Every type of workout has its evangelists, from dedicated marathoners to devoted yogis. But when you peel back the hype, which forms of exercise are actually best for you? Can too much running be a bad thing? If you only practice Pilates, are you getting enough cardio? Is HIIT all it’s cracked up to be?
In general, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends adults get at least 150 minutes a week of moderate exercise (think brisk walking) and two days a week of strength training. Getting active can also provide a slew of benefits, from warding off disease to improving brain health. So which exercises offer the most bang for their buck?
We asked doctors to weigh in on the benefits and limitations of six common forms of exercise.
Running
Running is popular for a reason: You can do it just about anywhere, and all you need is a good pair of shoes. Running is also an excellent workout, says Dr. Scott A. Smith, an orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist in Texas who has served as a team physician for professional basketball and high school football teams.
“Cardio, muscle mass, bone density, balance, coordination — all of those are benefited by running,” Smith says.
You may have read headlines about the dangers of too much running; think overuse injuries and even cardiac arrest. But Smith says with the right precautions, marathon runners aren’t likely to encounter issues solely from regularly hitting the pavement. Studies show marathon runners aren’t at increased risk of hip or knee arthritis, and instances of cardiac arrest in marathon runners are rare.
To mitigate any of these risks, it’s important to mix up your running routine with strength and stretching. A lack of cross-training is what can typically lead to most injuries.
“The way runners get into trouble is they run and that’s all they do,” Smith says. “They get stress fractures or they have a sore back or knee pain because they do nothing but run. If you’re breaking it up [with a mix of exercises], you don’t have the repetitive stress.”
Running is a high-impact activity, which puts more stress on the body compared to lower-impact exercises like swimming. Walking, which has seen a recent surge in popularity among Gen Z, is a great substitute for running, for the right people.
“People look at running as fairly benign,” says Dr. Samuel Werner, a family medicine physician in New Jersey. “But for somebody with moderate to severe osteoarthritis, I probably wouldn’t be recommending running as much as I’d be recommending swimming.”
Yoga
“Yoga” can mean many different things. You can get a different workout depending on the class, whether it’s a gentle hatha practice at home or a sweaty, pulse-pounding power yoga sequence in a studio.
In general, a regular yoga routine can lead to improvements in flexibility, strength and overall physical health.
“It’s a fantastic exercise,” Smith says. “Pretty much everybody should be doing some form of yoga, and you can make it as intense as you want.”
Yoga emphasizes pranayama, a breathing technique that can help ease stress and anxiety. Studies have found that pranayama breathing offers physical benefits for people with cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, among other illnesses. Yoga’s emphasis on balance, strength and flexibility can also help alleviate back pain.
“Everybody has back problems in their life,” Smith says. “So if you can do some yoga and maintain that flexibility in your back and your hips, that’s great.”
While yoga can help strengthen your muscles, it might not always elevate your heart rate, so you’ll also want to incorporate cardio in your routine.
HIIT
High-intensity interval training has become popular among the fitness community in the last decade, mainly for its efficiency. You can typically burn just as many calories in a 20-minute HIIT class as you would doing steady cardio for 45 minutes.
HIIT classes generally employ periods of intense, anaerobic exercise, where you max out your heart rate, punctuated by short periods of rest.
This type of interval training can be applied to just about any exercise. If you’re swimming, you can swim a hard lap, then rest for 30 seconds; while cycling, you might spin hard for two minutes and rest for one minute. HIIT can also be performed with simple bodyweight exercises that don’t require any equipment.
But are HIIT classes all they’re cracked up to be? Many are marketed with claims about the “24-hour afterburn effect,” a phenomenon in which your body continues burning calories after the workout ends. This can be misleading; while you may burn a few extra calories post-HIIT, it’s fewer than you’d really expect. Experts say it’s highly unlikely this can stretch into 24 hours.
HIIT also might be too intense for older adults or people with heart disease. Additionally, overtraining for anyone can lead to an increase in the stress hormone cortisol, so it’s important to recover with plenty of rest and low-impact cross-training.
“The biggest caution that I would give to somebody doing HIIT when they’re starting out is they need to know their limitations,” Werner says.
Pilates
Joseph Hubertus Pilates created a rehab technique in the early 20th century using elements of yoga, boxing and gymnastics to help English soldiers wounded during World War I. For this reason, Pilates is often recommended as a low-impact core-strengthening program for athletes recovering from injuries. Studies have also found it effective in managing pain for people with conditions ranging from scoliosis to hypertension.
Like yoga, Pilates emphasizes core strength and breathing. Unlike yoga, the movements tend to be more dynamic and less static; instead of holding a pose for a long period of time, you might incorporate leg and arm movements to create an added challenge.
“Yoga and Pilates both rely on the same core training, flexibility and ability to hold a position, which is essential to maintain good spine health,” Smith says.
The key benefit of Pilates is how it strengthens the muscles of the core — something all of us need, Werner says, because that can ultimately prevent injury and back pain. That said, it can’t provide a well-rounded exercise program on its own: “If you’re doing nothing but yoga and nothing but Pilates, you’re probably not getting your cardiovascular workout,” Smith says.
Strength training
Strength training is crucial for fortifying our muscles and bones. It can also help with balance, which is important as we age and our risk of falling increases. Crucially, strength training isn’t just for bodybuilders, and there are plenty of ways to build strength even if you don’t aspire to the cover of a fitness magazine.
“Everybody should do some strength training, but gravity works,” Smith says. “You don’t have to be in the gym grunting and screaming.”
Bodyweight strength training exercises include squats, lunges, wall sits, planks and other moves that use your own body weight for load. As those exercises become easier, you can start incorporating free weights or weight machines. As with any other type of exercise, you’ll want to integrate strength training with some cardio.
“Just doing reps of a particular strength training exercise is going to be fine for muscle bulk, but it’s not going to be what’s protective against disease in the long run.” Werner says.
Biking
Whether you prefer pedaling on the open road or spinning in your living room, biking can be customized to anyone’s needs.
“It’s a very low-intensity, great aerobic exercise, and you can also make it an anaerobic exercise — it checks off a bunch of boxes,” Smith says.
Compared to running, biking is fairly low impact, which means that people with lower-body injuries can rely it for their cardio needs. The main concern with cycling outdoors is safety, if you’re headed outdoors into traffic. Investing in a regular or a stationary bike can be as budget-friendly or extravagant as you want.
And of course, you’ll want to balance your cycling routine with plenty of stretching and strength moves.
Ultimately, the best exercise is the one you’ll actually do. Don’t stress too much about creating the perfect workout routine.
“If you’re picking an exercise, you’ve got to pick something that is not like poking a stick in your eye,” Smith says. “Because if it is, three months from now, you won’t be doing it.”