Advertisement

How to choose the best workout for your body

The right workout for your body type. Photo: Getty

Perhaps—but you still shouldn’t bank on scoring that instructor’s physique.

That’s because a good chunk of the body-type differences you see between instructors comes down to genetics. “From muscle shape to arm length to the position and angle at which muscle attaches to bone, people are built differently,” says exercise physiologist Mike T. Nelson.

“You change the size of the muscle, but you can’t really change the shape of the muscle to any significant degree,” he says. “So without watching someone over many months to years, it would be hard to tell what portion of their physique is due to genetics versus what portion is due to their workout.”

Related: What to never do before you work out

Sure, by working the legs like crazy, indoor-cycling classes are obviously going to grow instructors’ quads, hamstrings, and glutes, he says. But they might have gravitated toward cycling to begin with because they had strong legs.

And barre instructors might prefer ballet-inspired workouts because their bodies were born for endurance rather than explosive power. After all, people stick with the exercises at which they excel.

Meanwhile, even if treadmill classes are behind your favorite instructor’s body, chances are it has taken her two, three, even four classes a day several days a week over the course of multiple years to sculpt the body that you see at the front of your class today.

Related: Running tips for beginners

It doesn’t hurt to try out her favourite exercises, but don’t expect to suddenly switch body types by hitting up a couple classes a week, says Nelson.
So instead of trying to attain someone else’s body, a better approach would be focusing on your body, what feels good to you, and what gets you fired up.

Because even if a piloxing class helped your instructor get an amazing body, if you don’t like Pilates or boxing, what’s the point?