Planning
Step1
Sit down with a weekly calendar and determine how many days of the week you are willing to exercise.
Step2
Decide what specific type of exercise you want to engage in. For instance, cardiovascular exercise will help you lose weight, whereas lifting weights will primarily build muscle.
Step3
See Section 2 for devising a cardiovascular exercise plan.
Step4
See Section 3 for devising a weight-lifting program.
Step5
Commit yourself to exercising according to your plan. This is the most important step.
Step6
Follow your schedule for at least one month. The results you'll see after four weeks should be enough to keep you motivated.
Cardiovascular Exercise
Step1
Incorporate 30-minute exercise sessions into your schedule. Thirty minutes of daily exercise is more than adequate for most people.
Step2
Decide on a form of cardiovascular exercise for a specific day of the week. Using a treadmill or stair-climbing machine, jogging, biking, and swimming are all effective forms of cardiovascular exercise.
Step3
Stretch and warm up for 5 minutes before beginning any activity.
Step4
Exercise at a moderate pace for 20 minutes.
Step5
Follow with a 5-minute cooldown.
Step6
Change your schedule to accommodate longer exercise periods when appropriate.
Step7
Stick to your schedule.
Weight Lifting
Step1
Set aside 45- to 60-minute workout sessions for lifting. If you don't spend a lot of time socializing or resting during your workout you can get a good session of lifting done in that time. Don't rest more than 60 seconds between sets.
Step2
Begin by performing total body workouts aimed at conditioning every major muscle group (upper body, lower body and back). Balanced development is extremely important.
Step3
Split your workouts as you become a more experienced lifter. This will enable you to better concentrate on specific muscle groups and areas. A common split that targets every major muscle group is: chest and triceps, back and biceps, shoulder and legs.
Step4
Rest your muscles between sessions. Allow each muscle group at least 48 hours of rest between sessions. Your muscles can't grow unless they have time to rest and heal.
Step5
Tailor your schedule to best satisfy your goals.
Step6
Stick to your schedule.
How to Create a Workout Schedule
Comments
kohuether said
on 11/9/2007 This is a very good article - thank you for sharing and for encouraging us to set up a workout program!
Anonymous said
on 8/8/2006 Rest is important, and can be even more important when the goal is to continue to increase the amount of weight thrown around in gym. I used to work out 5 times a week, but when my strength curve straightened out, I started to get disillusioned. Then I read an article that talked about increasing the amount of rest time when increasing the amount of weight lifted. After a couple of weeks of experimenting with different schedules, I found one that worked for me, and the weights I can lift have been climbing at a surprising rate ever since. Before I was giving 1 day or rest between the same exercises. Now I give 3 days and can pretty much increase 5-10 pounds per workout.
That may not sound like much, but that is a possible increase of 80 pounds in 1 month using the same amount of effort. Resting with this frequency allows me to make these gains, which in turn motivates me to continue to workout to and see more gains.
Anonymous said
on 8/8/2006 I only have 30 minutes in a day to fit in a workout, so it can be tough to fit in quality exercises within that time frame. Here is how I do it:
Supersets - I do opposing exercises, one after another, with no rest in between. Examples would be bench and bicep curls, military press and lat pull downs, upright rows and dips. Since the pairs utilize opposing muscle groups, I can jump from one to the other without feeling like I am overworking any particular group. Also, it should allow sufficient rest between groups that you can jump back to the first exercise right after the second one. And, if you continuously jump back and forth, you can get cardio benefits as well! I can usually get 6 exercises in 30 minutes (3-4 sets each, 8-12 reps per set), all with strict form and changing weights. At the end, I am usually out of breath, but I feel like I get a great workout in every time, and I can get on with my day.
Anonymous said
on 8/1/2006 Working out the triceps one day and then working the chest the next workout gives you tired triceps while you are benching. Since triceps are very important to benching, your bench workout will be effected!
Anonymous said
on 1/26/2006 For the average athlete or lifter, there is zero proof that protein supplements are helpful. The average American's diet contains more than enough protein. If you eat a balanced diet, don't bother with aminos or creatine, as they can damage your kidneys.