The fitness landscape has shifted with do-it-yourself protocols taking precedence over gym memberships, and people looking to AI training apps to make gains. There’s nothing wrong with these changes, but they can leave out specific needs or limitations that individuals need when they want to develop a training structure or system to meet their personal goals.
If you want to build your own training plan, look no further than the guide below. I've been a strength coach and trainer for well over a decade and co-authored Strength Training for All Body Types. I work with many athletes who have varying goals and limitations, but I've found there are eight guiding principles that can help everyone design a workout plan.
Rule #1: Build Around Your Commitments
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It’s easy to fall into the trap of being too ambitious, striving for fitness goals that don’t fit your lifestyle. Taking your fitness seriously involves sacrificing certain habits you’ve gotten comfortable with—like neglecting great sleep, partying hard every weekend, or not eating nutritious foods.
But most of us also have commitments that frame our week, like a busy job or familial responsibilities. Therefore, an intense six-days-per-week workout program might be unrealistic or a recipe for burnout.
Related: Hybrid Athlete Training Isn’t a Workout Hack—It’s Better
To counter this, set conservative goals for workout frequency. If you’re new to training or getting back after a long time off, apply the ‘every other day’ approach: If you didn’t train yesterday, train today. If you trained yesterday, take the day off and train tomorrow. It’s easy to follow and usually not so demanding that it overhauls your life.
Rule #2: Set Reasonable Expectations
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Your fitness goals must be realistic. Most adults are going to have a set range of what's possible. For an adult male, doing everything right in the weight room and the kitchen, without missing a beat, will result in about 2 pounds of muscle gain per month. Using that example, adding 6 or 10 pounds of new muscle in a 6- or 12-week plan is an unfulfillable goal—at least not naturally. For muscle gain, aim for 1-2 pounds per month. If you want to lose weight, one pound per week is possible if you have your training and nutrition dialed in.
Rule #3: Embrace Compound Movements
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matter what your goals—build muscle, burn fat, get strong—you can’t go wrong by including most, if not all of the prime movement patterns: squats, deadlifts, overhead presses, rows, chinups, and lunges. These compound (using multiple muscle groups) movements will always produce the most bang for their buck compared to more isolated exercises.
But always remember to customize your efforts. Keep in mind, the above didn’t say specific lifts like barbell back squats, barbell deadlifts, standing barbell overhead presses, or v-grip seated rows. Think of each pattern as a template under which you should operate. A deadlift pattern, for example, has several versions that customize equipment, loading, and stance, allowing great access to training your posterior chain in a way that works for you.
Keep a variation of all the prime patterns in your workout routine, and spread them out throughout the training week.
Rule #4: Tailor Sets, Reps, and Rest to Your Goals
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Poor planning, like improper reps and rest, silently kills many lifters' gains—but it doesn’t need to. Program your sets, reps, and rest based on what your training goals are—that's the game changer.
The plans for building strength and mass are similar. But since the goal of strength is lifting heavier, those plans call for shorter sets that allow your body to move more pounds on each rep and longer rest to prioritize performance. Muscle-building plans that use higher reps with slightly shorter rest seek to maximize muscle stimulation.
For conditioning, fat loss, and weight loss, your main order of business is to trigger metabolic changes. That's when you feel the burn through high reps and a spiked heart rate. Rest intervals are shorter to support that.
Use this as a general guide:
| Goal | Sets | Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Build Muscle |
3-4 |
6-12 |
2-3 min |
|
Burn Fat/Conditioning |
3-4 |
10-15 |
1 min |
|
Strength |
4-6 |
2-5 |
3 min |
Focus on actually strength training just 1 to 2 movements per workout. For example, if boosting your back squat is the goal, perform your those first on your squat day and then treat any more strength moves in that workout as accessory movements. You won't have the juice to push those remaining exercises to strength limits. Your nervous system will likely be fried.
Implementing supersets (two opposing moves without rest, like pullups and overhead presses) like or compound sets (two exercises hitting similar muscles with no rest), are time-efficient and can sometimes help with muscle gain, but have to be carefully folded in. These methods induce greater fatigue and can diminish performance gains. In other words, using those methods regularly won’t get you much stronger when compared to straight sets.
Rule #5: Your Workout Space Determines What's Possible
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If you want to build a ton of strength or muscle while training from a home gym, you'll need the equipment to match your goals—a couple of dumbbells and a Swiss ball won't cut it. Working toward set goals transcends just “getting in a good workout.” Your gear, just like your workouts, must be designed for your desired outcome.
To build a serious home gym, I suggest that you invest in a squat cage, barbell, adjustable bench, and sets of dumbbells and plates. If your setup can’t facilitate heavy loading, you can still knock out great workouts. But instead of aiming to increase strength or size, focus on fat loss and conditioning with high-rep, lower-weight or bodyweight exercises.
It’s easier to program when you know your facility. Moreover, if you’re looking to design paired sets or circuits within your workouts, prescribe exercises that use similar pieces of equipment, or pieces of equipment that are in close proximity to one another. That way, if you're in a gym, you’re not hogging space or wasting time traveling back and forth from one area to the next.
Rule #6: Hit the Big Lifts First
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It’s a broad stroke, but for most people, this principle will apply: Focus on the larger, heavier loaded movements earlier in your workout, then move onto your supplementary lifts. If you have a push day session with a triceps press down, a barbell bench press, a seated dumbbell military press, and a med ball chest throw, start the workout off with the bench presses and military presses, rather than the throws or pressdowns. The former two movements will demand the most of your strength, high threshold units, and nervous system sharpness by comparison to the other movements that are either more isolated, or more lightly loaded. Make this a general rule of thumb and your performance will make leaps.
Rule #7: Choose a Workout Split for Your Goal
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There are a few ways to arrange your training split—how you divide your workout focuses during the week—based on what suits you best. This will depend on what your training goals are above anything else. Here are some loose examples:
Goal: Fat Loss and Conditioning With Upper/Lower Split
This is a good option for calorie burn and the use of compound movements, which are key for fat loss.
| Monday | Tuesday | Wedsnesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Push |
Rest |
Pull |
Rest |
Legs |
Rest |
Rest |
Goal: Fat Loss and Conditioning With Total Body
This is my favorite conditioning split since total body training makes things like circuit training, complexes, and other methods for metabolic demand much more possible to attack. It's great for burning fat and building muscular endurance.
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Total Body |
Rest |
Total Body |
Rest |
Total Body |
Rest |
Total Body (optional) |
Goal: Strength and Size With Push/Pull/Legs
This is a tried tested and true classic which gives respect to synergistic muscles and compound movements for the big testosterone boosters (like deadlifts on pull day).
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Push |
Rest |
Pull |
Rest |
Legs |
Rest |
Rest |
Goal: Size With Body Part Split
Here's another old faithful. You can't go wrong pumping volume in isolation from muscle group to muscle group.
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Back/Biceps |
Chest/Triceps |
Rest |
Legs |
Shoulders/Arms |
Rest |
Rest |
These should provide general ideas to help structure your goals, be they add strength, build size, or cut down. Implementing this, along with the other rules above, should send you well on your way to gains in 2024.
