Choosing the Right Exercise Program

So how do you choose the right exercise program?

Anyone trying to lose weight these days is subjected to a constant barrage of advice: eat less carbs; don’t snack between meals; work out five times a week, take up a team sport… Does this sound familiar? It’s very tiring, and it’s confusing as well, because often the advice is conflicting. What’s better, to avoid snacking, or to eat lots of small meals? To take up dance classes, or to get a personal trainer? Who knows!

Most weight loss advice is actually good advice, but the problem is that what works for someone else might not work for you. This is never truer than in the area of exercise. Activity ‘B’ might burn more calories per hour than Sport ‘G’, which burns more calories than Fitness Class ‘Y’, but that doesn’t mean it’s the right exercise for you. In the long run, it will be very hard for you to stick to something that isn’t ‘you’, so our advice is to make life easy for yourself, and pick exercise activities that suit your personality. Do what’s fun, rather than what is in vogue or what burns the most calories, and the results will take care of themselves.

Here’s an example of what we mean. If you could only pick one, do you prefer activities that are: 1) social (i.e. done with other people); 2) done in the great outdoors, or 3) individual and intense? If there’s a clear answer for you, read on for some ideas of fat-burning activities that you will enjoy:

1. Social

Are you a social animal? Congratulations, you’ve got a lot of options when it comes to exercise. Dancing, a team sport like volleyball, or a traditionally social sport like tennis, are all fantastic options for you. If you have experience in a team sport, try getting back into it, or if there’s a new team sport you’d like to try, try getting together some of your friends and family members in a team to enter into a social league.

2. Outdoorsy

Do you feel the call of the wild? It seems like some people are just never happy exercising indoors. While your access to outdoor pursuits will be determined to an extent by the geography of where you live, these days there are many, many options when it comes to fun outdoor pursuits. You should consider mountain biking, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, trail running, and orienteering.

3. Individual and Intense

Not everyone is cut out for team or social sports. Some people prefer the intense challenge of competing only against themselves. Of course, you can do this in an activity like golf, but you probably won’t lose much weight! Instead, consider rock-climbing, snowboarding, squash, surfing, cycling or running marathons.

Maybe you feel that none of these categories adequately describe you and your exercise preferences, but hopefully they have got you thinking about what you do like to do. If you’re still stuck, think back to sports or other physically activities you did as a child, before you started to see exercise as a duty and a chore. This might just lead you to an activity you’ll love as an adult.