a variety of the two exercises; I mean my favorite saying is "everything in moderation." But, many people hate one or the other, or perhaps both -- finding a safe medium either in an aerobic jog or weight lifting or just not exercising at all. To help you decide, I listed some example exercises of each below:

Stretching, Yoga, and Pilates

If you think these three things are the same, you're not alone. Though they can have overlapping exercises, each serve different purposes. 

Stretching is a broad term to describe positions held for a 30-120 second period in order to increase flexibility. It is also often used as a way to warm-up or cool-down before and after a workout, respectively. Stretching is a great way to make use of a rest day, from both lifting and cardio, as well as conclude an intense activity. By doing this regularly, you can greatly decrease rates of injury from sports or other exercises while increasing joint and tendon range of motion. 

Yoga is a more spiritual way to connect with your breathing, your body, and most importantly, your body. With a vast range of movement difficulties, everyone is accommodated. As time goes on, your flexibility and body composition (the latter depending on nutrition and other forms of exercise) will improve. Yoga is great for decreasing stress and anxiety levels while taking your mind off of everyday worries. It can ease menstrual cramps or other body pains and improve quality of sleep, much like any form of physical activity. Regular yogis report better balance, posture, and a better mind-body connection -- be it spatial awareness or a stronger link between your thoughts and physical health.

Pilates, a recently more popular form of exercise, can be called a more intense yoga. Using bodyweight exercises and holding positions for 30-120 second intervals, Pilates aims to strengthen the core and fitness. Unlike yoga and stretching, people turn to Pilates to gain strength, maintain strength, and tone their muscles. Popular fitness influencers preach Pilates, the most successful of which being Cassey Ho of "Blogilates." She describes the exercise as, "a mind body exercise that challenges your core while sculpting longer and leaner muscles, resulting in a toned dancer-like look." 

Deciding which of the three you prefer to increase your fitness, posture, and flexibility can prove quite the task considering the large overlap between them. But, each has its nuances that make them stand out from the others, such as these different exercises:

Written By: Siena