There is no perfect fitness program for everyone. Finding the right fitness program is often a matter of incorporating exercises that align with your goals and finding a program you will stick with indefinitely.

1. Develop Long-Term Goals

When choosing a fitness program, it is better if your goals have no end-point. Many people want to lose weight or wear a specific size, but once they reach their goal, it is easy to fall back into old patterns because your goal has a definite end-point. Choose a goal, such as becoming stronger, building more muscle, or increasing your endurance. It is easier to stay motivated when you can always strive for something better.

Once you have long-term goals, you can choose fitness programs that align with these goals. For example, if you want to be a competitive powerlifter, your first program might be overall conditioning to help you start building muscle and shed excess fat. Once you become more comfortable with weights, you might transition into a program that is more structured and geared toward powerlifters.

2. Think About Your Diet 

The right fitness program will also align with your diet or you may need to change your diet to fit with your fitness program. People who want to build strength may have different macronutrient needs than someone who has a fitness program that involves more cardio. Generally, building muscle and strength will require more protein intake.

You might eat similar ratios of protein and carbohydrates, unless you are trying to cut body fat, then you will need to slowly decrease your carbohydrates. For endurance, such as long-distance running, you will need higher amounts of carbohydrates for sustained energy. Once you establish your basic protein needs to retain muscle, most of your remaining macronutrients will be carbohydrates spread out throughout the day.

3. Be Versatile

Numerous workouts and programs can help you reach your fitness goals, the key to achieving your goals will be keeping your exercise interesting and relevant to your goals. People who want to improve their strength might find incorporating some CrossFit or Strongman exercises not only improves their strength and endurance but can also reduce the monotony of free-weights and weight machines. Similarly, when your predominant exercises involve cardio, see what classes are available that can give you a similar level of intensity to your normal workouts, but incorporate dancing, kickboxing, or cycling.

The hardest part of finding the right fitness program is starting. Once you are comfortable with basic conditioning programs, you can change your program to help you reach specific goals.