For a balanced exercise programme it's best to do a combination of cardio and resistance training (with some flexibility/stretching sessions thrown into the mix as well). However, if you have a specific goal in mind it may be better to focus on one over the other.

Cardiovascular exercise helps strengthen your heart and lungs while improving oxygen and blood flow around your body. Resistance training helps to strengthen and tone your muscles. So you can see why your training goal will influence what you will need to work on.

For example, if you want to get fitter for a sport such as running, cardio exercise will help you build the fitness for it. If you want to run often and avoid injuries, doing strength training will be important so that your muscles will be strong enough to handle the constant repetitive jumping movements you're doing when you run.

If getting leaner is your goal, doing cardio will help you get there, however, intense resistance training may burn calories for up to 8 hours after your training session (plus increasing the muscle you have helps boost your metabolism on an ongoing basis).

Whatever your goal, it's important to remember that it's about the long term game: if you train so hard you can't move for a week it's going to be difficult to maintain consistency over time - and consistency is what's going to get you results that last!

Here are some cardio and resistance training ideas for your workouts so you don’t get bored. Be creative, look around for some group fitness classes or sports to get into. Get social and do things with your friends, work colleagues and family. If you don't like an activity you can always move on and try something else. Always remember that if you are having fun exercising, it will make it seem less like a chore!

Cardio options

Cardio is basically anything that gets your heart pumping harder and makes you start huffing and puffing. Examples include:

• Running/jogging outdoors or on a treadmill (be creative outside! Beach, waterfront, bush, road…)
• Ball sports (soccer, netball, basketball, rugby, touch)
• Cross trainer/elliptical trainer
• Rowing
• Swimming and water walking [low impact]
• Cycling [low impact]
• Dancing
• Aerobics classes
• Martial arts
• Walking (can include bushwalking/going up and down hills and walking briskly)
• Plyometrics (jumping) – skipping, star jumps, burpees
• Ice skating/roller skating
• Stair running

Resistance training

This will be anything that involves some kind of resistance-based exercises. Examples include:

• Yoga
• Pilates
• Freeweights (dumbbells, barbells, medicine balls etc.)
• Loop bands
• Pin weights (usually in a gym, i.e. you insert a pin into a weight plate to make it heavier/lighter)
• Calisthenics (bodyweight exercises like squats and lunges)

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