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Toned muscles, a strong core; cardiovascular fitness for health, stress relief or endurance for sports and recreation: Whatever your reason for working out, it’s results you want. If you exercise regularly and maintain the habit, you’ll begin to see and feel results in weeks. Here’s how.

Strength Training, Including Pilates:

If you’re a beginner: For the most rapid change, beginners should do Pilates twice a week.  “Pilates is a new physical language that you have to learn,” says Susan Moran, senior vice president of Power Pilates, an APOGEE Wellness company. Beginners will get results if they practice twice a week for an hour. “Just two hours a week—it will change your life!” says Susan.

Beginners can also strength train—with weights or other types of resistance—twice a week, says Jane Nielsen, APOGEE’s Fitness Manager. “It just takes 20 minutes,” says Jane. “You don’t need hours and hours.”

If you’re already active: Schedule in three weekly Pilates sessions and increase the frequency of your strength training to three or four times a week, says Jane. To allow your muscles a day to recover, don’t do the same exercises two days in a row, she says. “You might do lunges one day and work on inner and outer thighs the next,” says Jane. Ask an APOGEE trainer to create a list of exercises that challenge different muscles, reducing your risk of injury while working all of your muscle groups.

The exception: “You can work your abs every day,” says Jane.

Cardiovascular Training

Running, walking, cycling, striding on the elliptical, and indoor rowing build cardiovascular fitness, ease stress, reduce risk of chronic disease and help you maintain or lose weight.

If you’re a beginner: Schedule 30 to 45 minutes of cardio three to five times a week, says Jane.  Start with a goal that you are sure to accomplish; it’s better to be conservative and meet your goal than be ambitious and set yourself up for failure. “People say they want to workout six or seven days a week but that’s almost impossible,” says Jane.  Both APOGEE White Plains and Bedford Hills have a wide selection of group cardio classes to motivate you.

If you’re already active: Maintain a habit of 45 minutes of cardio five times a week. Ask an APOGEE trainer about making one or two of your workouts longer or more intense. Try a Spinning or Indo-Row class; there are challenges built into every session!

“Do cardio, Pilates and strength training every week and eat a healthy diet and you’ll look great,” says Jane. “Why wouldn’t you?”

Zara Scribner had been a Pilates student for six years and loved everything about it: She felt taller and more focused than in the years before. The positive changes from Pilates made Zara wonder what would happen if she added strength work and  cardio to her regular Pilates workouts. The results, she says, are worth the extra work.

Zara had tried strength training once before and was a bit dismayed by the results. “I had worked with a trainer in high school and gotten really bulky,” Zara says. “I didn’t want that again.” This time, she asked for a recommendation from her APOGEE Pilates instructor and began personal training with Jane Nielsen at APOGEE Bedford Hills.

Jane started Zara with weight training and ab work based on Pilates moves. “I was kind of cocky going in,” Zara remembers. “But I could hardly lift the weights!” she says. Zara is now working out six days a week, mixing three or four different activities: Each week she sees Jane for personal training once, attends three Pilates classes, and Spins or runs once or twice. Zara works her abs daily.

The daily workouts are remodeling Zara’s physique. “Jane knows how to train women,” says Zara. “My muscles aren’t bulky and I’m getting the definition I wanted.” She also has more energy for daily tasks.

Zara needs mental and physical energy: She’s just starting her second year of law school. “I have long lectures, and even exams last four hours,” she says. Zara credits Pilates with helping her focus. “I need to be consistent and persistent and set tangible goals,” Zara says. “I’ve definitely learned that through Pilates.” Pilates even helps with the stress of sitting while studying—“I don’t cramp up from being in one position for so long,” says the Armonk resident.

Now, Pilates, cardio and strength training are part of Zara’s life—she’s even training to become a certified Pilates instructor. And while her newly defined muscles are nice, Zara says the benefits of her new exercise habit go deeper. “I’m healthier and happier because I’m working out,” she says.

Save up to 30 percent on private Pilates and personal training through August 31. Learn more about this special offer!