If it’s your first time in the gym, you may be wondering how to create a workout routine that makes sense.
Questions you’re asking yourself might include:
“How do I even know what exercises to do?”
“Should I lift weights if I’m just looking to tone up?”
“Will my abs appear if I just do a million crunches?”
Whether you feel like a kid in a candy store or you feel completely lost in the gym, everyone has to start somewhere. If you find yourself in the latter category, don’t worry. You don’t have to be a gym rat to get in shape – just a good workout routine to facilitate steady progression.
Let’s break down on how to create your own workout plan, so you don’t end up doing 10 sets of curls seven days a week:
Evaluate Your Own "Get Fit" Situation
Before you even step foot in the gym, you need to evaluate where you’re at in terms of fitness. Go through the following points to get a general idea.
- Be honest and establish your goals
It’s pretty common among gym members not to know their goals. They’re just “trying to get fit”, but what does “fit” really mean? After all, running a marathon is very different from being able to walk up the stairs without huffing and puffing.
When it comes to working out, clarity is critical. Establishing your goals requires you to admit your starting point. For example, if you want to see a visible six-pack in 12 weeks but you’re currently sitting at 30% body fat, that’s going to be a tough ask.
Your goals should always be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic.
Specific – Goals should be clear and unambiguous i.e. I want to consistently lose 2kgs a month combining strength training and LISS cardio. Compare that to “I want to get fit and lose weight” and it makes a world of difference.
Measurable – There should be a way to track and measure your progress. In the above example, we’re measuring weight loss in kilograms. You can also take a step further and follow your weightlifting PRs (personal records) and weekly body fat tests via callipers.
Achievable – As mentioned, you should start small and gradually increase the difficulty as you progress. If you want to start running, don’t commit to a 5k race in a week if you can’t even run 1km today.
Relevant – The goals you set should align with your end goal. For example, if you’re a powerlifter, doing bodybuilding-style workouts may not be conducive to increasing your one-rep max.
Timely – Every goal should have a date or time frame. This adds a greater sense of urgency and forces you to commit. It also makes you accountable if you don’t hit your targets.
- Know how much time you can commit to working out
Contrary to what many believe, you don’t need to live in the gym to get results. Becoming “swole” requires hard-work and consistently, but it can be done in less time than you think. Working out as little as twice a week (granted your nutrition and recovery are on point) can be highly effective.
First, establish how much time you have to work out. If you’re juggling a demanding work schedule and can only commit to working out twice a week, then that’s completely fine. You can perform two full-body workouts or even split your workouts into an upper/lower body split.
Furthermore, by setting aside a certain number of days for your workouts, you can better establish realistic time frames for your goals. If your own workout program allows you to train only once a week, trying to work up to running the marathon may not be feasible anytime soon.
- Putting both together to create a workout program
Once you’ve figured out clear objectives and how much time you can commit to your workout program- it’s time to put everything together. Let’s use the following scenario below as an example:
Goal: I want to run 5km in 45 minutes in 12 weeks.
Time available: 3 workouts a week
From this information, you can create the following workout routine:
Workout 1 – Interval training on the treadmill
Warm-up: 5-10 minute warm-up on the treadmill at a light pace followed by
Main set:
- Three sets of 5 minutes at a moderately intense pace with 1-minute rest in between each set
- Five sets of 3 minutes at a very fierce pace with 1-minute rest in between each set
- 15-minute cool down at a light pace
Workout 2 – Running and strength training
Warmup: Repeat the same warm-up as workout 1.
Main set:
- Five minutes at a moderate pace on the treadmill, followed by 30 seconds of bodyweight squats.
- Four minutes at a faster pace on the treadmill, followed by 30 seconds of lunges.
- Three minutes at an even quicker pace on the treadmill, followed by 30 seconds of pushups.
Repeat this cycle three more times. 5-minute cooldown at a light pace on the treadmill.
Workout 3 – 5km long run
Warmup: Repeat the same warm-up as workout 1
Main set:
- Run 5km at a pace you feel comfortable with.
This is a basic example of how you can structure your workouts depending on your goals and availability. You’ll gradually see minor improvements weekly, which will keep you motivated.
Keep Your Workouts Simple
Like many things in life, less can often be more when working out to build muscle or lose fat.
You’re probably heard the phrase “quality over quantity” before, and the same can be said about a workout regime. You don’t need to try 30 different exercises in one session, or even 10.
To keep things simple, we’ve grouped muscles into the following categories:
Push – These muscles you use when you push something away from your body. For example, the chest, shoulders and triceps.
Pull – These muscles you use when you pull something towards your body. For instance, the biceps, lats and traps.
Legs – As the name suggests, these are the muscles in your legs. These are the hamstrings, glutes, quads and calves.
Core – These are your midsection muscles that stabilise your spine and trunk.
By targeting all of these muscle groups in your workouts, you’ll get a well-rounded workout that will grow your whole body.
Push Day
Chest – Bench Press, Machine Chest Press, Incline Dumbbell Press, Pushups.
Shoulders – Overhead Press, Lateral Raise, Front Raise, Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press.
Triceps – Tricep Pushdowns, Skull Crushers, Overhead Dumbbell Tricep Extension.
Pull Day
Traps – Bar or Dumbbell Shrugs, Upright Rows
Lats – Pulldowns, Seated Rows, Dumbbell Rows
Biceps – Bicep Curls, Hammer Curls, Seated Alternating Dumbbell Curls
Legs Day
Hamstrings – Hamstring Curls, Glute Ham Raise, Romanian Deadlifts, Good Mornings
Quads – Leg Presses, Squats, Leg Extensions,
Calves – Standing Calf Raise, Seated Calf Raise, Donkey Calf Raise
Core Day
Abs – Crunches, Situps, Russian Twists, Hanging Leg Raise
Lower Back – Hyperextensions, Good Mornings, Reverse Hyper Extensions
Obliques – Seated Russian Twist, Standing Russian Twist, Side Bends
You don’t need to pick every single exercise on this list, but choose 1-2 exercises for each muscle group to focus on. You can split exercises into two full-body days or three upper-body/lower-body days.
Let’s go over an upper and lower body split over an eight day period as an example:
Day 1 – Upper Body
Chest – Incline Bench Press 3×10
Lats – Wide Grip Pull Ups 3×10
Shoulders – Military Press 3×10
Biceps – Seated Alternating Dumbbell Curls 3×10
Triceps – Skull Crushers 3×10
Day 2 – Lower Body
Leg extension 3×10
Squats 3×10
Lunges 3×10
Calf Raise 3×10
Planks and crunches
Day 3 – Rest
Day 5 – Upper Body
Dumbell Press 3×10
Shrugs 3×10
Dumbbell Rows 3×10
Seated Shoulder Press 3×10
Bicep Curls 3×10
Tricep Pushdowns 3×10
Reverse crunches and sit-ups
Day 6 – Lower Body
Hyperextensions 3×10
Leg Press 3×10
Romanian Deadlifts 3×10
Donkey Calf Raise 3×10
Day 7 – Rest
Day 8 – Core work and cardio
Crunches 3×10
Sit Ups 3×10
Russian Twists 3×10
Hanging Leg Raise 3×10
15 minutes on the rowing machine
Once you’re more confident and can manage a higher workload, you can include different exercises, such as lateral raises or sit ups. Ultimately, you want to become stronger over time by gradually increasing the weight you’re lifting.
By the same token, try to avoid getting caught up on doing too many exercises or too much volume. If you hit a plateau, you can change your rep range, set structure or exercise selection. By sticking to the same routine for too long, you’ll eventually experience overuse injuries or simply stop making progress.
What’s most important is finding a workout you enjoy and can stick to.
Understand the Difference Between Rep and Set Ranges
You may have heard that lower rep ranges are better for building muscle while higher reps are better for muscular endurance.
Here’s what’s typically shown to work among rep ranges:
1-5 rep range – This is generally used for building strength and dense muscle, targeting fast twitch muscle fibres.
6-12 rep range – Used to build strength and muscle size, targeting fast and slow twitch muscle fibres. This is known as sarcoplasmic hypertrophy and is your best bet if you’re looking to increase muscle size.
12-20+ rep range – Used for muscular endurance and training slow twitch muscle fibres. If you’re training for a marathon or other endurance event, this is the range you’ll want to focus on.
But is it really true? According to the Brad J Schoenfeld study, the answer is no.
In the controlled trial, seventeen young men were randomly asked to perform the following:
The first group did hypertrophy-type resistance workouts that consisted of 3 sets of 10, while the second group did strength-type resistance training (ST) of 7 sets of 3 repetitions. After 8 weeks, both groups experienced a similar growth in muscle size.
So, what’s the best rep range?
The answer is… it doesn’t matter that much. As long as overall volume (sets x reps) is equated, you’ll see results. This means you can incorporate multiple rep ranges at different stages of your workout routine.
The set and rep ranges we recommend
If you’re starting out, we recommend doing the following:
- Sticking with 4-6 exercises per workout
- Doing 3-5 sets per exercise
- Keeping your reps in the 5-12 range
- Resting 2-5 minutes – 5 minutes for multi-joint exercises, 2-3 minutes for single joint
As you get more experienced, you can increase the volume by doing more sets and reps while maintaining good form. Alternatively, you can increase the weight and keep the same number of sets and reps.
A good rule of thumb is to increase the weight when you can do 2-3 more reps than the prescribed rep range. For example, it’s time to bump up the weight if you’re doing three sets of 10 reps, and you can do 12-13 reps on the final set.
Knowing When to Train During the Day
Like many people, you probably have a busy schedule restricting you from working out at certain times. While it’s not essential to train first thing in the morning or at a specific time, there are certain benefits to working out at certain times.
Morning workouts
- You’re burning more body fat since your body doesn’t have carbohydrate reserves to draw from. However, this is irrelevant since the overall calorie deficit determines fat loss, not the time of day you train.
- It’s one less thing to worry about during the day, allowing you to focus on other things.
Afternoon and evening workouts
- You’ll generally have more energy since you’ve had time to eat and digest your food. This time of day will most likely be your strongest.
- Your body temperature is at its highest between 2-6 pm, allowing your body to be in a more ready state for physical activity.
- Oxygen uptake kinetics are the fastest during this time, meaning you’ll be able to train harder and for longer.
Despite the differences between these training times, what’s most important is your personal preference. I personally want to get the heavy training out of the way in the morning, but if you prefer shorter warm-up sessions, an evening session where you’re fully alert and have more energy may be ideal.
The best time to train is whenever you can fit it into your schedule and stick with it long-term.
How Many Times a Week Should I Train?
Instead of looking at your workout routines by how many days you’re in the gym, try to hit muscle groups twice a week. This can be done in two full body workouts or upper/lower split routines.
So why do we recommend two times weekly?
The primary reason is that muscle protein synthesis (basically, the process of muscle growth) is stimulated for up to 72 hours post-workout. So, if you’re training each bodypart once a week, you’re missing out a lot of time where your muscles are primed for growth.
However, if hitting muscles twice a week is impossible, don’t sweat it. Once per week is still great, and for beginners, you can focus on perfecting form and technique before upping the frequency.
Wrapping Up
Below is a quick summary of what we’ve covered:
- Establish your SMART goals and how much time you can commit to training per week
- Muscles and their corresponding exercises come in three categories: Push, Pull, Legs and Core.
- Choose 1-2 exercises per muscle group and 3-4 sets per exercise.
- Stick to 4-6 exercises per workout.
- Choose proper exercise selection and rep range that corresponds to your goals.
- Switch your exercises, reps and sets up to avoid overuse injuries and strength plateaus
- While we recommend training in the afternoon or evening as you will optimise your performance, the best time to train is whenever you can stick with it long-term.
This guide should provide a good foundation for those just getting started with weight training. Remember to focus on the basics – compound movements, progressive overload and consistency – and you’ll be well on reaching your goals.
Keep things simple at the beginning, even if it means only lifting once a week. The key is just to get started and stay consistent. As you get more experienced, you can increase the frequency and volume of your workouts.
