Choose aerobic exercises that work the whole body

Whether you’re just warming up for weight training or performing a predominantly aerobic workout, choose exercises that use your upper and lower body at the same time. Rather than stationary cycling, try a rowing machine, hop on the treadmill and pump your arms, or take an aerobic dance class. Full body motion will maximize your workout intensity.

Challenge yourself with short bursts of high intensity aerobic exercise

Getting your heart rate up to 75% or more of its maximum, even if it’s just for a few minutes, is a great way to burn calories, build endurance, and improve your performance during aerobic exercise. When you’re first getting started working out with high intensity, it’s best to choose an exercise where you are unlikely to injury yourself. Stationary bikes and elliptical trainers, which minimize the impact on joints, are good options for getting started with high intensity training.

Try circuit training

Circuit training is a series of strength training exercises that work different muscle groups and may be performed with machines, free weights, or both. Work out intensely at each exercise in the circuit, then rest the muscles you worked while you rotate to the next exercise which works a different part of the body. Moving from station to station quickly will add a cardiovascular challenge to your circuit training, too!

Never wait for a machine

If you work out at a busy gym, waiting for a machine can serious eat into your workout time. Rather than losing valuable minutes in line, learn a number of alternate free weights exercises to work the same muscle group. If the machine you want is busy, you can just hop over to the free weights area and pick up a barbell or dumbbell. Varying your workout to include machines and free weights is a great way to keep your workouts challenging and to develop the stabilizer muscles that are so key to developing functional strength.

Skip the water breaks

It’s important to stay hydrated throughout your workout, but if you’re constantly taking water breaks you can lose momentum. Carry your own water bottle with you throughout your workout to minimize unnecessary breaks.

Work large muscle groups

When you’re in a time crunch, working out large muscle groups should take priority over working small muscle groups. The large chest, back, and thigh muscles are the strongest muscles in the body and burn the most calories during exercise, and strengthening them produces the best gains in posture and overall strength compared to other muscle groups.

Perform compound exercises

If you’re weight lifting, choose exercises that work multiple muscle groups with the same motion rather than exercises that isolate individual muscle groups. Example compound exercises are lunges, deadlifts, and push-ups.

Work on opposing muscle groups

Pick pairs of exercises that work opposing muscles groups (e.g. quads and hamstrings, chest and back, or inner and outer thighs) and perform alternating sets of these exercises with minimum breaks between sets. This will give you a balanced workout and help you to quickly exercise multiple muscle groups.

Break up your workout into 10-minute pieces

If your biggest challenge is finding a single chunk of time that’s big enough to perform your complete workout, break your workout into 10-minute pieces. Use resistance bands or bodyweight exercises to perform your strength training exercises during 10-minute breaks at the office, or run for 10 minutes before your morning shower. Fitting a few ten-minute standing routines or ten-minute mat exercises into your day adds up quickly.

Multitask

When all else fails and you can’t even get ten minutes away from work or chores, try incorporating exercise into otherwise sedentary activities. Maybe you can march in place or do a basic aerobic step routine on your conference calls, or perhaps you can try sitting on an exercise ball instead of a chair during work to challenge your abs. Learn to use bodyweight exercises that don’t require any equipment. Get creative!

If you find it easier to stay motivated and focused during your workouts when you’re with a group or a live instructor, check out the class offerings at your local health and fitness club or look for a Pilates studio in your neighborhood. Most clubs will offer one or more weekly Pilates classes, with traditional classes focusing on matwork or exercises that use a piece of equipment called the Pilates reformer. If Pilates will be your primary form of exercise, you should try to attend a class that meets at least three times a week, or else supplement your in-person workouts with practice at home. If you live in a major US city, Yelp is a great place to find a Pilates studio and read what current and former students say about the facilities and instructors. Another good place to locate instructors is using the instructor search tool on Romana Kryzanowski’s website.

If you need to exercise at odd hours or just need the keep flexibility in your schedule, practicing Pilates at home with the aid of a Pilates DVD or video is a great option. There are a number of great video workouts available, from videos that teach individual exercises to complete workouts that guide you through a series of exercises for a complete body workout. Choosing a video or a collection of videos that you find challenging and motivating is the key to successfully working out with Pilates at home. This thorough review of twelve popular Pilates DVDs is a good place to start if you’re trying to pick a good video. If you get bored of using the same videos repeatedly or just don’t want to buy another workout video, you could try checking out the sports and fitness selection available on Netflix streaming, which has a nice selection of full-length Pilates workout videos led by several popular fitness instructors. For some detailed instructions on how to perform the basic Pilates exercises, check out this free guide to Pilates exercises.

One of the most popular Pilates instructors in the US is Mari Winsor. To get a taste of the Winsor Pilates method, check out this full-length workout video available online:

Although some Pilates instructors teach the exercises using a variety of specialized Pilates equipment, you don’t need to buy such equipment up front (or, indeed, ever) to get the vast majority of the benefits of the exercise. At a fundamental level, Pilates exercises use your own body weight and the force of gravity to provide the needed resistance for each exercise, and if you’re in reasonably good health, you will probably be able to perform most Pilates exercises safely and with proper form without the aid of any of the more specialized Pilates machines like the reformer, trapeze, or chair. You might find a basic yoga mat and an exercise ball to be helpful whether you’re planning to take class or start using a video, but even these types of equipment aren’t necessary to get started. Don’t get caught up in purchasing equipment and forget that the most important thing is just to get started!

If you’re looking for a fun, challenging, graceful form of exercise to incorporate into your workout routine, you should definitely give Pilates a try. No special equipment is required, and you can begin safely whatever your current fitness level may be. You might find that Pilates is all you need to stay in shape, or that it injects a nice change of pace into your established workout routine.