To get the most out of your personal training sessions and workout classes, it helps to be a good client who knows how things work. Plus, it's always nice to be nice and make things easier for your instructors. We asked several fitness professionals what they wish their clients knew going in and this is what they said.

If you want to beat your best race time, it seems to help to spend time in the gym. Alex Hutchinson at Outside reports on recent studies that confirm that runners who do strength training turn in faster times.

Crossfit's intense workouts are a polarising subject of discussion. It seems the first rule of Crossfit club is that you must never shut up about Crossfit club, and on the flip side, the sport (routine? Discipline? Hobby?) has its share of haters. So let's take a minute to cut through that for anyone who's intrigued but isn't sure what they would be getting into and whether it's worthwhile.

We're a few days into the new year now. How's that resolution going? Not so great, huh? Look, some resolutions are just bad. Yours is probably one of them.

January is a great time to get a fresh start on your fitness. Even if you don't buy into the conceit of resolutions, for many of us the new year is the first time in months we haven't been buried under holiday and end-of-year stresses. Time to work on a new goal! What's it going to be?

Getting ready to hit the gym in January? Here's your starter pack of all the information you need to walk into the gym with confidence and build a habit that will last all year long.

We all want to be fit, but sometimes you just need an extra boost to make it to the gym, to decide on a workout, or to deal with the aftermath. Here are our best fitness hacks of 2017.

After far too long indulging in being a certified couch potato, this year I decided to get myself moving. I've had highs, and lows, moments of truimph and hit the dreaded plateau.

Now I'm a legitimate warrior, but not the kind you may be thinking.

Whether or not you're familiar with yoga, the idea of doing yoga in the air can seem ... odd. But not to worry: "Aerial yoga" doesn't mean you're going to be doing downward dog on a trapeze. Instead, you'll be supported by a soft hammock, which allows your body to let gravity do some of the work.

If your best time to exercise is on the weekend, you might wonder if it's OK to slack off for the rest of the week. The answer is yes, but only if you're packing a full week's exercise into those two days. And that comes with its own problems.

Video: Ever wonder how MMA fighters and football players get those quick feet? A big part of the secret is footwork drills like these. Practise them in short bursts, and you've got a great cardio workout.

I love bodyweight workouts. They're efficient, effective, and cheap -- no gym membership required. All I need is a few feet of floor space, and I'm ready to alternate sets of squats and lunges.

If you're travelling, stuck in the office, or just don't have time to hit the gym, here's a workout you can do anywhere there's a door. (As an added bonus, they all come from an old Army manual, so you can pretend you're training to be a soldier!)

Video: This week's lunch break workout is perfect for people who can't move their legs, or who just don't want to. That's right, you'll work your upper body and core without having to get out of a chair.

When you don't feel like exercising you can come up with all kinds of excuses. We get it: Exercise is the worst. There are so many things you could be doing instead. You don't have time. And so on, and so on. But exercising regularly has too many benefits for us to stand idly by while you pretend these are good reasons for not working out.

After sitting at your desk for hours working, the best remedy to unravel knotted up muscles is to move around. Take that a step further and try bodyweight workout "flows", where you put your body through a series of unfamiliar movements that challenge, stretch and build your muscles at the same time.

Video: Get up from your desk! This won't take long. Welcome to Lunch Break Workout, where we'll share a short workout every Thursday that you can do almost anywhere, with little to no equipment.

I've been doing that pull-up program we posted two weeks ago, and guess what? It works. At the beginning, I could do about half a pull-up, and now I can get my nose up to the bar. I also more than doubled the amount of time I can hang from the bar with my arms flexed. Here's how I did it.

It's no surprise consistent exercise keeps you healthy, but a new study suggests a certain type of workout can actually dramatically improve your longevity. This is how you can get your sweat on well into your golden years.