Fitness training can help you stay healthy, lose weight and improve your ability to perform routine physical tasks. It includes cardiovascular exercises that increase your heart rate and breathing, as well as strength training that uses large muscle groups to make repetitive movements. It’s important to incorporate both types of workouts into your exercise program for optimal health.

Cardiovascular exercises help reduce the risk of developing heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. They also strengthen the lungs and blood vessels. Strength training can help you maintain a healthy weight, increase bone density and prevent osteoporosis. It can also help you feel more energetic and improve your mood.

Your overall fitness program should include aerobic, strength and balance training workouts. Your trainer will determine your fitness level and create a plan that will give you the results you want. In order to design a safe and effective program, your trainer will consider your age, medical history, injuries and other factors that may affect your abilities.

A good fitness training program should be based on the “Specificity Principle,” which states that the exercises you choose should be tied directly to your goals. Beginners should aim to train two or three times a week, targeting all major muscle groups. As your skills and confidence grow, you can add more workouts, but it’s important to give each muscle group enough rest.

Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced athlete, a fitness program should vary to prevent boredom and burnout. Changing up the intensity and variety of your workouts can also help you break through a training plateau. Try increasing the number of repetitions (reps) per set, increasing your resistance or adding a new exercise to your workout.

Try different training methods such as Fartlek (in which you alternate between a moderate and vigorous activity) or circuit training, in which you work several muscle groups simultaneously for a full-body workout. Another approach, called wave loading, involves alternating between a heavier and lighter load for each exercise (e.g. 90% of your 1 rep max for 2 sets, followed by 75% for 3 reps).

Experts agree that the best strength-training exercises target multiple muscle groups at once, such as squats, which work the quadriceps, hamstrings and glutes. And they all agree that it’s crucial to use proper form when performing these exercises. Poor technique can throw off the whole exercise, putting emphasis or even strain on the wrong muscles or joints.

If you’re a beginner, it’s always best to work with a fitness trainer to ensure that you’re using the right equipment and exercising safely. A professional will also show you how to perform each exercise, and help you figure out how much weight to use.