A very common problem when it comes to physical fitness and weight loss is that people don't really know how much exercise they should or should not be getting.

The media could not do a more effective job of confusing the issue if they tried, leaving people just as baffled after reading a magazine article or watching an infomercial as they were before.

One "expert" claims that you can get fit in only 20 minutes a day, while your average athlete or movie star will proudly proclaim that they trained between 3 and 5 hours per day before their big event! Who is right?

The bottom line answer is that none of their workout programs are the right one for you.

Huh???

Here's the problem. The amount of exercise that an individual needs is very specific to - you guessed it - that individual. There is no "across the board" answer to how much exercise any particular person should get because each person is completely different than every other person.

Yes, the basic human physiology is the same, which certainly gives us some rough guidelines to follow, but that is as far as the similarities go.

Would you expect a bodybuilder to train in the same way that a marathon runner trains? Would someone training for a martial arts competition train the same way that a professional swimmer trains?

Each of those people are athletes, yet each of them has very unique training needs based on their individual sport. Furthermore, even people who are training for the same sport are going to have slightly different training protocols.

Some people recover very quickly from workouts that take other people longer to recover from. Genetic muscular distribution plays a role in every single person's development. Nutritional needs can be radically different from one person to the next as well. 

What if you are not an athlete, though? Doesn't the same exercise program work for every "soccer mom" or every "desk jockey"? Hardly.

Just as with the athletes, each person has their own unique physiology that will determine what they will get out of an exercise and nutrition program.

We've all known people who barely exercised, yet they always seemed to be in tip-top physical condition. On the other hand, there are people who need to work hard every single day in order to maintain a proper level of fitness. Every person is different! 

How can you determine how much exercise is needed for you as an individual? Simple: practice. Call it "trial and error" if that phrase works better for you.

Even professional bodybuilders who (literally) eat, drink, and sleep the fitness lifestyle will modify their routine after a competition. Athletes in other sports follow a similar pattern.

If people who practice physical fitness every single day are constantly tweaking their program in order to get the most out of it, what makes you think that you can go pick up a magazine off of the rack and suddenly have the world's best workout that will work for every single person who reads it?

The bottom line is that you have to start at the beginning and work your way up. Your body knows what is best for you, and you will quickly learn how to listen to the signals that your body is giving you.

Those signals might be along the lines of "you're not losing any weight, crank up the intensity," or they might be "you're working too hard, slow down and rest more often".

Are you even more confused now than when you first started reading this post? Don't be. You now have the most efficient expert that you could ever hire who is standing in your corner ready, willing, and able to help you make the most of your exercise program - You!

Just start out slow, take it one day at a time, and pay attention to the messages that you get from your body. You may be surprised at how proficient you already are at becoming physically fit!