How To Structure Your Workout Schedule

When it comes to structuring your workout, time, frequency, and type of exercise must be considered. When aligning these principles to your particular goal, you must schedule with intention. Before even getting into the nitty gritty details, look at your typical work/homelife schedule and determine a recurring time that fits within that schedule. Being able to commit to a time with consistency is a surefire way to guarantee success. If you are able to stay on track with a regular workout session time, that will act as an appointment so you don’t have to ask yourself: “when can I fit my workout in this week?” Taking the guess work out of your program will make the whole process that much easier to stick with. 

Now that you have the time set for your workouts, you should have a pretty good idea of how long you have to do these workouts. This is where things get a little tricky. The big considerations here are: what is your overall goal? General health? Gain muscle mass? Lose weight? The goals can be endless!  Don’t over complicate things. Start by picking a smaller and more achievable goal - especially in the beginning. Attaining these smaller goals help build momentum and keep you coming back for more!

Now that you have your time set aside, and have your goals selected, the next step is to figure out how many days per week you are available to work towards those goals. Whether it's 2 days a week, or 6 days a week, determine a frequency that isn’t going to burn you out, but instead challenges you appropriately and allows for you to be CONSISTENT. There are so many different options as far as programs and the only perfect program is one that you can stick to and progress with. There is no secret there. 

No matter the goal that you have, building lean muscle mass is going to be key. Even if your goal is to lose body fat, building lean mass will increase your basil metabolic rate ultimately allowing you to burn more calories at rest. General health, believe it or not, also includes gaining muscle mass. With all of that said, let’s dive into the nitty gritty a bit. The optimal way of building muscle is to train with intensity and to train each muscle group a minimum of once but ideally twice a week. One thing to consider when looking into your program is to try to avoid training the same muscle groups on back to back days. It should be mentioned that recovery is just as important as the training portion itself and shouldn’t be taken lightly. Below, I wrote out a very general set of structures for a training plan to give you an idea of how you can approach your workouts. It isn’t perfect nor adapted to an individual, but more of a tool to get you started.

Frequency: Split:

2/week - Full Body, Full Body (Each group 2x per week)

3/week - Push/Pull/Legs (Each group 1x per week)

4/week - Upper, Lower, Upper, Lower (Each Group 2x per week)

5/week  -  Push/Pull/Legs/ Shoulders/ Core (Each Group 1x per week)

6/week - Push/Pull/Legs rest repeat (Each Group 2x per week)

Again, these structures aren’t perfect for everyone but it gives you an idea of where to start. Try to pick a split that works for you. A plan is only as good as its execution -  and in fitness, this also applies. So now that you know the basics, give it a try and see what you can come up with. The big points to take away from this are: pick your goal, commit to a time and frequency, and execute with consistency. 

If you get through this and still have questions or need some help, don’t hesitate to reach out to the Success team and we would love to schedule a time to help you out!!