I am currently jogging every day. I am not in very good shape (hopefully this will change), so I am not jogging a very long route. I am making a loop about 3km long, starting home and ending up back home.
I actually have two choices of loops that I could do, both about the same distance. The main difference is that one is mostly flat Streets, while the other has many slopes. Since I end up exactly where I started, there has to be an equal amount of upward sloping as the amount of downward sloping.
Of course, running 1km on an upward slope is significantly harder than running it on flat ground. On the other hand, running it on a downward slope is usually easier, sometimes so easy that I have to spend efforts on slowing down in order to avoid going down the slope too fast.
I'm pretty sure those two routes won't be equivalent, from a physical effort perspective. This sounds like one of them could be better for cardio, while the other better for muscles, or something like that.
So what are the advantages and downsides of both routes? Is one objectively better (from a fitness perspective) than the other, or does this depend on my goals?
Additional information: I do not have any clear goal. I just started this routine because I'm getting fat, and I'm totally out of shape. I'm not really sure if I want to improve, cardio, muscles, or just lose weight. I just felt like it was time I started doing something, and going for a jog every day is an easy habit to pick up, and I figured it would definitely be good, even if I'm not sure exactly which of those "goods effects" it will have, and how much.