Creating Your Perfect Workout Program
Many may not know the first thing about working out. Machines or free weights, partner or solo, weights or cardio? Should I join a class? Should I train using an elite bodybuilders program or a fitness magazine workout program? When it comes to working out it can be a complex and sometimes daunting endeavor. General workout programs can provide some results for many, but the best workout programs are created for the individual. It is important to set yourself up for success, to be realistic and not get caught up in the excitement of motivation. Set a program that is doable for your lifestyle. Don’t commit to a 7 day, 3 hour a day program if you work 60 hours per week. I recommend starting small, getting the greatest results from the least effort and then scaling up as you have gained confidence nailing it. If you are a higher level lifter you may just not have the luxury of getting results from a 3 day a week program. You may need to create a program with higher volume, intensity and execution.
We should be realistic with where we are. Are you just starting to workout again from years of not or have you nailed 4+ days per week for a few years. Your needs are going to be different. For those newer to the gym, overshooting our capacity may set us up for disappointment. Missing a workout may spiral into “what’s the point.” or “I can’t even consistently workout.” The thing to remember for newer or long removed lifters is this is a net game. I encourage those to zoom out and realize a missed workout isn’t an opportunity to throw in the towel, but a chance to get back on the next day or the next week. Progress over perfection will lead to long term results. For those experienced lifters, let’s get serious!
Setting up your program should be primarily strength training. I don't care if you are trying to “tone”, “not get too bulky” or just want to be skinny….LIFT WEIGHTS! I cannot be more adamant that every person can benefit both aesthetically and from a health perspective with weight training. Drop the cardiac focus and sprinkle it in as needed. Switch your focus to getting strong! Ladies, you will not wake up tomorrow and look like a bodybuilder. Not a consultation call goes by and I have said to myself “you know maybe we shouldn’t weight train.” That’s because everyone’s aesthetic goal, no matter how you describe it, requires strength training. Even if you just want to be skinny, weight training will allow your body to lose more fat and less muscle mass. This is probably what you mean by being “toned”.
So what should we do in our strength training program? This may come as no surprise but please don’t take it as a shameless plug for our coaching services, but I highly recommend hiring a coach. If you’re not ready to do that don’t fret. Let’s break it down.
Whether you want to bulk up or slim down, the goal should change the lifting plan very little. Whether I am trying to pack on mass in the offseason or get 3% body fat for a show, my workout program, intensity or rep scheme does not change. No, we do not need to do high reps to cut and low reps to build. It really depends more on the intensity of each set and execution of each rep. The amount of tension that challenges the muscle will be the determining factor or muscle growth or retention or muscle loss. So let’s look at this from a slightly different perspective.
We can use visuals to assess our needs. Do we naturally have body parts that are stronger than others? Do we have body parts that are more stubborn or less developed? Depending on the answer, this is what we need to focus on. By focus we need to apply more tension to the lagging body parts. This may mean developing the ability to have a better connection, more volume, or more intensity on that body part. You may not have any specific areas that need work. For these reasons we can plan a well rounded approach. Here are some very general volume recommendations for your experience level.
Beginner: 3 days per week/40-60 sets per week
Intermediate: 4-5 days per week/60-80 sets per week
Advanced: 5-6 days per week/80-120 sets per week
Elite: 5-6 days per week/ 60-80 sets per week
Chances are if you are reading this you are not elite. Hell, I’m not even elite and I’m writing the blog. Elite lifters lift with so much precision and intensity, they often need less volume and more volume bring on a fatigue load very few can recover from. So let’s stick to the first 3 levels.
Define what level you are at. Getting a bit overzealous? Well if you are a beginner trying to train like an advanced lifter you’re likely shooting yourself in the foot. You may not have the recovery capacity for this amount of volume and you may be doing more volume for less results. At some point more volume becomes counterproductive, we call this junk volume. So be realistic with what level you are in and what you can realistically commit to long term. Manage your expectations along the way.
So now that we’ve picked the level that is appropriate for our skill level, let's divide the body up based on it’s needs. Let’s approach this from a volume perspective and then determine our split. A workout split is essentially the weekly workout rotation and the areas you are focusing on each day. So let’s address each body part we need to consider when determining how many sets each body part should be assigned to.
Calves
Hamstrings
Quadriceps
Glutes
Abs
Back (Teres or upper)
Back (Lats or mid to lower)
Chest
Shoulders
Biceps
Triceps
So we have 11 main muscles. The minor muscles will likely get ample stimulation when focusing on the bigger pieces. So if we choose our level we can assign each section a number of sets. For example, if we are a beginner and choosing 50 sets, we can assign each body part 4-5 sets per week for a well rounded program. I recommend having at least a couple of sets for every body part to maintain and assigning more sets to weaker areas. Let’s say we are beginners that have stronger legs naturally, but we really want to build our chest and arms and are assigned 50 sets per week. Here is an appropriate volume assignment.
Calves: 3
Hamstrings: 2
Quadriceps: 2
Glutes: 3
Abs: 4
Back (Teres or upper): 5
Back (Lats or mid to lower): 5
Chest: 7
Shoulders: 7
Biceps: 6
Triceps: 6
As you can see the total sum of sets is 50 with more focus on the trouble areas. We can use this concept at any level. Let’s take another example and say you are more advanced. You’ve been lifting for a number of years, built a high strength base, and developed tons of muscle from when you started. Your body is going to need a higher stimulus based on how far it is from baseline. So let’s do the opposite here and say we are more advanced, choosing 100 sets per week and we need to focus on our legs. Our average volume load with an evenly distributed program will be 9-10 sets per body part. But if we are stronger up top we can spare some volume and assign it to the lower body in this example.
Calves: 12
Hamstrings: 12
Quadriceps: 12
Glutes: 12
Abs: 8
Back (Teres or upper): 8
Back (Lats or mid to lower): 8
Chest: 8
Shoulders: 8
Biceps: 6
Triceps: 6
This is one of the easier ways to determine your focus and assign the work accordingly. Now, once we have determined our volume load per body part, we can determine our split. This is the rotation of the focus of each lift on a per week basis. Here are a few common splits.
Push/Pull/Legs: Great well rounded approach but may be more advanced, lending less to rest days.
“Bro” split: Could be a number of rotations, but conceptually it is doing a single or 2 body parts per day. An example would be Back/Shoulders/Legs/Chest/Arms. This can be an effective workout but can contribute to a lot of short term fatigue and may be common to see performance drops toward the end of the workout.
Push/Pull/Legs/Anterior/Posterior: Posterior refers to the backside of the body, in this case back, hamstrings, glutes, biceps (technically an anterior muscle but pairs well with pulling movements) and calves. Anterior refers to the frontside of the body, chest, shoulders, triceps (technically posterior), and and quads.
Full body (beginners split): Full body 3 times per week. Is easy to plan and stick to.
Upper/ lower (beginner or intermediate): Revolving upper and lower body workouts. Is easier to stick to but must consider ample rest days.
Posterior/Anterior (intermediate or advanced): Front side of the body rotated with backside of the body.
It isn’t necessary to plan a common split, but it may help give us some guidelines and ideas on how we can spread the work out with enough rest between training each body part. We can look at it from the angle of assigning the volume load in a manner where muscles have ample time to recover and grow. I recommend at least one day of rest between days of working our body parts and if possible 3 is ideal in my opinion. So let’s take an example.
We are intermediate, choosing 80 sets per week and can commit to 5 days per week. Our focus is our back and quads. First let’s determine our volume load.
Calves: 6
Hamstrings: 6
Quadriceps: 12
Glutes: 6
Abs: 6
Back (Teres or upper): 12
Back (Lats or mid to lower): 12
Chest: 6
Shoulders: 6
Biceps: 4
Triceps: 4
Now how do we fit this volume into 5 days. Well the higher volume body parts we may want to work out twice per week to have ample rest and high performance within our workout. So let’s take our back and give it 2 days where it is the focus and 1 day where quads are the focus. From there we can fill in exercises that work well with those days. For example biceps may accompany a back workout well because those muscles work as a system that allows our body to pull. We can group all the push muscles together in a single workout. So let's try to delegate the volume into 5 days in a manner that allows great performance, ample rest, and pairs complementary muscles together. Let’s keep in mind, 80 sets in 5 days is around 16 sets per workout. So we can keep the volume load relatively even throughout.
Day 1: Back (upper focus)
Teres: 8 sets
Lats: 4 sets
Biceps: 2 sets
Abs: 2 sets
Day 2: Legs (quad focus)
Quads: 8 sets
Hamstrings: 2 sets
Glutes: 2 sets
Calves: 4 sets
Day 3: Push
Chest: 6 sets
Shoulders: 6 sets
Triceps: 4 sets
Day 4: Rest
Day 5: Back (Lower focus)
Lats: 8 sets
Teres: 4 sets
Biceps: 2 sets
Abs: 2 sets
Day 6: Legs (Posterior focus)
Hamstrings: 4 sets
Glutes: 4 sets
Quads: 4 sets
Abs: 2 sets
Day 7: Rest
Creating a workout routine can be challenging but following the steps of determining the skill and commitment level, assigning volume based on visuals, and creating a split that considers performance, recovery, and body part pairing we can create a very effective customized program that is sure to get results. Try practicing these methods using these examples before moving onto yourself. Be fair with your body and kind with where you are at currently and remember this is only the start.
