How to Develop a Workout Program
Creating a workout program for yourself is a tricky endeavor. Psychologically, individuals tend to make two mistakes: They include far too many sets and exercises, thinking the plan does not look that intense on paper; and they lean toward including exercises that they favor, leaving out more difficult exercises that might be more helpful. Here's how to design your own workout program.
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Instructions
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Putting a workout together
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Design the body-part splits that you intend to use. This is a plan that addresses which parts of the body are going to be exercised on which days. This is to ensure that each part of the body is worked sufficiently, along with ensuring proper prioritization of body parts.
The muscle groups worked first in the week are going to see the most progress, and always prioritizing the same muscle groups will, over time, lead to muscle imbalances. Be sure to switch it up which muscle groups with which to begin each week. Some effective splits are:
Day 1: Legs, shoulders and abdominals
Day 2: Back and biceps
Day 3: Chest and triceps
Imagination is the only limiting factor, and as long as you keep the aforementioned guidelines in mind, almost any split can be effective. -
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Select exercises. Do not use more than one exercise in a workout that works any particular muscle group through the same angle of motion. If you train your chest using barbell flat bench press, you do not want to follow it with a dumbbell flat bench press in the same workout. Choose two or three exercises for each body part you are training during the session. Mix things up and do not always start the training session with the same muscle groups.
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Select a plan for your sets and repetitions. Don't perform more than 12 to 15 sets during any one workout. A weightlifting workout should not exceed 45 minutes to an hour. Get the work done as quickly and intensely as possible. The number of repetitions across all sets of an exercise should add up to between 20 to 30 reps (three sets of eight reps, for example).
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