🏋️♂️ How to Plan Your Workouts: A Step-by-Step Guide 📅
You will want to focus on strength-building exercises to build muscle to protect you from injury, boost your metabolism, increase endurance, and improve mental well-being. The second most important type of exercise is mobility; think functional strength. You want to be able to move your body in ways you don’t normally do every day so you can be more resilient to injury and be able to do more. Mobility is all about building those smaller supportive muscles and lengthening tendons and ligaments to have a wider range of motion. The last type of exercise is cardio, this is what most people think of as what you must do to lose weight but I’m here to tell you that is all wrong. Cardiovascular exercise is essential for lung and heart health but is not the best way to lose weight.
Strength training:
If you only did one type of workout, strength training will give you the most bang for your buck. It can look very different and you have many options so don’t worry, you will be able to do this. You need to find what is right for you and what you like. Luckily, you have many options. Weight lifting, Resistance bands, Strength yoga, body weight exercises, helping a friend move, or anything else where you lift heavy things and put them down and repeat.
The most important thing for building muscle is to rest in between sets. What are sets? They are the number of times you do a set of repetitions. What are repetitions? They are the number of times you do a movement. That’s what a workout consists of sets and reps. You should be doing 8-12 reps and 1-3 sets of each exercise, depending on your fitness level. Back to resting, you will want to rest 1-2 minutes in between each set to let your heart rate slow down. This is critical for strength training because muscle building is an anaerobic process and requires this type of routine.
For optimal success, you should strive for three days a week of strength training. It is important to have a rest day in between strength training days to allow your muscles to recover and grow. Protein is also key for this process, and I recommend trying to eat a serving of protein within one hour of strength training to optimize recovery and muscle gain.
Mobility Practice:
Mobility training is often overlooked, but it’s part of a well-rounded fitness routine. It can help you have a better range of motion and more flexibility. This will help you avoid certain injuries and improve posture, blood circulation, joint health, and speed up recovery from injuries to muscles, ligaments, and tendons.
Mobility exercises consist of moving your body in uncommon ways with lots of stretching and can be quite challenging. It’s like putting oil in your car engine—they help to keep your joints lubricated and functioning properly. If you don’t, you could seize up and injure yourself, just like the engine in your car.
Mobility exercises also help strengthen your muscles and connective tissues. My joints are susceptible to injury. I’m not sure why, but it’s something I have dealt with my whole life: knees, elbows, shoulders, and wrist pain due to stress and/or overuse. So I make sure to stretch and strengthen all my joints as much as possible with regular stretching and mobility exercises, and you should, too, before you get hurt.
It really blows when you finally get motivated to exercise and then injure yourself and have to take it easy for a month or two to heal. Trust me, I know from experience!
My favorite form of mobility training is yoga. Yoga classes combine meditation, strength training, and mobility exercises. There’s nothing more rewarding than completing a hot yoga class. You sweat buckets and may feel like you’ll die, but once it’s over, you’ll feel empowered and ready to take on anything the day has to throw at you. Start with regular temperature yoga if you’re not heat-adapted or you’re new to yoga.
If you have shoulder, knee, or joint pain, you should try strengthening them with mobility exercises. Mobility movements release endorphins (feel-good chemicals), so if you need a little pick-me-up, do a quick yoga session.
Examples of Mobility Exercises:
- Shoulder dislocates
- Quad stretch
- Wrist circles
- Downward dog
- Lunge with a twist
- Foam rolling (Self-Myofascial Release)
Cardiovascular exercise:
Cardiovascular training (cardio) is essential to keep your heart and lungs strong. When your heart is healthy, you will benefit from improved blood flow and better blood pressure regulation. When you strengthen your lungs, you increase their capacity to provide vital oxygen to your body and remove carbon dioxide. As a result, your overall stamina and endurance can be drastically improved.
Cardio is not suitable for weight loss because the body tends to adapt quickly to it by slowing down your metabolism to conserve calories. You need your body to burn as many calories as it can when you are trying to lose body fat. Cardio can also be hard on your joints, particularly your back and knees. That’s why I only do cardio once a week and focus primarily on strength and mobility training, and I recommend you do the same.
One key difference between cardio and strength training is the frequency. Cardio is low intensity for a longer duration, whereas strength training is high intensity for short durations, with rest periods in between sets to allow your heart rate to slow down. These exercises focus on two different energy systems in the body: aerobic and anaerobic. Aerobic (cardio) uses oxygen, and anaerobic (strength and mobility) uses glycogen stored inside your muscles.
Examples of Cardio Exercises:
- Running
- Bicycling
- Swimming
- Jumping Jacks
- Dancing
- Sports like soccer or basketball
Conclusion:
Life can get crazy sometimes, and having a set workout schedule helps you know exactly what you have to do and when. There’s no guessing or trying to remember what kind of workout to do on what day. Also, having a set schedule helps if you’re having trouble starting your workout. If you have what you need to do all laid out, then even if you don’t feel like doing it, you’re more likely to do it if you have a plan to follow.
Although 150 minutes of moderate cardio or 75 minutes of intense cardio each week is generally recommended, which is a lot, I would suggest you shoot for a minimum of thirty minutes a week to start.
For strength training, it’s recommended to work each muscle group at least twice a week with a weight or resistance level high enough to make your muscles tired after twelve to fifteen reps. Three times a week is ideal, and it’s important to have a rest day in between to let your muscles recover.
I’m going to share my typical day and workout schedule with you so you can use it as an example and develop a schedule that works for you.
Most days, I wake up at 5 a.m., get myself ready for the day, and feed my dogs. Then, I’ll make a pre-workout drink and start my workout with stretching and warm-up exercises. After I’m warmed up, I’ll start my workout for the day.
My Workout Schedule:
- Monday: Strength training
- Tuesday: Mobility exercises
- Wednesday: Strength training
- Thursday: Mobility exercises
- Friday: Strength training
- Saturday: Cardiovascular exercise
- Sunday: Self-care/Rest day
After my workout, I’ll do some cooldown movements and some stretching.
Then, I take the dogs on our morning walk. This achieves a few goals. I get low-angle sunlight, fresh air, and time to think, and I get a jump-start on my step goal for the day!
When we get back from our walk, I’ll eat some protein or drink a protein shake to help start repairing and rebuilding my muscles. It’s important to consume protein within an hour or so of exercise to maximize the benefits.
I’ll go about the rest of my day and then go for another walk before or after dinner, depending on what time it gets dark. In addition to my workouts, I also have a daily step goal of 10,000 steps.
This routine consists of three days of strength training in which I work all three muscle groups and allow my muscles to rest in between sessions. The mobility days allow me to be more flexible and have an increased range of motion. This way, I don’t hurt my joints and am less likely to injure myself. Doing one day of cardio allows me to really get my heart rate up and keeps my cardiovascular system functioning properly. Taking a day to rest your body is necessary to repair and rebuild muscles and other tissues that you may have strained during the week. Take this day to focus on planning your food for the following week and do some self-care.
If you’re running short on time, not motivated, or tired, try doing one set or only a few minutes of an exercise. It will make a difference! It’s better to do something rather than nothing. You may even feel more energetic once you get started and want to do more.
Remember, strive for progress, not perfection. If you miss a day or even a week, it’s okay. Don’t give up; start again and keep going.
You got this!
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I have included a ton of FREE resources on the fitness resources page link above, including sample warm-up videos, yoga videos, low-impact exercises, weight lifting for beginners, and tips to stay motivated!