Your Fitness Routine Is (Probably) Too Complicated. Here’s What to Focus on.

4 min readBuild muscle, lose fat, up your VO2 max, get stronger, increase flexibility, improve athleticism—there are so many reasons to workout. And there are just as many goals worth pursuing: Run a marathon, be able to run around with your grandkids, deadlift your body weight, land a higher box jump.All those benefits matter, and all those achievements are impressive. But if you’re trying to improve every aspect about your fitness at once, you might feel a bit overwhelmed to say the least. Add a barrage of social media posts telling you you should train this way or lift that way, and you might find yourself spending two hours a day in the gym trying to cover all your bases.That can cause more harm than simple inefficiency. An overly complicated routine can get messy, fast. It can make progress difficult to track, create conflicting training demands, and lead to burnout and inconsistency.Still, if everything matters, how can you pick a single thing without feeling like you’re neglecting the rest?Here’s the good news: You can still reap many of the same benefits with a narrower training focus. One of the great things about fitness is that improving in one area can also mean marginal improvements in others. For example, focusing on your workouts on hypertrophy (a.k.a., muscle building) will likely increase your strength while potentially helping you improve your body composition, mobility, and stability. Focusing on becoming more athletic can improve your cardiovascular performance, level up your power, and better your mobility and stability. Everything is connected.But, if you get caught up in improving everything all at once, you may become overwhelmed and end up doing nothing at all—and that really won’t help you. Selecting a primary goal doesn’t mean you need to abandon all your fitness side quests. It just means focusing your routine on what is most important to you right now.So, how do you go about picking one? When helping my clients pick a goal, I always start at the end (an oxymoron, I know). I ask them: How do you want to feel in two to three months? That question typically elicits a myriad of answers: Strong, athletic, confident, energized, functional.Of course, each of those answers is nuanced. But, when you break them down, they share a common foundation: strength.If you want to be more athletic, your muscles need the strength and speed to execute quick cuts and explosive movements. If you want to feel more confident, accomplishing physical feats may help you realize all you’re capable of. If you want to feel more energized, gaining strength can make every day movement easier and more enjoyable—and movement often inspires more movement. If you want to be more functional, strength can help you prepare for any day-to-day task your life throws at you.Many of these aspirations can be supported by focusing on getting stronger. Unless you’re training for a sport-specific reason, such as training for a Hyrox or a marathon, or exercising to address a medical concern, getting stronger is often the most productive primary goal. A proper training program would pair it with some cardio and mobility, but focusing on strength can offer plenty of additional benefits.Training for strength is specific enough to guide your program, measurable enough to track progress, and scalable enough to tailor to your experience. It can help you build muscle, support body recomposition (hello, aesthetic goals!), maintain or improve bone density, and even make everyday life a little easier.Not to mention, training for strength comes with frequent, tangible wins. Because progress is so measurable, you can see it every time you do an extra rep, increase your weights, or nail form on a new exercise. Those small wins create momentum, and momentum leads to consistency.Ready to get started? Program your own strength workout with this easy formula.Of course, cardio is a major component of fitness that shouldn’t be overlooked. But, it can easily be factored into a strength-focused plan. Finish a workout with a 20-minute bike, walk, or elliptical a few times a week. Make time for walks after dinner or during your lunch break. Cardio can easily fit into your routine without being the main event.There will be instances in which strength shouldn’t be your priority. There are some situations in which you need to shift to a different approach.If your main goal is cardiovascular fitnessMaybe you’ve been lifting weights for a long time, and neglecting your finishing cardio (we’ve all been there). Or maybe want to support your cardiovascular health and improve endurance. Whatever the reason, cardio might be your focus for a while—but still layer in at least two days a week of full-body strength training for a well-rounded routine.If your main goal is to train for a raceSo, you’ve decided to hop on the marathon or Hyrox train. Good for you! Sport-specific conditioning will naturally be your focus while you prepare for your event. But, again, at least two days a week of full-body strength training along with your training program will be important for keeping you injury free and improving your performance.If your main goal is consistency Look—strength training isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. And one of the most important parts about fitness is doing it regularly. If picking up weights makes you want to get up and walk out of the gym, then put them down. Head into your Zumba class, go for a swim, or hit hot yoga. Whatever it is that’s going to keep you active is worth prioritizing.A primary goal organizes your training—it doesn’t make other aspects of fitness unimportant. If you’re prioritizing strength training, many of those additional qualities, such as mobility, balance, athleticism, come as a side effect. It doesn’t replace dedicated cardio, so a well-rounded routine should make room for both.Unless you have a specialized objective, getting stronger really is the closest thing to a fitness holy grail. It’s measurable, motivating, and connected to loads of long-term health outcomes. Pair it with cardio-based activities you enjoy, and you’re golden.Find the Perfect Women’s Health Training Program for YouJustin SteeleRona Ahdout//Hearst OwnedCori Ritchey, C.S.C.S., is the fitness editor at Women's Health, as well as a certified strength and condition coach and group fitness instructor. She’s reported on topics regarding health, nutrition, mental health, fitness, sex, and relationships for several years. You can find more of her work in Men’s Health, HealthCentral, Livestrong, Self, and others.