HEALTH AND FITNESS Tailor your workouts to specific fitness goal

Getting fit is easy, they said. All you have to do is work out, they said.

But what am I supposed to do when I get to the gym? Do I pick up a barbell or do I run? I should just get on the treadmill, right?

There are so many questions when it comes to getting fit and working out. Did you know that there are different workout programs for different goals? For example, if you want to build muscle mass, you shouldn’t do the same program as someone whose primary goal is to lose weight.

We’ve spoken to fitness experts who gave us their best tips on which workout routines to do for your specific goals.

Workouts for weight loss

Almost half of Americans say they’ve tried to lose weight in the past 12 months, a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.

Austin Dotson, a certified personal trainer, says keeping your mind focused on why you started working out in the first place is one of the most important things to weight loss. Don’t fall off when it gets tough; that’s when you need to push yourself the most.

And when it comes to the physical part of it, Dotson loves jumping rope.

“Jumping rope is a great cardiovascular exercise that will get the heart rate soaring through the roofs,” Dotson says. “I would also recommend mountain climbers. Great tool for getting a stronger core as well as increasing the heart rate for fat loss.”

Workouts to build muscle

If you want to build muscle, you’re going to have to pick up a barbell, so get comfortable with the weight room.

Osamoje Imoohi, a certified personal trainer, recommends people add weight-resistance training into their routines and to make sure they target each body part throughout the week. That means focus on training your legs for one day, your arms the next day and move on to back workouts the day after.

“I would highly recommend doing compound exercises: These are exercises that work several muscle groups at the same time,” Imoohi says. “They trigger muscle growth. Bench press, squats, deadlifts and overhead presses are all examples of compound exercises.”

Workouts to tone muscle

No one really knows what “toning” means; it’s just a word that’s thrown around when people want their bodies to look like Gabrielle Union or Beyonce.

“Frankly, ‘toning up’ is a myth we’ve been fighting against for a decade,” says Kristen Seymour, co-owner of fitness website Fit Bottomed Girls. “What people generally mean when they say this is that they want to get leaner and build some muscle – or that they want to look like the celebrity with the awesome arms on the cover of some magazine.”

Imoohi and Walters suggest high-intensity interval training, which consist of exercises at very high intensity for a short period of time with little rest and recovery, as opposed to jogging on the treadmill for an hour. Imoohi suggests running, swimming, boxing or cycling at least three times a week for 30 to 45 minutes at a time in addition to your high-intensity workouts.

I just want abs

Good news, according to Dotson we all already have them.

“Believe it or not, we all have abs,” Dotson says. “Abs are really determined on the percentage of body fat a person has. If you are unable to see your abs, it’s not because you can’t get them, it’s because they are hidden behind layers of fat.”

OK, wonderful, so my abs are just hidden underneath a few months’ worth of doughnuts.