4 Workout Types and How They Fit Your Body

This article will provide an overview of the most common types of workouts, their benefits, and how to choose the right one for your fitness goals and body type.

Workout Types

Some common workout types are cardio (conditioning), strength, flexibility, and balance (proprioception). Learning to pair with body type has been shown to make a massive difference in the overall success of a workout program. 

1. Cardio (conditioning)

Cardio, or cardiovascular exercise, is any activity that increases your heart rate and breathing. It's essential for improving heart health, reducing the risk of chronic diseases, and burning calories. Cardio exercises include:

• running
• swimming
• cycling
• dancing

2. Strength Training

Strength training involves using weights or other resistance to build muscle strength and endurance. It's essential for improving overall strength, increasing metabolism, and reducing the risk of injuries. Strength training exercises include:

• weight lifting
• bodyweight exercises
• calisthenics 

3. Flexibility Training

Flexibility training helps improve your range of motion and reduce the risk of injuries. Flexibility training exercises include:

• stretching
• yoga
• Pilates.

4. Balance Training

Balance training helps improve your balance and coordination. It's essential for preventing falls and maintaining independence as you age. Balance training exercises include:

• standing on one leg
• walking heel-to-toe
• Tai Chi

The Difference Between Training, Workout, and Exercise 

Training

Training is the term used by personal trainers to describe a purpose-driven program, which can encompass various goals and workout programs.

Workout

Workouts are a focused grouping of multiple exercises, designed to achieve a specific goal such as building strength or improving max squat.

Exercise

Exercises are essentially a form of movement such as bodyweight or a resistance movement. Exercises are used in conjunction with workout plans and training programs to help build fitness.


📝 Note: without a target goal exercises don't do much on their own.

Choosing the Right Workout Type

1️⃣ consider fitness goals

2️⃣ find an activity you enjoy

3️⃣ create a plan to improve

When choosing a workout, it's essential to consider your fitness goals, current fitness level, and any injuries or health conditions you may have. It's also essential to find an activity you enjoy, as you are more likely to stick with it if you have fun.

 

Advanced Workout Types

In this next section we will cover more advanced workout types look like to help build an understanding of where your fitness can take you. 

Athletic Training

Athletic Training is Sports-Specific

Athletic training, which has received over a decade of study, defines an approach to sports-specific training where we utilize exercises and workouts that otherwise don't appear to directly affect sports performance.

Athletic Training Examples

I'm working with an athlete who has the goal of increasing for sprinting speed. I would build a training plan that incorporates upper-body training at least 3 days a week to help starting block time and maintain form throughout the race.

Calisthenics training is one form of classical athletic training used by militaries around the world to enhance functional strength and conditioning of troops.

Injury Preventative Training 

Injury Preventative Training Helps Prevent Injuries

Should be straight forward enough. Injury preventative training looks a lot more like physical therapy  exercises than a classic gym-style "reps and sets". 

For many decades this type of training has been highly recommended for preventing athletic injuries like PCL tears, ACL tears, and dislocation type injuries.

It Has Been Poorly Adopted 

In large part because of legal restrictions, many athletic trainers are unable to offer therapy guidelines to their athletes, and vice-versa. Despite clear evidence, injury preventative training is still poorly adopted within the athletic community. 

Hybrid Athletic Training

Hybrid Athletic Training - the new kid on the block

Hybrid athletic training is relatively unrecognized by the training community, but combines the valuable aspects of injury preventative training, cross training, and sports-specific training. 

Heavily Used By Long-Term Athletes

Many athletes who participate in athletics, but refrain from competition and/or out of mainstream athletics, have begun to adopt this form of training.

In other words, a hybrid athlete means we are able to perform all modes of movement at high degree, in sport and out of it. This may include strength, flexibility, power, endurance, mindset, and nutrition.

What is my body type?

The terms ectomorph, mesomorph, and endomorph refer to the three basic body types in somatotyping, a system that categorizes human physiques based on skeletal frame and body composition.

These terms are often used in fitness and health contexts to help tailor exercise and nutrition plans to an individual's natural body type, but should not be taken as the end-all-be-all for training. We'll get into that later.

🏃
ectomorph
🏋️‍♀️
mesomorph
🫃
endomorph

Should I train according to my body type? 

The body types listed below are all considered part of a classical training paradigm, particularly within the context of somatotyping, which was popularized in the early to mid-20th century by psychologist William Sheldon.

Each body type responds differently to exercise and diet, so understanding these categories can help tailor a wellness plan. However, most people are a mix of these types rather than fitting perfectly into one.

Classical Training Paradigm:

In the classical training paradigm, these body types were often used to tailor fitness and nutrition programs to individual needs.

The idea was that by understanding a person's natural physique, a coach or trainer could better design programs to optimize results in athletic performance, bodybuilding, or general fitness.

Ectomorph:

• Lean
• Long limbs
• Little body fat
• Difficulty gaining weight
• Fast metabolism

Strength training with a focus on muscle-building exercises, and a calorie-rich diet is often recommended for ectomorph body types. 

The classical paradigm might suggest lower repetitions with heavier weights to promote muscle growth, alongside a diet rich in calories and protein to counterbalance their naturally fast metabolism.

Mesomorph:

• Naturally muscular
• Medium frame
• Well-proportioned
• Easily gain muscle and maintain low body fat
• Considered the "athletic" body type

A balanced workout routines with a mix of strength training, cardio, and a well-balanced diet is recommended for mesomorph body types.

Training programs for mesomorphs might focus on balanced routines that maintain their natural muscle mass, with less need for extreme dietary modifications.

Endomorph:

• Rounder body shape
• higher body fat
• often a slower metabolism
• Tend to gain weight easily but may struggle to lose it

Emphasis on cardio and high-intensity interval training (HIIT) combined with strength training. A diet focused on lean proteins and low carbohydrates is often beneficial.

The classical approach might recommend higher-intensity cardio along with strength training, paired with a diet aimed at fat loss and metabolism management.

Modern Fitness Perspectives

Today, while the somatotype theory is still referenced, it is often viewed as an oversimplification. Modern training paradigms tend to focus more on personalized approaches based on a broader set of factors such as genetics, lifestyle, and specific fitness goals, rather than strictly categorizing individuals into one of these three types.

Nevertheless, the ectomorph, mesomorph, and endomorph framework remains a foundational concept in classical training paradigms and continues to influence fitness and wellness planning.

Yudae's Training Approach

At Yudae we take a wellness first approach to all things health related. That means taking into an account your entire life, as well as your life goals, and fitness goals. This allows us to program training plans that are more specific to a function fitness approach, rather than a "everyone fits in this mold" approach. 

1️⃣ Mesocycles

4-6 WEEKS IN DURATION

We like to break our mesocycles into a 4-week chunks to more easily plan for a month of fitness. Depending on how far that athlete is from their goal each week can offer a diverse profile goal specific training.

2️⃣ Weeks & Days

WEEK - WORKOUT TYPEDAY - FITNESS FOCUS

Daily workouts are then grouped into a single week period and pre-programmed ahead of time to make sense for the larger goal of the program. If you've picked up the fitness card game you've seen this in the included 4-week workout program emailed after purchase. 

That said, the amount of days spent training per week heavily depends on the athlete and their goals. In general we recommend somewhere between 5-7 times per week for the average exerciser. However this could easily be as much as 8-10 sessions per week for more advanced athletes.

3️⃣ Block Training Method

BITE-SIZED FOCUSED TRAINING CHUNK

• Warm Up
• CNS ramp up
• Block A
• Block B
• Block C
• Decompression

The block method is a way of breaking daily sessions into smaller bit-sized chunks to allow for greater focus on a micro-portion of the goal.

An example would be a conditioning focused workout broken into 6 blocks. These are the working sets within a workout. You can think of them as the appropriate portion size for a group of exercises.

In the world of athletic training and fitness programming, we use a term "block" to represent a small section of a workout. You will see this terminology used in both our free fitness guide, and fitness card game.

Typically this section is made up of exercises that pertain to the same muscle group or training goal, or they may be 1 single movement completed for a set amount of time (i.e. running with varied interval times).

Blocks can be repeated in a singular workout, or added to other blocks to form a brand new workout.

Keep in mind that the goal of training and current physical conditioning will alter the appropriate amount of reps and sets. Try this upper body workout, and use the cards to adjust rep and set count for your goals.

If you don't know what your fitness goals are or feel like you don't have the words to describe it to your personal trainer, read our guide for communicating fitness goals to your personal trainer.