An effective workout is more than just… sweat. Isn’t that correct? A good, solid workout is the ability to build muscle, burn fat, improve performance / endurance / mental strength. One would also note that a good, solid workout is also one that is not dreaded the entire time – there is some form of enjoyment. Also, correct? We’ll let you decide that one. The cool thing is that you get to pick and choose what works for you. There’s no one size fits all approach. There will be differences in ordering of exercises, rep ranges, intentions, and challenges for each week or potentially month.
Think Intentional
Explain the step, how to carry it out and why it is important for creating the perfect workout for you. If necessary, list out steps within each step. This could take the form of bullet points where relevant. Pick a goal to stick to. This goal ultimately determines the exercises that need to be part of your workout (both physically and mentally). It is more logical and forward than we sometimes make it out to be. If the goal is to become a more explosive athlete, then you will need to prioritize explosive movements. If you want to focus on strength, you will need to lift heavier weights and mix up the reps. If weight / fat loss is the targeted goal, you will want to do exercise that maximix the “afterburn” effect and make sure to burn more calories than you’re putting in.
Schedule Out Your Days
This is the time to be real with yourself. When we say real, we mean that you sit yourself down and you take a look at your schedule. Realistically, how many days are you going to be able to prioritize and complete a successful workout that is aligned with your goals? This is the time to take the outside pressures off of yourself. If YOU can get three workouts in, don’t listen to someone else who says that isn’t enough. If you can give your all in those three workouts, that’s what matters. It is recommended that if you work out three days or less, to utilize the power of full-body workouts. If you are exercising 4+ times a week, it is good to split up the days per week to avoid overtraining certain muscles.
Ex:
Monday: Legs
Tuesday: Back
Wednesday: HIIT
Thursday: Shoulder + Chest
Friday: HIIT
Saturday: Active Rest
Sunday: Rest
Know Your Gym
It is probably a good idea to find / edit your workout if you have tire flips on the menu, but your gym doesn’t actually have tire flips. Take the time to think about the equipment and the layout of the gym – especially if you’re someone who gets into the gym during primetime hours. It is all about the gameplan. During busier hours, it’s probably smart to stick closer to one piece of equipment rather than creating your own circuit and being just a little inconsiderate to those around you. Or plan your circuit or superset to be at two machines that are next to each other. If you’re at the squat rack and using dumbbells as well, bring them over to your squat rack. Make it your station.
Set-Rep-Rest-Repeat
Think back to that goal that was mentioned earlier. You designed it with intention and meaning. You get to dive deeper into the programming and structure of your workout based on your goal – empowering AF, huh? If it’s strength you’re gearing towards, low-rep, high-set is good aim for. For example, six sets of six reps. However, for muscle size, it is more efficient to do three sets of 8-12. For fat loss, kick it up to 15 to 20 reps for three sets in combination with other exercises to make a well-rounded heartrate gusher. For max load, rest times should be about 2 to 3 minutes. If you’re looking for muscle growth, keep it to 45 to 60 seconds.
Compound + Isolation
Think about your body when you are creating your exercises. Even if you don’t want to admit it, you only have so much energy. A great way to structure your workouts is to include compound movements earlier, followed by isolation movements. Squats require a hell of a lot more energy than tricep extensions. Big moves make the biggest differences towards your goals. Just keep in mind that it is all a matter of priority.
Be Smart with Your Exercises
The world of the internet and social media have made all the difference in finding a slew of exercises to consider for your workouts. Try it out, find what works, what doesn’t work, and those killer exercises that you end up having a love / hate relationship with.
Keep Updating
To keep benefitting from hand-crafting your workouts, it’s a good idea to switch it up. Your body is an adapting machine, so by changing it up every 12 to 14 weeks, you prevent yourself from plateauing. You’ll never have to ask yourself why you don’t seem to be progressing. You don’t have to totally chuck out the routine – just find a way to incorporate some new equipment, change up the set or reps, or exercises that are similar but target differently.
Key Takeaways
Consistency
After you’ve made your workout routine, the number one factor in leveling up your training is consistency. You have to train and train frequently for an extended period of time. Make sure your program is one that will keep you in the game rather than on the sidelines for longer than a day or two. It’s okay to miss a day – however, when you start to miss more than 2 days a row, that is when you jeoprardize your consistency. Do you really want to be sidelined from your own goals? Make a program that is do-able.
Active Recovery
We’ll say it again. Make a program that is do-able. Active recovery and rest days are vital to making sure your body has the appropriate amount of time to recover and also because life is a thing outside of exercising. Some favorites for active recovery include: long walks, foam rolling, stretching, and more long walks.You want to keep moving, burn energy, and reduce stress.
Variety
Too much of anything isn’t good. You want to make sure that your workout routine includes variety to keep the movements mentally engaging as well as body happy. Doing the same thing everyday is a fantastic way to create a mental burnout and injury to the body. Keep it active, keep it fun, keep it everychanging.
Challenge
Just like anything else with progress in mind, you will need to make hard workouts even harder over time. This includes increasing load, speed, volume or all three. Avoid doing things to make things more difficult quickly. You don’t need to go from squatting 90 lbs to 145 in between 1 session. Let progression do its thing, but work with it. It is typically a good rule of thumb to assess where you currently are and think realistically how to gradually progress over a six week period. It can be fun to think of creating challenge as an art form.
Keep Track
Whether you run track or you’re lifting weights, making sure to stay on top of what you’re doing is important to progress. Include objective and subjective pieces of your records. Objective records would include times, weight, reps, sets, rests, etc. Subjective recording would be how your body feels, your mental state during that exercise, or the recovery level that is attached. Did you run those 2 miles in a record time AND feel good about it or was it definitely a stretch? Be real.
The benefit of recording keeping is that it gives us clues. Should we keep going or maybe back off? Have we stalled out of this program or is it still creating enough challenge? It aligns with the art of training and finding the right course.
Make it Happen
Life is busy, life is tough. Designing a program within your capacity is an incredible gift and success in it of itself. Keep in mind that there will definitely be trial and error. The only way to get better at programming and making it happen is to keep on doing it.
Try Your Perfect Workout Out At The BXNG Club
The BXNG Club (TBC) was created with a belief that fight arts can be an effective and fun platform for overall fitness and health. With that in mind, TBC brought together the top fight and fitness instructors in the industry – from Boxing to Muay Thai, Jiu Jitsu, MMA, High Intensity Interval Training-based fitness, Yoga, Spin, and Pilates to create a unique and exhilarating fitness experience based on combat sports.
At TBC, we believe that our members should never just be faces in a crowd. Our commitment to members is reflected in everything we do – from keeping class sizes comfortable for personal attention to learning more about our clients to help them achieve their goals faster and more effectively. Join our FREE CLASS from here.
