How to build a workout plan

Overview of a workout plan

Creating a workout plan is a great way to get healthier and stronger. But what even is “working out”?

It’s anything a person does which allows them to exercise with moderate to intense effort within a period of time.

Lifting weights is working out. Running is working out. Playing pickleball is working out. Sprint training is working out. Yoga is working out. Workouts can vary drastically in time. There are lifters that do 2 ½ hour lifting sessions (crazy), and then there are 10 minute sprint sessions or HIIT plans. Both are workouts.

The goal of this article is to give you guidance on building your very own workout plan. I’m not a physical trainer or a licensed fitness coach, I’ve just been doing workouts for years and regularly research what’s best for me and my life.

The second goal of this blog is to help myself redefine and develop a better training plan for myself.

Why do I want a new training plan?

Simple answer: I don’t stick to my routine, and I feel like by transitioning my workout, I’ll be more dedicated to it.

Will it help? I’m not sure, but I want to try. Currently I work out 5 days per week, 3 days of lifting and 2 days of running. The reason is that I want to generally get stronger while also improving my mile time.

General guidelines for great workouts

Why is working out event valuable in the first place? The main reason is that it’s a great way to boost general health. Kurzgesagt in a nutshell has a great video on exercising and how it’s actually a poor tool for losing weight, but it’s unparalleled in lowering risk of fatal illness.

Exercising regularly lowers cholesterol levels, boosts metabolism, boosts energy, improves sleep, and so many other amazing things.

Again, it doesn’t really matter if the workout is super intense for a short period of time or a moderate for longer, but that you’re showing up regularly. If you want to get stronger the most efficient way, you need to be pushing yourself close to failure. Renaissance Periodization has lots of great content on how to do this and why it’s so important.

If you’re doing a run, I’ve found that having a goal in mind for your run is super helpful. If it’s a short run, set a time that you want to beat. If it’s a longer run, set a distance you want to reach. It doesn’t have to be crazy, especially if you’re just starting out.

The most important thing in your work out plan is to just show up. Showing up is 80% of the battle. If you show up and do even half of what you planned to do, you’re better off than you were yesterday.

Determine what your goals are

It’s time to get into some actual planning.

What do you want to actually accomplish with this workout plan? Are you wanting to bench press 225? Do you want to run a 6 minute mile? Do you want to increase your flexibility?

Whatever the goal is, you have to have that front and center. If you don’t, you won’t get very far.

I think this is my biggest struggle.

I want to generally get stronger and generally get faster, but I don’t have a real goal in mind for myself. I’m a horrible over-thinker, and I challenge myself on everything. I’ve realized that I have two goals which are at odds: I want to look strong, and I want to PR my mile time (5:39).

Looking strong makes me feel better about myself, and beating my mile time makes me feel like I’m back to the place where I was when I was healthiest.

So if you’re in this crossroads, which is a more compelling goal?

I think for me, beating my mile time is more important. It’s generally harder and requires more intentionality than the lifting, but I think that’s something I really would like to hit. I struggle with this because I enjoy lifting more. And I rationalize my lifting more than running because you become faster if you lift alongside your running.

But I’m doing this in a way that’s unproductive. So I’m transitioning into my mile goal.

Determine how often you want to work out

Now that we’ve established our goal, how much should we work out?

First and foremost, don’t hurt yourself. It’s good to push your body, but if you aren’t used to exercising regularly, you should definitely start out doing less than you want to. If you want to get stronger abs, instead of doing that 30 minute intense ab training session, start with a 5 minute intense workout.

I know, that’s quite a drop, but in the beginning you just need a win. You need to get a win under your belt which will catapult you to the next win. And by 20-30 days of the workout plan, you’ll be so much further than you thought, and you won’t want to quit.

Establishing how much you will work out really is determined by your life situation.

If you work a 9-5, take an hour after work. If you have kids, maybe an at-home body-weight training is best for you. If your schedule is weird because you work part-time or travel a lot.

Find those general holes in your calendar to fit in a workout. If you’re struggling to find a time, take a look at your calendar over the last few weeks to months and see what you’ve been doing. Is there something that’s wasting a lot of your time? Is there a hole you didn’t realize was there?

Again, I know you’re excited, but don’t jump straight into the 6-day workout plan. Do one day. Start with one day. Just get a win. I’m telling you, if you start with less and build you, you’ll find your sweet spot much quicker and will actually stick with the workout.

Even if you feel like your schedule is pretty empty, I’d encourage you to take a look at what’s in your head, and then turn it down 6-7 notches.

Determine what exercises you want to do

Last is figuring out what exercises to actually do in the workout.

If you just want to run or swim or something like that, it’s pretty straightforward. I want to run one mile every day for a month with the goal of beating my mile time.

Make it SUPER simple.

This goes for the less-simple workouts, like a lifting routine. Again, I’d start with a one-day per week plan which covers all your major muscle groups: chest, abs, legs, and back. Your arms will get worked out within this, don’t worry.

Now if you want to focus on arms, that’s another thing. Again, Renaissance Periodization does a great job of explaining how to plan out your workout schedule. He is pretty clear that you should push your muscles to their limit, and then once they aren’t horribly sore anymore, hit them again.

Biceps and triceps typically recover faster (1-2 days), so you could get away with doing more lifts during the week, whereas chest, back, and quads tend to take a bit longer to recover (2-3 days). If you’re hitting them hard in the workout, you’ll be sore.

I promise.

Conclusion

If you made it this far, thanks so much for showing up and getting through this with me. I’m really excited to continue improving my overall health, and I’m thinking about talking about eating better next, since exercise is really a great supplement to your diet. Thank you again, and I hope you experience the love of Jesus today!

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